Oracle Delivers Again

Those who do not like Oracle (Nasdaq:ORCL) and its often-outspoken CEO Larry Ellison should probably look away now. This software giant continues to show impressive growth and rebut skepticism that competition, both large and small, is going to eat away at the many and varied businesses of this database, middleware, application and hardware hybrid. 

A Good Present For Shareholders
Oracle delivered a strong fiscal second quarter almost across the board. Total revenue jumped 47% to $8.65 billion - handily beating even the highest published estimate on the Street. If there was a black mark, it would be in hardware systems where growth was up 3% sequentially.

Although Oracle still runs an exceptionally profitable business, there was some backsliding this quarter. GAAP operating margin fell almost five points, due in part to a different profitability profile for the hardware business and also some erosion from sales, marketing and R&D. Nevertheless, operating income grew 27% for the quarter and the change in margin structure was not a surprise, as the company surpassed analyst estimates at the bottom line. 


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