Shares of Oracle Corporation (NASDAQ:ORCL) fell as much as 8 percent in after-hours trading after the company released its latest earnings report. Expectations for the company’s results were running high, but the company missed on sales.
Earnings were reported to be 80 cents per share or $3.8 billion for Oracle Corporation (NASDAQ:ORCL)’s fiscal fourth quarter. Excluding one-time items, earnings would have been 87 cents per share. Revenue for the quarter was reported to be $10.95 billion.
Oracle Misses Consensus
In the same quarter a year ago, Oracle Corporation (NASDAQ:ORCL) reported earnings of 69 cents per share on $10.9 billion in sales. According to a consensus of analysts polled by FactSet, the company was expected to report earnings of 87 cents per share on revenue of $11.12 billion.
The company’s full-year revenue was reported to by $37.18 billion, and its earnings per share were $2.68 for the full year. Consensus estimates for Oracle’s full-year numbers were $37.45 billion in revenue and $2.68 in earnings per share.
Oracle And The Struggling Market
In the previous quarter, Oracle Corporation (NASDAQ:ORCL) struggled along with the rest of the computing market. Slumping software license sales and online subscriptions were a problem at that time. Today the company’s president highlighted the growth of its cloud services.
“Oracle’s HCM Cloud, CRM Cloud and ERP Cloud grew 50% as we added over 500 new SaaS customers in Q4 alone,” said President Mark Hurd. “Our annualized SaaS revenue run rate is over $1 billion, making us a strong number two in cloud applications – we are larger than SAP and Workday combined.”
Oracle’s Other Announcements
Oracle Corporation (NASDAQ:ORCL) also announced that it would double its dividend, bringing it up to 12 cents per share. The dividend will be paid to shareholders of record as of the end of the business day on July 12. Payment will be made August 2. The board also authorized Oracle to buy back up to $12 billion worth of common stock under the company’s existing share repurchasing program.
The company also said that it has applied to transfer its stock listing from the NASDAQ to the New York Stock Exchange, using the company’s current ORCL ticker symbol. The transfer is subject to the NYSE’s approval of the company’s application. Oracle Corporation (NASDAQ:ORCL) expects the listing to begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange on July 15. It will continue to trade on the NASDAQ until the transfer is made.
