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Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Oracle Profit Narrows; Results Beat the Street

Hope Holland

FOXBusiness

Oracle Corp. beat Wall Street expectations despite a 7.2% drop in profit in the fourth quarter, showing ongoing weakness in the technology sector. The company’s profit has been tumbling for the three consecutive quarters.

“The Q4 results were impacted by the reduced value of foreign currencies when compared to US dollars,” Oracle said in a written release.

The No. 3 software maker weighed in with earnings of 46 cents per share in the fourth quarter after Tuesday’s closing bell. Analysts had been expecting earnings of 44 cents, according to Reuters Estimates.

Net income for the business-software company fell to $1.9 billion, or 38 cents a share, from $2 billion, or 39 cents a share during the same quarter a year prior.

Revenue for the quarter ending May 31 slipped 5% to $6.9 billion.

According to data from Thomson Reuters, analysts on average had been expecting Oracle to post earnings excluding special items of 44 cents a share, and $6.5 billion in revenue.

Meanwhile, total new software license revenues for the year were down 5% to $7.1 billion, and software license updates and product support revenues were up 14% to $11.8 billion for fiscal year 2009.