14 DAY TRIAL // Oracle has released the financial results for its past fiscal quarter and the numbers are encouraging not only for the company, which was already doing quite well, but for the economy at large. The enterprise-software manufacturer beat Wall Street expectations in both revenue and net income and said the recently closed Sun acquisition had less of an effect on the bottom line as expected.
"Our solid top line growth, coupled with disciplined expense management, was key in generating $8.0 billion of free cash flow over the last twelve months," Oracle Chief Financial Officer Jeff Epstein said.
"The Sun integration is going even better than we expected," Oracle President Safra Catz stated. "We believe that Sun will make a significant contribution to our fourth quarter earnings per share as well as meet the profitability goals we set for next year."
Oracle brought in $6.4 billion in revenue in its financial third quarter, which ended on February 28, a 17-percent rise from the previous year. Non-GAAP revenues were slightly higher, at $6.5 billion. Excluding the Sun acquisition, GAAP revenue grew by seven percent. Net income was of $1.2 billion in FQ3 2010, 23 cents per share. Non-GAAP income was at $1.9 billion or 38 cents per share, above expectations of 37 cents per share, with revenue at $6.35 billion.
The next quarter is expected to be even better, with the company predicting a growth in revenue of 36 to 41 percent. Wall Street expects revenue to be of $9.55 billion in FQ4 2010. Oracle completed the Sun acquisition in the previous quarter after announcing its intentions almost a year ago. It bought the hardware and software company for $7.4 billion, but only after a prolonged investigation period. The European Commission wanted to make sure that, by buying MySQL, which is owned by Sun, Oracle wasn't creating an anti-competitive market.