Oracle (ORCL) reports its third quarter earnings on Tuesday, March 20, 2012.
What to Expect:
The consensus estimate is 54 cents per share, up 5.9% from a year ago when Oracle reported earnings of 51 cents per share.
Despite not changing over the past month, the consensus estimate is down from three months ago when it was 57 cents. For the fiscal year, analysts are projecting earnings of $2.25 per share.
Revenue is projected to be 3% above the year-earlier total of $8.76 billion at $9.03 billion for the quarter. For the year, revenue is expected to come in at $37.42 billion.
Trends to Watch For:
The company has reported increasing profit for three straight quarters. In the most recent quarter, net income rose by 17.2% from the year-earlier period. Net income rose 36.1% in the quarter before that, and 35.8% in the fourth quarter of the last fiscal year.
Analyst Ratings:
The majority of analysts (63.9%) rate Oracle as a buy. This compares favorably to the analyst ratings of its nearest 10 competitors, which average 59.8% buys. Analysts have become more optimistic about the stock recently and the number of buy ratings has risen slightly over the past three months.
Competitors:
Oracle is an enterprise software giant that provides a range of tools for managing business data, supporting business operations, and facilitating collaboration and application development. One of Oracle's main competitors in the software industry, Microsoft (MSFT), will report earnings on April 19, 2012. Other competitors in the information technology sector include: IBM (IBM), Hewlett-Packard Company (HPQ), and SAP (SAP).
Recent Price Movement:
The stock price has risen from $29.14 on December 16, 2011 to $29.84 over the past quarter.
Earnings estimates provided by Zacks.
Narrative Science, through its proprietary artificial intelligence platform, transforms data into stories and insights.
