SAN FRANCISCO — Oracle Corp. reported a 15 percent rise in second-quarter profits amid rising demand for its business software, providing the latest hopeful glint in high tech's brightening outlook.
The company, based in Redwood Shores, Calif., said Monday it earned $617 million, or 12 cents per share, in the quarter ended Nov. 30, compared with net income of $535 million, or 10 cents per share, at the same time last year.
Revenue totaled $2.5 billion, up 8 percent from $2.3 billion a year earlier.
The earnings were a penny better than the estimate of analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call.
Jeff Henley, Oracle's chief financial officer, described the quarter as the company's most encouraging performance since Oracle slipped into a slump with the rest of the high-tech sector in late 2000.
"Business optimism seems to be improving for the first time in several years, and that should improve technology spending," Henley said Monday. "We can see no reason why (the trend) shouldn't continue."
Henley predicted Oracle would earn 11 cents to 12 cents per share in the current quarter ending in February. That's in line with the range of analyst estimates covered by Thomson First Call.
Oracle released its results and forecast after the stock market closed Monday. The company's shares fell 13 cents to $12.70 on the Nasdaq Stock Market, then added 28 cents in extended trading.
With its upbeat quarterly report, Oracle joins other prominent high-tech bellwethers, including chip maker Intel Corp. and network equipment maker Cisco Systems Inc., that have provided financial evidence of an industry upturn.
Oracle's performance bodes well for the majority of software makers that close their quarters at the end of this month, said industry analyst Cameron Steele of RBC Capital Markets. Investors often look to Oracle as a proxy for the rest of the software industry because the company's fiscal quarters end earlier than most of its rivals.
It marked the fourth consecutive quarter in which Oracle's earnings improved upon from the results from the comparable year-ago period.
Oracle's earnings gains in previous quarters stemmed largely from rigid cost controls and consulting fees that helped the company offset lackluster demand for its software.
Solid sales growth propelled Oracle in its latest quarter as corporate customers stepped up their technology spending.
Oracle's new software licenses totaled $849 million in the quarter, a 13 percent increase from $752 million at the same time last year. The weak dollar helped to boost Oracle's international sales. If not for favorable currency fluctuations, Oracle said its software sales would have increased by 5 percent.