After the bell Tuesday, Oracle Corporation (ORCL) reported earnings for its fiscal 1st quarter of 2012, and as per usual the giant tech firm beat estimates, albeit on somewhat modest expectations. Reported EPS of 45 cents per share (Zacks is not taking the entire amortization charge in the company’s headline 48 cents per share number) beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 44 cents, and revenues of $8.4 billion topped Zacks expectations of $8.3 billion.
New software revenue posted toward the high end of its guidance range, +17%, although hardware performed toward the low end of guidance, -5%. Second-quarter guidance will come out toward the end of the company’s conference call, although this — much like the way Oracle always beats estimates but almost never by an extraordinary margin — is also expected to be modest.
None of the 15 analysts covering Oracle had made any revisions to their estimates on Oracle’s Q1 over the past 30 days, though Q2 and fiscal 2012 (and fiscal 2013) estimate revisions do show a slight downward bias over that time period. Uncertainties in the European market and weaker corporate spending overall account for most of this downward sentiment.
Oracle shares are down roughly 17% since June 1st, and dropped another 2.3% in Tuesday regular trading. However, in the after-market as of this time, ORCL is up about 0.6%. It would seem plenty of potential bad news may have been baked into Oracle’s share price, as the company reached its 52-week low just a few weeks ago.
Much will ride on Oracle’s guidance in the conference call. A full report on Oracle’s earnings will be published on www.zacks.com early tomorrow morning.
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