Oracle Profit Rises 20%, Higher Than Forecast.

Resh off a radical overhaul of its executive suite, Oracle told investors on Thursday that its house remained in order.


Lawrence J. Ellison, Oracle's chief executive, has been expanding the company into hardware.

Oracle posted better-than-expected results for its first quarter on the back of strong sales of new software products and higher maintenance and support revenue. Wall Street analysts praised the company for turning in such results for a quarter that closed at the end of August, traditionally one of the slowest selling periods. Oracle’s performance also provided a bright spot for the business computing sector, which has produced a mixed bag of results in recent weeks.

“Obviously, we are extremely pleased with our first-quarter results,” said Safra A. Catz, a president of Oracle, speaking to analysts.

Oracle reported net income of $1.4 billion, or 27 cents a share, up 20 percent from net income of $1.12 billion, or 22 cents a share, reported a year earlier. Excluding charges, Oracle earned 42 cents a share, 5 cents above the 37 cents forecast by analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters.

Revenue for Oracle, a maker of database software, rose 48 percent, to $7.5 billion for the quarter, up from $5.05 billion from a year earlier. Analysts had predicted revenue of $7.27 billion.

Ms. Catz predicted that Oracle’s revenue for the second quarter would rise 42 to 47 percent over the period last year, when the company posted sales of $5.9 billion.

Early this month, Oracle hired Hewlett-Packard’s former chief executive, Mark V. Hurd, as a president to work alongside Ms. Catz. Just as Mr. Hurd arrived, Charles E. Phillips Jr. resigned as a director and a president.

The hiring of Mr. Hurd, who resigned from H.P. last month, has complicated the relationship between Oracle and H.P., its longtime partner.

H.P. has filed a lawsuit against Mr. Hurd, saying he will be unable to perform his job at Oracle without disclosing privileged information about H.P.

Mr. Hurd spoke to analysts for the first time since joining Oracle, complimenting the company’s performance.

“I don’t believe there is any other company in the industry better positioned than Oracle,” Mr. Hurd said.

The legal squabble underscores the changing relationships taking place as the world’s largest technology companies begin to step on each other’s toes.

Historically, Oracle stuck to selling database and business software that would run on hardware from its various partners, including H.P. and Dell. But when Oracle completed its acquisition of Sun Microsystems early this year, the company marched into the hardware market, selling computer servers and storage systems that compete directly with H.P., Dell, I.B.M. and others.

Similarly, Cisco Systems, a networking specialist, has started selling computer servers and virtualization software, while H.P. has built up a large networking business to compete with Cisco.

Never one to back down from a confrontation, Lawrence J. Ellison, Oracle’s chief executive, threatened that H.P.’s lawsuit against Mr. Hurd could wreck the companies’ relationship. Meanwhile, H.P. remains a major sponsor for Oracle’s customer conference in San Francisco next week and one of its top executives is scheduled to speak at the event.

Outside of this turmoil, Oracle continues to follow a multiyear strategy of acquiring business software makers large and small. The company hopes to become a one-stop shop of sorts, offering basic products needed to run a businesses as well as products tailored for specific markets like financial services, retailing and manufacturing.

Oracle tends to purchase companies with loyal customers who pay regular maintenance fees for upgrades and other services. In so doing, it has built a fairly predictable revenue stream.

The pace at which Oracle has acquired once independent software makers has alarmed some customers who fear the company is gaining too much control over their data centers and operations.

During its first quarter, Oracle reported that new licenses to its products rose 25 percent, to $1.29 billion. Its maintenance and support revenue rose 12 percent, to $3.45 billion. Oracle posted about $1 billion in hardware sales as well.

Mr. Ellison vowed to unveil a host of new products at Oracle’s event next week, including systems that create tight links between hardware and software.

“We think that will make customers’ lives much easier,” he said.

Shares of Oracle fell 1.5 percent during Thursday’s trading, to $25.36. After the release of its financial report, Oracle’s shares rose 4.3 percent, to $26.45, in after-hours trading.