Oracle jumps as outlook points to market share gains

Shares of Oracle Corp rose 5 percent on Friday, a day afterwards the world's third-largest software maker forecast solid sales of new business software, signaling strength against Hewlett-Packard and IBM in data center and cloud computing businesses.

Oracle, whose products are used to manage databases and automate businesses, ventured into high-end servers and other hardware with its $7.5 billion acquisition of Sun Microsystems last year.

Like IBM and Cisco Systems , Oracle and HP are aiming to provide the infrastructure for companies to move toward "cloud computing," where data is handled remotely in data centers to put it more exactly than on premises, deploying resources better and cutting costs.

FBR Capital Markets said Oracle's upcoming suite of business management software, dubbed Fusion, should allow it to take market share from rivals.

The brokerage said Oracle's integrated software

The brokerage said Oracle's integrated software and hardware portfolio has opened up new end markets and opportunities beyond its somewhat mature traditional business.

Oracle, which derives 5 percent of its revenue from Japan, has said its building in the quake-hit country was undamaged and it did not expect the disaster to hurt fourth-quarter results.