Oracle Bounces Back from Q2 'Aberration'

New license revenue, the great growth indicator, was up 7.2% to $2.4 billion, the high end of its guidance. Total software sales were up 7.9% though it's between cycles and moving clients to its new Fusion software and the newfangled multi-tenant or on-premise Oracle Secure Cloud, which is supposed to be winning adherents

Hardware earnings, in exchange, dropped a nasty 16% to $869 million, a point more than Oracle thought they would, which it blamed on the lower-margin commodity servers and the storage it inherited from Sun. It swears hardware will turn into a "growth story" by its then fiscal year otherwise sooner.

Oracle guided to 73 cents-83 cents this quarter, ahead of estimates, and revenue up 1%-5% from Q3. Figure around $11.18 billion. It said new software sales could increase anywhere from 0%-10% year-over-year. It's expecting to post a "historic" pre-Sun operating margin by way of its integrated hardware and software.

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Maureen O'Gara the most read research reporter for the past 20 years, is the Cloud Computing and Virtualization News Desk editor of SYS-CON Media. She is the publisher of famous "Billygrams" and the editor-in-chief of "Client/Server News" for more than a decade. One of the most respected innovation reporters in the business, Maureen can be reached by email at maureen(at)sys-con.com or paperboy(at)g2news.com, and by phone at 516 759-7025. Twitter: @MaureenOGara