Can Oracle’s (ORCL) Cloud Momentum Support Its Q1 Earnings?

Oracle Corporation (ORCL – Analyst Report) is scheduled to report first-quarter fiscal 2017 earnings results on Sep 15. The company expects the ongoing momentum in its cloud-based products to drive earnings and top-line growth for the quarter.

Notably, in fourth-quarter 2016, SaaS and PaaS revenues jumped 66% year over year (up 68% on constant currency) to $690 million. Moreover, SaaS and PaaS billings surged 38% year over year, driven by an expanding customer base.

The strong momentum drove Oracle shares up almost 5.3% post fourth-quarter 2016 results, reported on Jun 16. Notably, shares have increased 11.4% on a year-to-date basis as compared with S&P 500’s return of almost 6% over the same time frame.

Price and EPS Surprise