Oracle Shines, RIM Sinks

By Fool TV | More Articles
June 28, 2010 | Comments (2)

While it's not officially earnings seasons yet, we had a couple giants of technology report last quarter's results on Friday. Oracle (Nasdaq: ORCL ) surprised with outstanding results, while Research In Motion (Nasdaq: RIMM ) struggles under a deluge of Androids and iPhones.

In this video, Fool.com analyst Eric Bleeker says he's been wrong about Oracle's move into hardware through its acquisition of Sun Microsystems. Yes, Oracle has been losing market share, but at this stage in the game, it looks like their re-positioning to higher-margin offerings and "fat trimming" at Sun Microsystems has been successful. We'll see if there's any long-term blow back for the share loss, but as of now, the company looks to have another successful acquisition on its hands.

Of course, being Oracle, the company's earnings release and conference call had to rub some salt in competitor's wounds. We saw some continued chest thumping around Oracle mopping the floor with SAP (NYSE: SAP ) in application sales, and CEO Larry Ellison made sure to highlight some major wins against IBM (NYSE: IBM ) , especially in the data warehousing segment, where Oracle's been making significant investments.

On the loser side of earnings, Bleeker says Research In Motion's earnings were less than inspiring. It's no secret what's ailing the BlackBerry maker: in two words, Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL ) and Google (Nasdaq: GOOG ) . The company has pitched its fortunes on expanding into the consumer market, which has been very successful, but their high-end offerings like the Storm haven't been competitive with the technology Apple and Google are rolling out.

On the business user side, we've seen reports the company is losing its iron grip. AT&T says 4 out of 10 iPhone sales are to business users. It's not as if RIM is in danger of going extinct tomorrow, but with lower satisfaction scores that indicate consumers are more likely to switch to either Android or the iPhone on their next purchase, the growth story looks to be fizzling out.

To hear Bleeker's full thoughts on Oracle and Research In Motion's earnings, click on the video below:

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Eric Bleeker owns shares of no companies listed above. Google is a Motley Fool Rule Breakers selection. Apple is a Motley Fool Stock Advisor recommendation. The Fool owns shares of Oracle. Try any of our Foolish newsletters today, free for 30 days. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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Help us keep this a respectfully Foolish area! This is a place for our readers to discuss, debate, and learn more about the Foolish investing topic you read about above. Help us keep it clean and safe. If you believe a comment is abusive or otherwise violates our Fool's Rules, please report it via the Report this Comment icon found on every comment.

Report this Comment On June 28, 2010, at 5:16 PM, InfoThatHelp wrote:

It only took Rimm two days to sink 17% ending below the 52-week lows of $54.35 last week, and even with the publicly announced Rimm buyback program Rimm still fails to rise back above the $54.35 watermark, and all kinds of reasons for Rimm to ever come back, but rather, sink below the $50 level and on its way past the 2-year low of $35.05.
Report this Comment On June 28, 2010, at 5:25 PM, InfoThatHelp wrote:

Apple is not only threatening to put Rimm out of business, but Dell also as long as Windows does not come out with a domineering user interface like iOS and OSX. Rimm has long stopped its rapid fire TV commercials on BOGOberry commercials. Now it's Dell's turn to rapid fire TV commercials in red little Intel based notebooks selling multiple-purpose use but seriously lacking in iOS class apps numbered in 250000 some sporting 3D capabilities immediately able to HDMI to Samsung 3D HD LCD 52" TVs doing all things 3D now. Rumors the porn industries are already selling 3D Porno catching fire with the number 1 Internet users - the porn seeking surfers.

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