Analysts worry that something's amiss at Oracle

Reuters
March 17, 2012

First Published: 14:12 IST(17/3/2012)
Last Updated: 17:47 IST(17/3/2012)

share more... 0 Comments           email     print

Attendees walk down branded steps at the 29th Oracle OpenWorld in San Francisco. Credit: Reuters/Susana Bates

Oracle Corp may soon run out of excuses to feed Wall Street.

When the world's third-largest software maker missed earnings estimates for the first time in a decade back in December, it blamed an unpredictable global economy. It seemed plausible at the time.

suggests the company is sufferingdue to challenges that have nothing to do with the macro economy: mounting competition from traditional foe SAP, the loss of a key IT partner in Hewlett Packard, and a hardware business that is becoming a thorn in its side.

Analysts have become increasingly worried that the hardware business Oracle acquired in 2010 with its $5.6 billion purchase of Sun Microsystems has turned into a liability, with sales falling short of expectations.