Oracle Jumps on strong Cloud Demand, Carnival Lifted Quarterly Outlook

Mukesh Buch
22 Jun, 2017
New York City

Accenture issued weak fiscal forecast. Barnes & Noble revenues declined 6%. Carnival lifted earnings forecast. Oracle net surged on strong cloud demand. Staples may consider an offer to go private.

[R]12:20 PM New York – Accenture issued weak fiscal forecast. Barnes & Noble revenues declined 6%. Carnival lifted earnings forecast. Oracle net surged on strong cloud demand. Staples may consider an offer to go private.[/R]

Tollbooth Index fell 20.38 or 0.2% to 12,077.15.

Earnings Review

Accenture Plc ((ACN)) declined 3.6% or $4.67 to $122.44 after the Ireland-based professional services provider reported revenues in the third-quarter ending in May jumped 4.4% from a year ago to $8.4 billion.

Net income in the quarter plunged 25.4% to $669.5 million or $1.05 per diluted share from $897.2 million or $1.41 in the same quarter last year.

Accenture forecasted fourth-quarter revenues to jump between 5% and 8% or in the range of $8.85 billion to $9.10 billion.

In fiscal 2017, revenue is estimated to increase in the range of 6% to 7% and diluted earnings per share in the range of $5.37 to $5.44, including 47 cents impact of the pension settlement charge of about $510 million.

Barnes & Noble, Inc ((BKS)) soared 8.5% or 55 cents to $7.05 after the bookseller said total sales in the fourth-quarter ending in April declined 6.3% from a year ago to $821 million.

Comparable store sales in the quarter slumped 6.3% and online sales dropped 2.9%.

Net loss in the quarter narrowed to $13.4 million or 19 cents per diluted share from $30.6 million or 42 cents in the same quarter last year.

Carnival Corp ((CCL)) slipped 57 cents to $65.86 after the cruise operator reported revenues in the second-quarter ending in May advanced 5.4% from a year ago to $3.9 billion.

Net income in the quarter tumbled 37.4% to $379 million or 52 cents per diluted share from $605 million or 80 cents in the same quarter last year.

The leisure traveler lifted third-quarter earnings per share forecast to between $2.16 and $2.20 from $1.92 in the same period a year ago.

For fiscal 2017, Carnival lifted earnings per share estimate in the range of $3.60 to $3.70 compared to previous guidance between $3.50 and $3.70 in March and $3.45 in fiscal 2016.

Commercial Metals Company ((CMC)) rose 18 cents to $18.59 after the steel and metal products recycler stated revenues in the third-quarter ending on May 27 soared 16.7% from a year ago to $1.4 billion.

Net income in the quarter more than doubled to $39.3 million or 34 cents per diluted share from $19.3 million or 17 cents in the same quarter last year.

Methode Electronics Inc ((MEI)) increased 35 cents to $39 after the electro-mechanical devices maker said net sales in the fourth-quarter ending in April grew 3.2% from a year ago to $219.7 million.

Net income in the quarter rose 1.8% to $23.1 million or 62 cents per diluted share from $22.7 million or 61 cents in the same quarter last year.

Oracle Corporation ((ORCL)) surged 9.4% or $4.38 to $50.72 after the enterprise software provider reported total revenues in the fourth-quarter ending in April jumped 4% from a year ago to $10.9 billion.

Net income in the quarter surged 17% to $3.2 billion or 76 cents per diluted share from $2.8 billion or 66 cents in the same quarter last year.

The software developer said cloud-infrastructure revenue in the quarter surged 58.4% to $1.36 billion.

""In the coming year, I expect more of our big customers to migrate their Oracle databases and database applications to the Oracle Cloud,"" said Oracle founder and chief technology officer Larry Ellison.

Oracle forecasted first-quarter revenues to increase in the range of 4% to 6% and earnings per share in the range of 59 cents and 61 cents.

Staples, Inc ((SPLS)) jumped 6.8% or 59 cents to $9.24 after Reuters reported that private equity firm Sycamore Partners is in preliminary talks to acquire the office supplies retailer for $6 billion.

Sprint Corp ((S)) decreased 1.7% or 14 cents to $8.07 after Germany-based newspaper Handelsblatt said Deutsche Telekom is seeking all-stock deal with T-Mobile Us Inc and Sprint.