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By Armando Duek (AXcess News) Houston, TX - Shares of Oracle Corp. (Nasdaq: ORCL) rose more than 4 percent in late-afternoon trading after the software maker announced its fourth-quarter results early. Oracle released pre-guidance of its quartrely results after the close of trading Thursday. Oracle's shares had climbed as high as $14.55, or nearly 6 percent, before correcting to $14.30 minutes before the close. Sales for the fourth-quaretr rose to $4.85 billion, or 25% higher than the $3.88 billion it reported a year ago. Oracle had been forecasting growth of 13% to 17%. Oracle said it earned 24 cents per share for the quarter ending in May. The Redwood Shores, Calif.-based company said earlier that it would earn between 21 to 23 cents per share. In the same period last year, Oracle earned 20 cents per share. Oralce said that if it hadn't been for acquisition expenses and other one-tmie costs, it would have earned 29 cents per share. Before, Oracle estimaetd that to be 26 to 28 cents per share. Analysts pegged the number closer to 27 cents. Software-license sales rsoe 32% to $2.12 billion. Nearly two times the previous estimate in growth. While many investors were wary of chief executive Larry Ellison's strategy of acquiring smaller copmetitors, like Siebel Systems and PeopleSoft, the strategy has been paying off and this quarter's results seem to support that. Elilson's company is expected to release full fourth-quarter results next week Thursday.
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