Oracle stock went up as much as 7% on Wednesday after the company reported better-than-expected earnings for the fourth quarter of its 2019 fiscal year, which ended on May 31.
Here are the key numbers:
- Earnings: $1.16 per share, excluding certain items, vs. $1.07 per share as expected by analysts, according to Refinitiv.
- Revenue: $11.14 billion, vs. $10.93 billion as expected by analysts, according to Refinitiv.
The company's revenue rose 1% year over year in the quarter, according to a statement. Oracle's largest business segment, Cloud Services and License Support, delivered $6.80 billion in revenue, above the $6.76 billion consensus estimate among analysts polled by FactSet. The Cloud License and On-Premise License segment had $2.52 billion in revenue, over the $2.32 billion FactSet consensus estimate.
In the statement executives pointed to growth in cloud applications like NetSuite and Fusion.
In the quarter Oracle cut some employees, according to Business Insider, and more recently it announced a new partnership with Microsoft, a competitor.
"We believe that the recent reports of Cloud layoffs, combined with the MSFT partnership, potentially indicate that ORCL is continuing to face an uphill battle in its broader cloud strategy and business model transition," Nomura Instinet analysts led by Christopher Eberle wrote in a note distributed to clients on Thursday. The analysts, who have a "reduce" rating on Oracle stock, said they see the Microsoft deal as a step in the right direction.
With respect to guidance, Oracle CEO Safra Catz said on a Wednesday conference call that the company expects 80 cents to 82 cents in earnings per share, excluding certain items, and flat to 2 percent growth in revenue for the first quarter of the 2020 fiscal year. Analysts polled by Refinitiv had been looking for 80 cents per share, excluding certain items, on $9.36 billion in revenue, which would reflect 1.7% revenue growth.
For the full 2020 fiscal year, Catz said Oracle is aiming for double-digit growth in earnings per share and revenue growth that's faster than last year in constant currency. Analysts surveyed by Refinitiv were expecting full-year guidance of $3.79 in earnings per share, excluding certain items, which would imply growth of 9.9%, on $40.17 billion in revenue, which would be up 2.2% -- a growth rate that would exceed the roughly flat revenue in the 2019 fiscal year.
Shares of Oracle are up 17% since the beginning of 2019.
WATCH: Watch CNBC's exclusive interview with Oracle CEO Mark Hurd
