Oracle’s cloud growth sets the stage for Q1 fiscal results

Oracle

Key Takeaways

Oracle's Q1 fiscal results for 2023 showed a 23% growth in total revenue, significantly surpassing guidance by $200 million, driven largely by a 20% increase in cloud services and license support revenues.

The acquisition of Cerner contributed $1.4 billion to quarterly revenues and is expected to enhance Oracle's revenue and earnings growth in future quarters through integration and cost efficiencies.

Oracle's multi-cloud strategy now allows Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services customers direct access to Oracle Databases, potentially increasing the popularity of Oracle's database solutions.

Oracle Corporation announced significant quarterly revenue gains in its Q1 fiscal results in 2023. Cloud services and license support revenues were up 20 percent in constant currency to $8.4bn, while cloud and on-premises license revenues were up 19 percent in constant currency to $0.9bn.

Q1 saw Oracle’s total revenue grew 23 percent in constant currency, beating guidance by $200m. Earlier this year, Oracle acquired Cerner, a health information technology (HIT) service. The acquisition provided additional financial boosts, with Cerner contributing $1.4bn to total quarterly revenues.

“Cerner will also positively impact revenue and earnings per share growth in the coming quarters as we fully integrate Cerner into Oracle and benefit from the resulting cost efficiencies. This is the first quarter we owned Cerner, and they just delivered the best revenue quarter in their history. We expect Cerner to do even better in the coming quarters as we develop an all-new suite of healthcare cloud services,” reported Oracle CEO Safra Catz.

The company reported Q1 GAAP earnings per share of $0.56 with a non-GAAP EPS of $1.03. In addition, the company announced a quarterly cash dividend of $0.32 per share of outstanding common stock to be paid on 25 October.

A strengthened USD against foreign currencies significantly impacted the quarter’s results. Without the strengthened dollar, the reported Q1 GAAP and non-GAAP eps would have been 8 cents higher.

Oracle’s Q1 GAAP operating income was $2.6bn, down 23 percent in USD and 17 percent in constant currency. Non-GAAP operating income was reported at $4.5bn, up 3 percent in USD and 10 percent in constant currency.

It was also reported in the financial results that Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services customers could now directly access Oracle Databases, including Oracle’s MySQL HeatWave.

“Multi-Cloud access to the Oracle Database and Oracle’s MySQL HeatWave database will make the world’s two most popular databases even more popular,” said Oracle Chairman and CTO Larry Ellison.