Oracle's Financials Look Bright Ahead of "Oracle OpenWorld 2008" as the Acquisition of BEA comes to the Fore
· Net Income increased 28% to $1.1 Billion
· Revenues increased 18% to $5.3 Billion
The second quarter is more in question.
· Non-GAAP revenues could fluctuate anywhere between a 12-15% increase or drop as low as only a 9% increase due to currency fluctuations
· Non-GAAP EPS should be around 26¢ due to earnings split between higher and lower tax jurisdictions.
The forecast for new software license revenues are also susceptible to the fluctuating currency markets with estimates at 5% - 15% without fluctuations and 2% to 12% if fluctuations are taken into account. Kenneth Chin, and analyst for Gartner, focused on this broad range and stated:
"Foreign currency had a plus seven percent impact on earnings this quarter, and they see a minus three percent impact for the next quarter, which can be fairly significant. There's nothing to say that, if the dollar moves more quickly and becomes stronger, that the negative impact wouldn't hit five percent or more."
Fifty percent (50%) of Oracle’s business is license revenue and maintenance fees. The 
fastest growing part of their business is middleware. Larry Ellison, Oracle CEO, is confident that they have or soon will replace IBM in this market space. For a more complete commentary on the second quarter’s outlook and beyond see Richard Adhikari’s article Oracle Sees Tougher Days Ahead.
With a broader portfolio of software products to bring to the market the emphasis this week at the San Francisco conference will be on the $8.5 billion purchase of BEA. The BEA middleware products “are key to Oracle's service oriented architecture (“SOA”) strategy.”
Oracle’s next major release will be 11g, expected by the end of the 2009 fiscal year. BEA will be an integral part of its latest Web and SOA platforms release.
Also of note is Oracle’s Green Program and its virtualization initiative. To read the details on the tremendous increase in savings on these two programs and the Integration of the BEA software products into Oracle’s latest offerings see Oracle's Big Show will be BEA's Coming Out Party.
