Oracle Reports Positive EarningsOracle Reports Positive Earnings

In the midst of its turbulent PeopleSoft takeover effort, Oracle on Thursday reported solid earnings growth on small increases in total sales and new license revenue for its fourth quarter, ended May 31.

For the quarter, Oracle reported sales of $2.83 billion, up 2% from the same period one year ago, and a 31% gain in net income to $858.1 million (16 cents per share). New license sales and other revenue were up 1% from one year earlier to $1.19 billion, although CFO Jeff Henley says new license revenue itself was up 3%.

Sales of Oracle's flagship database software were up 3%, to $933 million, during the quarter. "I think our database numbers are coming back," says Henley, referring to previously slow sales of the more expensive enterprise version of the Oracle9i database. Application revenue was flat at $246 million during the quarter, a fact Oracle bragged about in light of declining application sales at some competitors. Services revenue declined 11%, to $579.6 million.

For fiscal year 2003, Oracle reported sales of $9.47 billion, down 2% from fiscal 2002, while net income for the year was up 4%, to $2.31 billion (43 cents per share.) Oracle expects revenue growth of 4% to 7% and new license revenue growth of 2% to 12% in the current quarter.