Oracle reports profit jump, bucking industry fears

(AP) -- Oracle Corp.'s net income jumped 28 percent in the latest quarter, its biggest increase in more than two years and another sign that companies are spending more liberally on technology.

Oracle's strong performance arrived amid worries about the industry's recovery. Other technology bigshots, such as Cisco Systems Inc. and Intel Corp., stirred fears with recent earnings reports that showed sluggish demand from consumers and state governments in the U.S.

Oracle, one of the world's biggest software makers, demonstrated in its latest numbers that it is shielded somewhat from sudden market swings because nearly all of its revenue comes from support contracts that provide consistent revenue throughout the year. The results were reported Thursday after the market closed.

Locking in new customers so they'll buy those support contracts is critical to Oracle. A key measure of how well the company is doing that - the sale of new software licenses - was higher than Oracle had earlier predicted.

Oracle also cited improving profitability at the Sun Microsystems business it bought nearly a year ago for $7.3 billion as another reason for its better-than-expected results. That acquisition gave Oracle a computer server business and transformed the company into more of a one-stop shop for technology.

Oracle's net income in the three months ended Nov. 30 was $1.87 billion, or 37 cents per share, compared with $1.46 billion, or 29 cents per share, a year ago. The last time Oracle's net income grew by such a large margin was in 2008.

Excluding items, the company earned 51 cents per share in the latest period, topping the 46 cents per share that analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected.

Revenue jumped 47 percent to $8.58 billion, higher than the $8.34 billion analysts expected. The increase in revenue was so large because Oracle didn't own Sun at this time last year.