Oracle Corp. shares recouped some of their losses in the extended session Thursday after the forecast revenue range bookended the Wall Street consensus, as the software company’s largest business unit topped forecasts, but its others didn’t. Oracle
ORCL,
-1.83%
shares were down about 3.5% after hours following the forecast. Prior to the forecast, shares had dropped more than 5% and were around those levels when a conference call with analysts began. Oracle shares declined 1.8% in the regular session to close at $86.87.
On the call with analysts, Oracle Chief Executive Safra Catz forecast fourth-quarter earnings of $1.56 to $1.60 a share on revenue growth of 15% to 17%, or $13.62 billion to $13.85 billion. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had estimated $1.47 a share on revenue of $13.75 billion. That followed fiscal third-quarter results in which Oracle reported net income of $1.9 billion, or 68 cents a share, compared with $2.32 billion, or 84 cents a share, a year ago. Adjusted earnings, which exclude stock-based compensation expenses and other items, were $1.22 a share, compared with $1.13 a share in the year-ago period. Revenue rose to $12.4 billion from $10.51 billion in the year-ago quarter. Analysts had estimated earnings of $1.20 a share and revenue of $12.43 billion for the third q …