It is that time of year again, and we are fast-approaching Oracle Corporation's fiscal year end. With a closing on May 31, 2023, the enterprise database and cloud software company’s Fourth Quarter Fiscal Year 2023 earnings will post in mid-June. Based on Oracle’s Q1-Q3, there is every reason to anticipate Oracle’s performance will once again be strong.
Notably, Oracle’s 2023 Third Quarter Fiscal Year earnings were $12.4 billion, up 18 percent from $10.5 billion one year ago.
Analyst Take: Oracle revenue for Q3 of FY2023 continues a string of quarterly growth dating back to at least Q1 of FY2022 as Oracle maintains its earnings progress despite lingering and challenging macroeconomic conditions facing many tech and consumer companies around the world.
Richard Saintvilus, a Nasdaq contributor, reported in March:
Shares of Oracle (ORCL) have outperformed the market over the past year, despite the massive turbulence and punishment absorbed by software stocks. The shares have risen more than 11% in the past twelve months, besting the 9% decline in the S&P 500 index. …
Mr. Saintvilus attributed Oracle's 2023 performance to “Oracle’s cloud ambitions, namely Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI).”
Whether you have a stubborn audit, a troublesome Java “soft audit” (very common due to Oracle’s new Java licensing metric) or some other nagging dispute, consider ramping up those discussions now. As we shared a year ago, the months leading up to the closing of Oracle’s fiscal year, specifically April and May, tend to be the most propitious time to close deals with Oracle. Flexibility around Oracle’s list prices and meaningful discounts tend to improve as the fourth quarter moves towards its end, and motivated sales reps suddenly have the wiggle room to offer discounts that were not on the table during other times of the year.
In addition to cost savings, many of our clients have found that Oracle’s fiscal year end can bring with it a new willingness to close audits on favorable non-monetary terms. Previous roadblocks and high standards can suddenly disappear – or at the very least, be relaxed – and meaningful contractual exceptions can be granted.
These year-end negotiations can be a real balancing act. Thus, we offer a few suggestions:
Of course, Beeman & Muchmore stands ready to advise you on the above suggestions and how they may apply to your Oracle matter.
We wish our Oracle licensee friends the best of luck navigating through the year-end and, as always, are available to discuss all issues large and small.
Published on May 12, 2023
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