Oracle Corp. (NYSE:ORCL) shares tumbled after reporting quarterly cloud-computing sales that missed market forecasts.
Cloud revenue in the three months to 30 November rose 44% to US$1.52bn and Oracle said growth would slow to 21% to 25% in the third quarter, also falling short of analysts’ estimates.
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The computer technology firm has been playing catch up in the rapidly growing cloud market, which Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT) dominate.
Its switch to cloud computing comes as Amazon adds products and services directly aimed at taking over Oracle’s traditional database customers.
In October, Oracle launched its machine learning-based autonomous cloud database to help it compete against Amazon Web Services (AWS).
Last year, Oracle bought cloud computing company NetSuite Inc. for US$9bn lto add cloud clients and programmes.
The company has also been hiring engineers to build products that allow customers to rent software and computing power from Oracle. It has hired sales representatives to transition businesses to the new offerings.
Shares fell 6% to US$50 each in US pre-market trading.
Oracle expects revenue from its internet based products and services to rise 21% to 25% in the third quarter.
Profit is estimated at 68 US cents to 70 US cents a share, below forecasts of 72 US cents.