Oracle (NYSE: ORCL) stock tumbled mid-morning Friday after the company reported stronger-than-expected earnings for the first quarter of its 2018 fiscal year, which ended on August 31, and then gave guidance for the next quarter.
Earnings Per Share came in at 62 cents vs. 60 cents as expected by analysts.
Revenue was $9.2 billion vs. $9.02 billion as expected by analysts. In terms of guidance, the company expects to bring in 64-68 cents in earnings per share and 2-4% revenue growth -- with 39-42% cloud revenue growth -- in constant currency for the second quarter of the 2018 fiscal year.
Analysts were expecting 68 cents in earnings per share on $9.49 billion in revenue. Immediately after
Oracle CEO Safra Catz gave the guidance, the company's stock began its downward journey.
Revenue for the quarter was up 7% from last year. New software license revenue continued to decline; it was down 6% for the quarter.
Experts say cloud has become so important to Oracle that the company has decided to only give top executives their performance options if Oracle "significantly grows its cloud business," according to a regulatory filing from earlier this month. That significant growth would require $20 billion in total cloud revenue, $10 billion in cloud software revenue, and $10 billion in cloud infrastructure and cloud platform revenue in a fiscal year.
Oracle shares were off $3.23, or 6.1%, to $49.56 Friday morning, within a 52-week trading range of $37.62 to $53.14.
