INSTANT VIEW: Oracle revenue misses expectations, shares fall

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Oracle Corp (ORCL.O) posted on Wednesday quarterly revenues that missed Wall Street expectations as new software sales were at the low end of its target, sending shares down 8 percent.

Oracle's earnings per share before items for its fiscal third quarter was 30 cents, in line with Wall Street expectations according to Reuters Estimates.

COMMENTARY

BRENDAN BARNICLE, ANALYST, PACIFIC CREST SECURITIES

"It looks like the revenues and the application licenses were a little light of expectations."

"The weakness was on the applications side, which would be where you would expect it given this kind of economic environment."

DAMON FICKLIN, RESEARCH ANALYST, POLEN CAPITAL MANAGEMENT

"It looks like they were a little light on revenue, and that seems to be really focused on the applications business."

"New license growth and applications were off considerably from expectations. It indicates a little bit of a weakening economy. We like Oracle as a strong, diversified business, but obviously it's not immune to any weakness in the economy and this may be a sign."

SARAH FRIAR, ANALYST, GOLDMAN SACHS

"The applications business is definitely very weak. That makes me worry about what software is going to look like for the March quarter. I think this is definitely going to spook the market."

CHARLES DIBONA, ANALYST, SANFORD C. BERNSTEIN

"What the numbers are saying is, people have turned to the software sector in general as somewhat defensive, but it's not immune. People may have taken defensive to somewhat of an extreme and now we are somewhat disappointed. Maybe people were looking for heroism."

"There's so little clarity given in the reported numbers. It's like diving into a muddy pool. You just don't know what's underneath the water."

(Reporting by Philipp Gollner in San Francisco and Jim Finkle in Boston, compiled by Tiffany Wu)