Oracle profit beats on 51 percent margins

You have to hand it to Larry Ellison -- he's a business genius. He recognized at the beginning of the decade that there was profit to be made in harvesting a huge shift -- from growth to maturity -- in the business of selling corporate software. Rather than wring his hands at the slowdown in corporate IT spending, Ellison recognized that growth would come from acquiring and consolidating the best of the corporate software providers.

That strategy is paying off now. Oracle just reported that, excluding some costs, it earned 46 cents a share in the period ended May 31: two cents more than analysts had expected. Although the numbers were down to $1.89 billion, or 38 cents a share, from last year's $2.04 billion, or 39 cents, revenue of $6.88 billion exceeded analysts' $6.47 billion estimate.