Oracle expected to post gains despite slump

Oracle Corp. is expected to post small gains in profit and sales when it reports fiscal third-quarter results next week, despite concern about the company's ability to drum up business amid a generally bleak winter for the high-tech industry.

Analysts on average estimate Oracle will post earnings excluding special items of 32 cents a share for the three-month period ended in February, on $5.47 billion in revenue, according to FactSet Research. That compares to earnings excluding special items of 30 cents a share and $5.35 billion in revenue in the same period year earlier.

In December, Oracle itself forecast earnings for the quarter between 31 and 33 cents a share and revenue growth between 1% and 4%, while attributing the results to a strengthening U.S. dollar likely to impact foreign sales.

Wall Street is bracing for the worst. Shares of Oracle have slumped more than 13% in the last month. The stock closed trading Thursday up nearly 2% at $15.63.

In recent weeks, a number of analysts have expressed concern that Oracle's sales of new software licenses - a key metric that reflects the company's ability to draw in new customers - have been undercut by the downturn.

Earlier this month, one analyst went so far as to predict the worst quarter for Oracle since the early 1990s. "The tone of the commentary from our industry sources regarding new license revenue is the worst we have ever heard," wrote Patrick Walravens of JMP Securities in a report, in which he scaled back his earnings estimates for the company.

Still, a number of analysts also point to the company's dependable stream of maintenance revenue from existing customers, while noting that it may well emerge from the downturn in a stronger position.

"The recent sell-off" in Oracle shares is "overdone," Barclays Capital analyst Israel Hernandez wrote in a note to clients earlier this week. While Hernandez said his research points to a "weak" third quarter for the company, particularly for its sales of applications software, it wasn't bad enough "to break [the] stock."

"Oracle remains well-positioned to consolidate share through [the] downturn," Hernandez wrote, though he lowered his third-quarter estimate for earnings excluding special items to 32 cents a share from 33, and revenue to $5.3 billion from $5.5 billion.
Oracle, which originated as a purveyor of database software, has expanded in recent years through a series of acquisitions to also become a powerhouse in business applications software.
That's drawn it into more direct competition with German rival SAP AG.

In January, SAP reported a 13% gain in fourth-quarter profit for the period ended in December, though it also announced it would be cutting over 3,000 jobs this year in an effort to lower costs. See related story on SAP's quarterly earnings.
Oracle has continued to buy other companies during the economic downturn. Last month, it snapped up closely-held mValent Inc. in an effort to bolster its applications business.

Author: John Letzing @ www.marketwatch.com

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Terrazzo Group makes Oracle pay

Terrazzo Management today announced having closed their annual accounts in record time, how the implementation of Oracle Applications had made the administration of their companies so much easier, with greater transparency, more effective controls and with smoother automation of their business processes.

Lave Malhotra, the General Manager of Terrazzo Group, said, 'Today, all our systems are now fully integrated enabling us to view information across the entire organisation. This means sharing of information is now real-time allowing our staff to reduce costs by working smarter. It also allows our management to track the progress of Terrazzo Group companies real-time and make decisions that will further improve the Group's diverse operations leading to possibly faster growth and greater success then what it has already achieved to date.'

'The Oracle implementation undertaken by Intelligent Corporate Solutions (ICS) has been a real success story, right from the go ICS has gone to great lengths to ensure the ERP implementation delivers tangible benefits that were identified at the initial stage of the project. The tangible benefits can now be seen,' he added.
Shumon Zaman, CEO of ICS, commented:

'At a time when the Global Economy is shrinking and doing business becomes harder. Companies that have access to real time information will be better informed and as a result will be able to make the necessary adjustments to their businesses and take advantage of the many opportunities that arise during a down-turn.'



He added, 'I am proud to say our association with the Terrazzo Group and its team, lead by some excellent and talented individuals has been one of mutual respect and high achievement. The speed and accuracy of the implementation has been a true inspiration for others to emulate.'

Terrazzo Group have now also awarded ICS with further implementations to ensure all their businesses are fully integrated with Oracle ERP.

Source: www.ameinfo.com

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Emerging WiMax Solutions Provider Selects Oracle

Wi-tribe Pakistan Ltd., a new entrant in the Pakistani communications industry with a major focus on providing WiMax solutions, has chosen Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management and key components of the Oracle Communications Service Fulfillment Suite, including Oracle Communications Network Mediation, Oracle Communications Service Activation and Oracle Communications Order and Service Management, to better manage its business from the onset of launching new WiMax services. The selected applications will help put wi-tribe in control of its business, allowing it to succeed in an increasingly competitive market while meeting changing consumer demands head on.

Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management will enable wi-tribe to track real time charges for data, voice, TV and other broadband value-added services. Oracle Communications Service Fulfillment Suite will help to automate the order-to-activate provisioning cycle and integrate key service-fulfillment processes, including back-office order orchestration, network and service inventory management, service activation and configuration management. Oracle Communications Network Mediation will help provide comprehensive data collection, aggregation and enhancement for upstream business critical systems like billing, reporting and analytics across the enterprise. To learn more about Oracle's business solutions, visit www.oracle.com.

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