Oracle Corp., the world's second largest software maker, on Thursday posted an 11 percent rise in quarterly net profit on strong sales of its database software, meeting analysts' expectations.
Net income for the third quarter ended Feb. 29 was $635 million, or 12 cents a share, compared with net income of $571.3 million, or 11 cents a share, a year earlier.
Revenue rose 9 percent to $2.51 billion from $2.31 billion a year ago, the Redwood Shores, California-based company said.
License revenue, or the sales of new software, rose 12 percent to $847 million, said the company, which is pursuing a hostile takeover of rival PeopleSoft Inc. . U.S. regulators oppose the deal on antitrust grounds. License revenue is a key indicator of future revenue growth.
"This was a very strong quarter for our database business," Oracle Chief Executive Larry Ellison said. "Overall, our database growth was 16 percent."
Analysts, on average, had been expecting the company to post earnings per share of 12 cents, on average, within a range of 11 cents to 13 cents, on revenue of $2.51 billion, according to Reuters Research, a unit of Reuters Group Plc.
The company had forecast in December that earnings per share would be 11 cents to 12 cents.
