Oracle Corp
(
ORCL
) is set to report its third quarter 2013 results on Mar 20. In
the prior quarter, the company posted a positive surprise of
3.45%. Moreover, the company posted an average positive earnings
surprise of 2.72% over the past four quarters. Let's see how
things are shaping up for the company in this quarter.
Growth Factors this Past Quarter
Oracle reported better-than-expected second quarter 2013
results, backed by higher software revenues and cloud revenues.
The company's bottom line also jumped on a year-over-year basis,
aided by margin expansion.
Oracle added a number of new customers in both customer
relationship management (CRM) and human capital management (HCM)
portfolios. However, the company's hardware segment continued to
be dismal and declined on a year-over-year basis.
For the third quarter of 2013, Oracle expects non-GAAP
earnings in the range of 64 cents to 68 cents per share, which is
significantly higher than the year-ago level of 62 cents. Total
revenue on a non-GAAP basis is expected to grow in the range of
1.0% to 5.0%. New software license and cloud subscription revenue
growth is expected to range from 3.0% to 13.0%. Hardware product
revenue is expected to be down 10% to flat for the upcoming
quarter.
Earnings Whispers?
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the third quarter stands at
63 cents per share while that for fiscal 2013 is $2.59 per
share.
There have been no revisions in the third quarter and 2013
estimates over the last 60 days. As a result, the Zacks Consensus
Estimate for the two periods remain pinned at 63 cents and $2.59,
respectively.
The lack of downward movement in estimates signals that the
third quarter might not be too different from the past quarters.
This is also indicated by that fact that the stock carries a
Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
We caution against stocks with Zacks Ranks #4 and #5
(Sell-rated stocks) going into the earnings announcement,
especially when the company is seeing negative estimate revisions
momentum.
Other Stocks to Consider
Our model states that a stock needs to have both a positive
Zacks Earnings ESP
and a Zacks Rank of #1, #2 or #3 to beat the earnings estimates.
You could, however, consider the following stocks that satisfy
both criteria:
Symantec Corp
(
SYMC
) has a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) and Zacks Earnings ESP of
+5.88%.
NetSol Technologies
(
NTWK
) has a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) and Zacks Earnings ESP of
+4.76.
Fiserv Inc
. (
FISV
) has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) and Zacks Earnings ESP of +3.05%.
FISERV INC (FISV): Free Stock Analysis Report
NETSOL TECH INC (NTWK): Free Stock Analysis
Report
ORACLE CORP (ORCL): Free Stock Analysis
Report
SYMANTEC CORP (SYMC): Free Stock Analysis
Report
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