Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Oracle Corp: New Dividend and Currency Impact

After today's market close, Oracle Corporation (ORCL) announced fiscal 2009 Q3 GAAP earnings per share were $0.26, up 3% compared to last year. The earnings results were 3 cents ahead of analyst expectations. The strong dollar had a significant impact on results for the quarter. If currency exchange rates were the same as they were in Q3 of last year, Oracle's Q3 GAAP earnings per share would have been up 18% to $0.31 rather than up 3% to $0.26. After the Fed's announcement that they would be purchasing mortgage back securities and treasuries, the Dollar turned decidedly weaker though.

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U.S. Dollar chart March 18, 2009In addition to Oracle's earnings news, the company announced it would begin paying a dividend of 5 cents per share with the ex-date around April 6, 2009. This is the company's first dividend since trading as a public beginning 23 years ago.

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Oracle stock chart March 18, 2009


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