Oracle Stumbles Despite Cloud Growth

By Chris Lange Updated Jan 13, 3:30AM EST · Published Sep 16, 7:40AM EDT

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Oracle Stumbles Despite Cloud Growth — © Thinkstock

Oracle Corp. (NYSE: ORCL) reported its fiscal first-quarter financial results after the markets closed on Thursday. This networking giant’s shares slipped in the after-hours session on Thursday. The company said it had $0.55 in earnings per share (EPS) and $8.61 billion in revenue. Consensus estimates from Thomson Reuters had called for $0.58 in EPS on revenue of $8.7 billion. The same period of last year reportedly had EPS of $0.53 and $8.45 billion in revenue.

According to management, Oracle is on track to sell more than $2 billion of Software as a Service (SaaS) and Platform as a Service (PaaS) annually recurring revenue. In consecutive years, Oracle has sold more SaaS and PaaS than any cloud services provider.

In the first quarter alone, Oracle added more than 750 new SaaS customers including 344 new SaaS Fusion Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) customers. For those keeping tabs, that’s more ERP customers than Workday has sold in its history.

On the books, Oracle’s cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities totaled $68.4 billion, up from $56.1 billion at the end of the previous fiscal year.

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Safra Catz, CEO of Oracle, commented:

Our Cloud business plus our On-Premise Software business grew 7% in constant currency in the first quarter, on a non-GAAP basis. The overall top-line growth of our two strategic businesses was driven by non-GAAP SaaS and PaaS revenue growing 82% in constant currency, substantially outperforming our guidance. As our SaaS and PaaS business continues its rapid growth, we expect its gross margins to climb from 62% this quarter toward our 80% target.

Shares of Oracle closed most recently at $40.86, but dropped 4% to 39.60 in after-hours trading. The consensus analyst price target is $44.29, and the 52-week trading range is $33.13 to $42.00.

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About the Author Chris Lange →

Chris Lange is a writer for 24/7 Wall St., based in Houston. He has covered financial markets over the past decade with an emphasis on healthcare, tech, and IPOs. During this time, he has published thousands of articles with insightful analysis across these complex fields. Currently, Lange's focus is on military and geopolitical topics.

Lange's work has been quoted or mentioned in Forbes, The New York Times, Business Insider, USA Today, MSN, Yahoo, The Verge, Vice, The Intelligencer, Quartz, Nasdaq, The Motley Fool, Fox Business, International Business Times, The Street, Seeking Alpha, Barron’s, Benzinga, and many other major publications.

A graduate of Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas, Lange majored in business with a particular focus on investments. He has previous experience in the banking industry and startups.