Oracle (ORCL) And RIM (RIMM): Tech, Large And Small, Is Doing Fine

Wall St. focused on earnings forecasts from Oracle (ORCL) and RIM (RIMM) and thought the numbers were a bit light. That turned traders against the shares of both companies, but that is a mistake.

The news from the two companies is that technology sales, both $300 Blackberries, and $10 million database software systems, are doing just fine.

Oracle said that its fiscal Q4 profits were up 27%. According to The Wall Street Journal, "Oracle projected revenue growth of 18% to 20% in the current quarter." Even in a good economy, those are outstanding projections for a company Oracle’s size.

RIMM earned $482.5 million, which is more than twice what it bought in a year ago. The firm added 2.3 million net new BlackBerry subscribers, ending the quarter with more than 16 million subscribers.

Investors were upset that RIMM said it would only earn 84 cents to 89 cents a share in the current quarter. That would be up from 50 cents last year, which seems pretty good.

Investors are watching the wrong set of numbers. With this kind of growth, the tech sector is signaling that it is fine. It may be the only part of the economy that is.

Douglas A. McIntyre