Strong cloud sales help Oracle beat earnings targets SHARE Database and business software giant Oracle Corp. beat expectations with its second-quarter financial results today thanks to what it said was strong growth in its cloud services offerings. The company reported a profit before certain costs such as stock compensation of $1.06 per share on revenue of $9.8 billion, up 2% from the same period a year ago. That was better than expected, Wall Street having forecast a profit of a dollar a share on revenue of $9.77 billion. Oracle executives told analysts in a conference call that its cloud services were in more demand this year thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has forced many corporate employees to work from home.