Database software giant Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL) found traders hard to please with its fiscal first quarter earnings, released last night.
Earnings per share (EPS) of 62 cents were two cents higher than the consensus forecast while revenue was US$180mln higher than expected at US$9.21bn, but the stock still subsided in after-hours trading, dipping to US$50.70 after closing in regular hours trading at US$52.79.
The problem was not so much the rear view picture mirror as the road ahead; the company's guidance for the second quarter, revealed in a conference call following the release of results, was on the light side.
The company said it expects second quarter EPS to be somewhere between 64 and 68 cents, while revenue growth in constant currency terms was pitched at 2% to 4%.
The median forecast for second quarter EPS prior to the conference call was 68 cents, while analysts had penciled in a revenue figure that amounted to 4.7% growth from a year earlier.
In contrast, Virginia-based Genworth Financial Inc (NYSE:GNW) was wanted in after-hours trading after its proposed acquisition of Oceanwide was approved by the Virginia Bureau of Insurance.
The shares were up 4.8% at US$.4.17.
After confirming on Wednesday night that the massive cyber-breach it announced a week ago may have been even bigger than feared, credit checking firm Equifax Inc (NYSE:EFX) was under more pressure on Thursday night, as Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said the data beach was "one of the most egregious examples of corporate malfeasance since Enron," and called for the board to step down if they did not notify by next week everyone affected by the attack, provide credit monitoring and identification theft protection for 10 years, offer to freeze people’s credit for up to 10 years, stop requiring arbitration of disagreements, and cooperate with all investigations, penalties and new standards that are required.
Across the border, Equifax Canada was under attack as the Canadian Automobile Association informed its roughly 10,000 members that their data might have been compromised as a result of the data breach.