IMAGE is looking better all the time...


>Tuesday December 9, 10:38 am Eastern Time
>
>Oracle shares plummet 28 pct on weak Q2
>
>NEW YORK, Dec 9  - Shares of software giant Oracle Corp plummeted
>28 percent in early trade after the company reported disappointing fiscal
>second quarter results and a number of analysts downgraded the stock.
>
>Oracle shares traded at 23-3/8, down 9, on volume of over 32 million shares
>after only about 25 minutes of trade.
>
>Late Monday Oracle said its fiscal second quarter net income rose 4.5
>percent, far less than Wall Street expected. The company cited slowing
>sales in Asia.
>
>Oracle's said its profit rose to $0.19 a share from $0.18 in the same
>quarter a year ago.
>
>Analysts had expected Oracle to earn $0.23 a share, according to a recent
>survey by Zacks Investment Research.
>
>Merrill Lynch today downraded Oracle to near-term accumulate from buy,
>while Morgan Stanley and Bear Stearns cut the database software company to
>neutral, from strong buy and buy, respectively.
>
>Analysts cited the company's poor performance in Asia, where revenue rose
>just 1 percent in U.S. dollars. Asia accounts for about 15 percent of
>Oracle's total revenue.
>
>They also said weakness in the telecommunications industry, where there has
>been a decrease in spending on Oracle's products, contributed to the second
>quarter earnings slump.
>
>``We had grown cautious of the slowdown in database sales earlier this
>year, as it was apparent that Oracle should have been seeing much stronger
>sales'' in lieu of problems faced by its competitors, said David Takata of
>Gruntal and Co.
>
>Takata said Oracle's woes also include disruption from a reorganization of
>its sales force.
>
>He kept his rating on the stock at hold but cut his fiscal 1998 earnings
>outlook to $0.93 a share from $0.97.