US markets
U.S. stocks were in the green on Wednesday after researchers in the UK have shown that dexamethasone can help reduce the chance of death in severely ill Covid-19 patients by approximately a third. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.22% to 26,341, the S&P 500 index rose 0.32% to 3,134 and the Nasdaq Composite Index was down 0.57% to 9,952.
Gainers
• J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. (JBHT, Financial) +1.3%
• Genuine Parts Company (GPC, Financial) +0.79%
• Eastman Chemical Company (EMN, Financial) +0.50%
• Flowserve Corporation (FLS, Financial) +0.08%
Losers
• Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. (NCLH, Financial) -7.9%
• Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (RCL, Financial) -6.2%
• Carnival Corporation & Plc (CCL, Financial) -5.1%
• Nordstrom, Inc. (JWN, Financial) -4.7%
Global markets
The main European stock markets traded in the green.The UK's FTSE 100 rose 0.60%, France's CAC 40 advanced 1.21%, Germany's Dax inched up 0.78% and Spain's Ibex 35 jumped 0.28%.
In Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 slid 0.56%, India’s BSE Sensex dipped 0.29%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng advanced 0.56% and China's Shanghai Composite was up 0.14%.
Oracle releases earnings report
Shares of Oracle Corporation (ORCL, Financial) fell 3% on pre-market trading Wednesday morning after the company announced its fiscal fourth-quarter 2020 results the day before. It posted earnings per share of $1.20, beating analysts’ estimates by 5 cents. Revenue of $10.44 billion declined 6.3% year-over-year and fell short of predictions by $240 million.
CEO Safra Catz had the following to say:
"Our overall business did remarkably well considering the pandemic, but our results would have been even better except for customers in the hardest-hit industries that we serve such as hospitality, retail, and transportation postponing some of their purchases. Still, for the third year in a row, we delivered double-digit constant currency earnings per share growth in FY20."
By segment, Cloud services and license support revenues were $6.8 billion, up 1% year-over-year and 3%, respectively. Cloud license and on-premise license revenues reached $1.96 billion.
The GAAP operating income inched up 1% year-over-year to $4.3 billion, while GAAP operating margin was 41%. Non-GAAP operating income was down 2% year-over-year to $5.1 billion, while non-GAAP operating margin was 49%.
For full fiscal 2020, total revenues were $39.1 billion, down 1% year-over-year. Cloud services and license support revenues were $27.4 billion, up 3% year-over-year. Cloud license and on-premise license revenues were $5.1 billion.
Looking ahead the first quarter, the company expects non-GAAP earnings growth in the range of 5% to 9%, or 85 cents to 89 cents per share.
In the first quarter of calendar 2020, Ken Fisher (Trades, Portfolio) trimmed his holding in the company by 17% to 13,209,055 shares and First Pacific Advisors (Trades, Portfolio) cut its holdings by 6% to 374,645 shares. Jim Simons' Renaissance Technologies sold out of the stock.
Disclosure: The author holds no positions in any stocks mentioned.
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