Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/klm6r8/oracle) has announced the addition of the "Oracle - Transitioning to Cloud Services" company profile to their offering.

Strong 2013 Q2 results - but not as good as it looks.

Headline results were strong, revenue growth picked up to 3% and EPS grew 24%. Revenue growth & EPS were at the top end of guidance last Q. But growth was boosted by recent acquisitions and YoY growth comparisons were undemanding. As hardware revenues shrink, their decline becomes less material at the Group level. Excluding a lower tax rate, Unusual Items & share repurchases; EPS grew just 6%. Worries about the fiscal cliff are likely to impact corporate IT spend and for Q3 to be weak. A potential catalyst is the expected hardware turnaround to growth and profitability in Q4.

Significant recent events

- In December 2012, Oracle pre-pad dividends for Q2, Q3 and Q4 2013.

- Oracle to provide infrastructure as a service, in competition with Amazon & Google.

Investment thesis - Constrained by low organic growth

Oracle's fundamental value depends on enhancing competitive edge to grow sales & EPS via:

(i) Upgrade cycle with Oracle's new Fusion (12c database, middleware & applications .) software, E-Business Suite, hardware and a complete suite of cloud services in 2012.

(ii) Anticipated Hardware turnaround; as engineered systems (Exadata, Exalogic & Exalytics) growth offsets the decline in traditional Sun hardware; which has yet to materialise.

(iii) Cross selling products to clients, using a vertical business model (complete IT systems).

(iv) Managing the shift from selling software for "on-premises" equipment, to cloud services and SaaS; but this shift also threatens its maintenance fees & ability to lock in customers.

Oracle's size & strong position in target segments, and its strategic focus on large corporates means that it is well-positioned. Key issues are its weak organic revenue growth and dependence on volatile corporate IT, product replacement & sales cycles.

For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/klm6r8/oracle