Investors Hit Oracle After Disappointing Quarterly Results

Oracle Corporation ORCL posted less-than-stellar fourth-quarter results on Thursday, and investors quickly punished the stock as concerns grew that technology spending was slowing. Oracle posted 2011 Q4 revenues of $10.8 billion, slightly beating analyst forecasts of $10.75 billion. Hardware sales, however, contracted 6% in what was seen as a withdrawal of tech spending. Shares of Oracle were slammed more than 5% to below $32, with some pre-market recovery. The stock has been hit hard since early May, when it was trading above $36. In its earnings announcement, Oracle noted that "Economic, political and market conditions, including the recent recession and global economic crisis and the current situation in Japan caused by the recent earthquake and resulting tsunami, can adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition, including our revenue growth and profitability, which in turn could adversely affect our stock price." GAAP operating income came in at $4.4 billion, with earnings per share coming at $0.62. Oracle develops and sells database and middleware software, applications software and hardware systems, consisting primarily of computer server and storage products.