甲骨文硬件销量缩水，高管称策略调整使然

    最近，甲骨文销售战略的转变导致公司收入下降。但是公司总裁马克•赫德表示，长远看来，转变销售战略有助于公司在日后获得更多利润。

    马克•赫德曾经在老东家惠普公司（Hewlett-Packard）创造了骄人的硬件销售业绩。但在转投甲骨文公司（Oracle Corporation）并担任公司总裁后，他到目前还没能复制昔日的辉煌。这家总部位于加利福尼亚州的红木城的公司上周早些时候发布公告称，本季度硬件销售未达到预期。这一不利消息导致甲骨文公司的股票在上周四下午的交易中受挫。

    赫德表示，甲骨文公司主动上调了部分系统的销售价格，这是导致硬件销售出现下滑的原因。

    上周四下午，赫德在电话会议中向投资者表示：“对于服务器销售来说，薄利多销很容易做到。但我们希望通过提高产品价格，获得更高的利润。”

    许多分析师一致认为，甲骨文公司的硬件业务仍在不断发展（总体来看，该公司本季度经营状况良好），但是，一些分析师对甲骨文公司的整合能力颇感忧虑。去年，甲骨文公司以74亿美元的价格，收购了服务器制造商太阳微系统公司（Sun Microsystems）。

    近期，调查机构柯文公司（Cowen and Company）的高级研究分析师彼得•戈德马彻在一份报告中写道，“事实上，尽管拉里（甲骨文公司CEO埃里森）声称，该公司在2012财年的销量将增长两倍，但是，2011年第二季度硬件销售未达到预期、缺少收入增长点以及利润疲软等问题，这一切都动摇了投资者对其管理层控制业务能力的信心。”

    摩根大通证券公司（JMP Securities）的分析师帕特里克•沃拉文斯认为，因为其他硬件销售商推出产品的速度比甲骨文公司更快，所以甲骨文公司在低端服务器市场的竞争能力可能低于预期。沃拉文斯在周五上午发布的一份报告中指出，“我们还从业内其他渠道了解到，甲骨文公司需要更好地‘培养’太阳微系统公司的业务。”

    甲骨文公司在上周四公布了一些振奋人心的数据。虽然上季度硬件销售额为12亿美元，同比下降了6%，但是净收入在财年第四季度增长36%。与此同时，总收入增长13%，为108亿美元（分析师此前预测的这一数据为107.5亿美元）。客观来看，情况还不算太差。

    当然，对硬件销售的前景以及赫德依靠太阳微系统公司掘金的能力，甲骨文公司一直持乐观态度。

    上周四，甲骨文公司的CFO萨弗瑞•凯兹向投资者表示：“我们有马克在。他不是对硬件销售不在行，恰恰相反，他甚至能在短短一下午的时间就卖出价值1亿美元的硬件。如果不看实际利润，只看销量，你们也许会很开心；但是，我不认为你们真的乐意这么干，因此我们希望改进硬件的销售方式。”

    A change in sales strategy is behind a drop-off in revenues, but Mark Hurd says it's all in service of more profit down the line.

    Mark Hurd may have an impressive track record selling hardware for his former employer, Hewlett-Packard (HPQ). But that hasn't translated to immediate success at Oracle Corporation (ORCL), where Hurd now serves as president. The Redwood Shores, Calif.-based company's hardware business fell short of expectations in an otherwise strong quarter, announced earlier this week. The disappointing news sent Oracle shares down in late trading on Thursday.

    According to Hurd, the reason for the decline in hardware product revenues is that Oracle is deliberately selling fewer systems at a higher price.

    "Selling units that have no gross margin are easy to do," Hurd told investors on a conference call Thursday afternoon. Oracle's focus, Hurd added, is selling higher-margin machines.

    While many analysts agreed that Oracle's hardware business is still evolving (and that overall, the company had a solid quarter), some expressed concern over its ability to successfully integrate last year's $7.4 billion acquisition of server maker Sun Microsystems.

    "The fact is, despite Larry's [Ellison, the company's CEO] claim to triple the number of boxes Oracle will sell in FY12, the second hardware miss, a lack of revenue upside, and soft margins has shaken investor confidence in management's iron clad grip on the business," Peter Goldmacher, a senior research analyst with Cowen and Company, wrote in a recent note.

    Another analyst, JMP Securities' Patrick Walravens, suggested the company may not be competing as well as expected in the lower-end server business partly because other hardware vendors can ship their products faster than Oracle. "We have also had other industry sources suggest to us that Oracle needs to do a better job of 'nurturing' the Sun business," Walravens wrote in a report published Friday morning.

    To put things in perspective, Oracle did release some impressive numbers on Thursday. While hardware sales came in at $1.2 billion, down 6% compared with the same quarter a year earlier, overall net income rose 36% in the fourth quarter percent. Meanwhile, revenue climbed 13% to $10.8 billion (analysts had expected revenue of $10.75 billion). Not too shabby.

    Of course, Oracle remains as bullish as ever on its hardware prospects--and on Hurd's ability to spin gold from Sun.

    "We have Mark here," Safra Catz, Oracle's CFO, told investors on Thursday. "It's not like he doesn't know how to sell hardware. He'd probably sell $100 million of hardware in an afternoon here, and maybe folks would be happier, but we just would make less money. I just don't think that would really make anyone happy. We'd like to do it the better way."