Oracle's Earnings Up 15% In 2Q

Oracle announced its second quarter earnings for fiscal 2010 Thursday. Earnings per share were up 15% or $.29 per share compared to the same period a year ago. Total revenues were up 4% to $5.9 billion, and net income was up 12% to $1.5 billion.

New software license revenues were up 2% to $1.7 billion, while updates and product support revenues, also known as maintenance, were up 14% to $3.2 billion. Operating income was up 10% to $2.2 billion, and operating margin was up 200 basis points to reach 37%, according to generally accepted accounting principles, said CFO Jeff Epstein.

"We delivered results which were substantially better than we expected on both the top and bottom line," said Epstein. The company's non-GAAP operating margin was 49% or "the highest Q2 non-GAAP operating margin in our history." He said an increase in sales in a difficult economic climate, plus "disciplined expense management" were both key to generating an $8.4 billion in free cash flow over the past 12 months.

"We expect the European Commission to unconditionally clear the acquisition of Sun in January," said Oracle President Safra Catz. The commission is scheduled to reach a decision on its investigation into the deal, January 27. A decision has been pending since April 20.

Oracle President Charles Phillips said the firm's applications business grew 1% in the Americas and 2% in the Asia Pacific region during the quarter.

CEO Larry Ellison said Oracle continued to sell Exadata database machines built on Sun hardware. "We expect Sun to rapidly improve both its market share and margins once this merger closes," he said. Ellison has complained that Sun loses $100 million a month as deliberations continue on the merger.