Oracle (Nasdaq:ORCL) Blows Past Expectations on IT Spending Rebound

With companies holding back for a long time during the worst of the economic downturn, they've started IT spending again with a vengeance, and Oracle (Nasdaq:ORCL) was a strong beneficiary of that spending boost, as revenue gained 47 percent and profits rose 28 percent in the second quarter.

Possibly more important to shareholders and investors was the guidance offered by Oracle for the third quarter, which is for earnings to come in at 50 cents a share, above the 47 cents the Street is looking for.

Oracle's core business, selling and servicing business database software let them for the quarter, with sales of new softward increasing 21 percent to reach $2 billion. Product support sales increased to $3.6 billion, a 12 percent gain.

Oracle’s co-president, Safra A. Catz, added even with that core business strength, all businesses and countries they operate in were solid for the quarter.

Even with the stronger guidance, there is the question if the pent up demand is able to be sustained over a periof of time, as far as the core business of the company. Oracle evidently believes there's still room to grow.

Oracle closed Thursday at $30.27, down $0.22, or 0.72 percent. In after hours trading they were up almost 4 percent as of this writing.