S&P 500 (NYSE:SPY) component Oracle Corp. (NASDAQ:ORCL) will unveil its latest earnings on Tuesday, December 20, 2011. Oracle develops, manufactures, markets, distributes, and services software designed to help its customers manage and grow their businesses.
Oracle Corp. Earnings Preview Cheat Sheet
Wall St. Earnings Expectations: The average estimate of analysts is for net income of 55 cents per share, a rise of 12.2% from the company’s actual earnings for the same quarter a year ago. During the past three months, the average estimate has moved up from 54 cents. Between one and three months ago, the average estimate moved up. It has been unchanged at 55 cents during the last month. For the year, analysts are projecting profit of $2.33 per share, a rise of 9.4% from last year.
Past Earnings Performance: The company has beaten estimates the last four quarters and is coming off a quarter where it topped forecasts by one cent, reporting net income of 45 cents per share against a mean estimate of profit of 44 cents per share.
Wall St. Revenue Expectations: Analysts are projecting a rise of 6.7% in revenue from the year-earlier quarter to $9.23 billion.
Analyst Ratings: Analysts are bullish on this stock with 31 analysts rating it as a buy, none rating it as a sell and six rating it as a hold.
A Look Back: In the first quarter, profit rose 36.1% to $1.84 billion (36 cents a share) from $1.35 billion (27 cents a share) the year earlier, exceeding analyst expectations. Revenue rose 11.6% to $8.37 billion from $7.5 billion.
Key Stats:
The company has enjoyed double-digit year-over-year percentage revenue growth for the past four quarters. Over that span, the company has averaged growth of 27.1%, with the biggest boost coming in the second quarter of the last fiscal year when revenue rose 46.5% from the year earlier qua! rter.
The company has seen net income rise in three straight quarters. Net income rose 35.8% in the fourth quarter of the last fiscal year and 78% in the third quarter of the last fiscal year.
Competitors to Watch: Intl. Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM), Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE:HPQ), Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), SAP AG (NYSE:SAP), Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC), Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), Red Hat, Inc. (NYSE:RHT), EMC Corporation (NYSE:EMC), CA, Inc. (NASDAQ:CA), and Adobe Systems Incorporated (NASDAQ:ADBE).
Stock Price Performance: During November 15, 2011 to December 14, 2011, the stock price had dropped $3.09 (-9.4%) from $32.96 to $29.87. The stock price saw one of its best stretches over the last year between April 18, 2011 and May 2, 2011 when shares rose for 10-straight days, rising 8.1% (+$2.73) over that span. It saw one of its worst periods between November 15, 2011 and November 25, 2011 when shares fell for eight-straight days, falling 12.8% (-$4.22) over that span. Shares are down $1.21 (-3.9%) year to date.
