It looks like I was wrong.
When Oracle exceeded Wall Street expectations at the end of its third quarter, I speculated that Oracle might have done so by draining its sales pipeline for Q4. I based that on word I had heard of some extremely generous discounts that Oracle was granting to prospects that signed by the end of Q3. Such a move would deliver superior results for Q3 but risked pulling in sales that might have otherwise closed in Q4.
At the time I wrote that readers should check back in three months to see if I was right. Well, now it's three months later and Oracle has announced Q4 new license sales that are 17% higher than the same quarter last year. That's well above Oracle's forecast of a 5-15% increase. Revenue overall rose 20%, and net profit jumped 23%. Impressive results all around.
So, what's going on? Catz attributed Oracle's success to execution, which is no doubt true. But it also confirms Oracle's strategy, in which it has been able to integrate a string of software acquisitions into its operations without losing customers. It also is showing momentum against its chief rival, SAP--a fact which it continues to promote on its website.
Oracle is now forecasting a whopping 20-30% increase in new license sales in its for its first quarter, which would include revenues from new acquisitions Hyperion and Agile Software.
The Wall Street Journal has more on Oracle's Q4 results.
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