Oracle reports sales that meet estimates, touts Cerner's growth

Oracle reported sales in line with estimates, touting the strides made by its transition to the cloud and the future benefits from the acquisition of health records provider Cerner.

Sales increased 18 per cent to US$11.4 billion in the fiscal first quarter, meeting analysts’ average estimate, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Profit, excluding some items, was US$1.03 a share. Oracle said currency fluctuations reduced the earnings by 8 cents a share. Analysts projected US$1.06 a share. 

Cloud revenue -- the highly watched segment that Oracle has been trying to expand -- rose 45 per cent to US$3.6 billion in the period ended Aug. 31, the Austin, Texas-based company said Monday in a statement. Growth was 19 per cent last quarter, before the Cerner deal closed.

Oracle, known for its database technology, sells business software applications for the cloud as well as offering customers the ability to store and compute information through the company’s data centers. The infrastructure business, however, trails far behind Amazon.com Inc. and Microsoft Corp., the leaders in the public cloud sector. Oracle executives say the Cerner acquisition will give the company inroads in the health care industry, which has been comparatively slow to adopt cloud technology.