Why Oracle Shares Got Crushed

Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.

What: Shares of Oracle have gotten crushed today by as much as 10%, after the enterprise software specialist reported worse-than-expected earnings.

So what: Revenue in the fiscal third quarter was $9 billion, which didn't compare favorably to the $9.4 billion in revenue that analysts were expecting. Non-GAAP earnings per share were up moderately, at $0.65, which was also a little short of the $0.66 per share adjusted profit that investors were expecting. Oracle President Mark Hurd said software-as-a-service, or SaaS, revenue more than doubled.

Now what: The company blamed the soft results on aggressive expansion of its sales force, which included many inexperienced representatives that led to poor execution. Oracle has added over 4,000 new sales reps over the past 18 months. Several analysts have downgraded Oracle following the results, including Evercore Partners and Credit Agricole. Guidance for the coming quarter calls for adjusted earnings per share of $0.85 to $0.91, compared to the $0.88 per share that the Street is modeling for.

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The article Why Oracle Shares Got Crushed originally appeared on Fool.com.

Fool contributor Evan Niu, CFA, has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of Oracle.. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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