Oracle Corp. (ORCL, Financial), the Redwood Shores, California-based global computer technology company, is going to release the financial results for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2017 June 21 after the New York Stock Exchange closes.
Analysts forecast that the giant software maker will generate an EPS of 78 cents and this figure – an average of 32 analysts’ estimates on Oracle's earnings – will range between a low of 77 cents and a high of 80 cents, as shown in the picture below.
Source: Yahoo Finance
This average EPS – as forecasted by analysts – represents a 3.7% decline from the EPS of the same quarter of fiscal 2016 and will be, according to the average analysts’ estimate, backed on revenue that for the period in question will come in at $10.45 billion. This is a 1.40% decline from revenue of the comparable quarter of fiscal 2016. The fourth-quarter revenue figure ranges between a low of $10.32 billion and a high of $10.64 billion.
Source: Yahoo Finance
For the full year of 2017, analysts forecast that Oracle will close the 12 months reporting period with an EPS of $2.64, which represents a 1.15% increase year over year backed on yearly revenue expected to come in at $37.39 billion, a 0.90% increase from 2016.
Financially speaking, Oracle bases its business on a solid balance sheet. The U.S. software maker’s operations, worth $13 billion to $15 billion of yearly cash flow, lie on a balance sheet that is characterized by approximately $59.35 billion in cash on hand and securities or $14.42 per share as of the third quarter of fiscal 2017. Even though the existence of a $53.97 billion debt leads to a total debt-equity (most recent quarter) ratio of 105.77, which is much higher than the industry average of 42.21, Oracle can easily sustain the debt burden with an interest coverage ratio (TTM) of 11.18.
Oracle is trading at $45.43 per share with a market capitalization of $187.65 billion, a price-earnings (P/E) ratio of 21.57, a price-book (P/B) ratio of 3.71 and a price-sales (P/S) ratio of 5.01.
Oracle’s 52-week range is $37.620 to $46.990, which means that the technology stock is trading only $1.56 below its highest price over the last 12 trailing months even though with a recommendation rating of 2.3 out of 5 and a target price of $48.64Â per share, analysts still see room for an upside in the market value of Oracle.
The forward P/E ratio is 16.09 that, multiplied by a forecast EPS of $2.83 for fiscal 2018, gives us a value of $45.53.
Analysts foresee a 7.20% growth for the next year and an 8.57% average annual growth for the next five years.
The company distributes to its shareholders an annual dividend of 76 cents through quarterly payments of 19 cents for a dividend yield of 1.67%.
Oracle has approximately 4.11 billion shares outstanding, of which 2.99 billion is float, 26.17% is held by insiders and 61.50% is held by institutions.
Disclosure: I have no positions in Oracle.
