Oracle Corp., the world's third-biggest software maker, said fourth-quarter earnings fell 23 percent. Profit this quarter will miss analysts' forecasts, Chief Financial Officer Jeff Henley said.
Net income dropped to $655.9 million, or 12 cents a share, from $854.9 million, or 15 cents, a year earlier. Sales in the period ended May 31 declined 16 percent to $2.77 billion, beating the average analyst forecast by almost $200 million, based on a survey by Thomson First Call.
Oracle shares, which rose as much as 15 percent on the better- than-expected sales, gave up some of that gain after Henley's forecast. The software maker has been mired in a slump for more than a year as clients slashed software budgets. The environment for corporate software sales has yet to pick up, Henley said, echoing comments from rival Siebel Systems Inc. last week.
Ausserdem:-- Apple Computer Inc., the maker of the iMac computer, lowered its forecast for third-quarter profit because sales may be as much as $200 million below estimates. The shares fell as much as 14 percent. Profit will be 8 cents to 10 cents a share in the quarter ending this month, down from a forecast of at least 11 cents, Apple said in a statement.
Und dann noch Gewinnwarnung von AMD,AMD minus 18%!:Advanced Micro Devices Inc., Intel Corp.'s biggest rival in making personal- computer processors, said second-quarter sales will miss an earlier forecast and predicted a ``substantial'' operating loss.
The chipmaker's shares fell as much as 18 percent. Revenue will be $620 million to $700 million, rather than the $820 million to $900 million Chairman Jerry Sanders predicted in April. Sanders had said that reaching the high end of that range would make the company profitable.