Oracle Corp registered its sixth consecutive quarter of double-digit earnings growth as the world's second-largest software maker continued to capitalize on corporate America's gradual upturn in technology spending.
The company said on Tuesday that it earned US$990 million, or US$0.19 per share, for the three months ended May 31. That represented a 15 percent improvement from net income of US$858 million, or US$0.16 per share, at the same time last year.
Its quarterly revenue totaled US$3.08 billion, a 9 percent gain from US$2.83 billion last year. The quarter marked the final three months of Oracle's fiscal year -- generally its peak sales period.
Oracle is widely regarded as a software industry bellwether because of its size and the timing of its fiscal quarter. The quarter ends a month before most of its major rivals close their books.
"Clearly, we are benefiting from more business optimism and people starting to spend a little more than they have been," Oracle chairman Jeff Henley said on Tuesday during a conference call with reporters.
"We believe things will continue to show modest improvement in the next year. We don't think this [trend] is over yet," he said.
The earnings were US$0.01 higher than the mean estimate among analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call. The retreat might reflect investor disappointment with a dip in Oracle's licensing of business applications software -- the computer coding that automates a wide range of administrative tasks.
The company's sales in this niche totaled US$231 million, a 6 percent decline from US$246 million last year.
The latest results continue Oracle's recent earnings upswing. The company's profit has climbed by at least 10 percent in every quarter since the end of 2002, a stretch marked by a steady recovery in corporate spending after the dot-com implosion of 2000 triggered a devastating tech downturn.
Despite the better times, Oracle chief executive officer Larry Ellison believes Silicon Valley's boom days are largely over, compelling his company to spend the past year stalking one of its fiercest rivals, PeopleSoft Inc, with a US$7.7 billion takeover bid.
Henley said Oracle continues to consider other large deals, even as it continues to pursue Pleasanton-based PeopleSoft.
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