Oracle third-quarter profit forecast fails to impress, company shares fall

Business software maker Oracle Corp on Wednesday delivered a third-quarter profit forecast that did not quite meet analysts' expectations, and the company's shares fell about 1 percent in extended trading.

Oracle forecast third-quarter profit of about 63-66 cents per share, with revenue flat or up 3 percent which translates to $9.33 billion-$9.61 billion. The company's shift from licensing software to cloud-based subscriptions has squeezed its margins.

Analysts on average were expecting profit of 65 cents per share on revenue of $9.28 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

-"This is a softer outlook than the Street was expecting and speaks to the massive growth challenges ahead,-" FBR Capital Markets analyst Daniel Ives said.

Oracle, like other established technology companies, has been moving its business to the cloud-based model, essentially providing services remotely via data centers rather than selling installed software.

In the second quarter ended Nov. 30, revenue from the company's cloud-computing software and platform service rose 34 percent to $484 million.

Total revenue fell 6.3 percent to $8.99 billion, missing analysts average estimate of $9.06 billion, according to Thomson Reuters