Oracle fiscal 1st-quarter net income weighed down by US dollar and greater expenses

Software maker Oracle said Wednesday its net income dropped 20 percent in its fiscal first quarter on the strong U.S. dollar and rising expenses.

The Redwood City, California-based company said its sales decreased because of the strong dollar, which makes products priced in dollars relatively expensive when they're sold overseas and hurts when that foreign revenue is converted back into dollars. Oracle also reported greater expenses related to research and development and cloud-based software, among other items.

Oracle Corp. said its net income fell to $1.75 billion, or 40 cents per share. Excluding one-time items Oracle said it earned 53 cents per share over the three months that ended on Aug. 31. Its revenue shrank 2 percent to $8.45 billion. Stripping out the effects of changes in foreign currency exchange rates, Oracle said its revenue would have grown 7 percent compared to last year.

Analysts expected net income of 52 cents per share and $8.51 billion in revenue, according to Zacks Investment Research.

The company's shares lost 68 cents to $37.52 in after-market trading.

Oracle shares have decreased 15 percent since the beginning of the year and closed at $38.27 on Wednesday.

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Elements of this story were generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on ORCL at http://www.zacks.com/ap/ORCL

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Keywords: Oracle, Earnings Report