Oracle shares are up 10% after-hours: what’s fuelling the stock?

Shares of Oracle Corp (NYSE: ORCL) are up more than 10% in extended trading on market-beating results for the fiscal second quarter and authorisation for a new share repurchase programme.

Q2 financial results

Oracle said it lost $1.25 billion in Q2 that translates to 46 cents per share. In the comparable quarter of last year, it had posted $2.44 billion in net income or 80 cents per share. On an adjusted basis, the computer technology company earned $1.21 per share.

The American multinational generated $10.36 billion in revenue that translates to an annualised growth of 6.0%. According to FactSet, experts had forecast $1.11 in adjusted EPS on $10.2 billion in revenue.

The Texas-based company attributed its net loss in the recent quarter to a payment related to a years-old dispute over former CEO Mark Hurd’s employment.

Other notable figures

Other notable figures in the quarterly results include a 22% year-over-year increase in cloud revenue and $10.3 billion in operating cash flow over the trailing twelve months. According to CEO Safra Catz:

Oracle also reiterated its commitment to opening cloud data centres in Israel, Mexico, South Africa, Colombia, Italy, Singapore, France, and Sweden, in line with its original announcement in October.

Dividend and stock buyback

Oracle declared 32 cents of quarterly cash dividend and said its board authorised another $10 billion worth of stock buyback. In the earnings press release, Chairman Larry Ellison said: