Oracle Shares Rally After Hours On Strong FY Q4 Results; Sun In The Black; Q1 Outlook Meets Street Ests (Updated)

Oracle (ORCL) are trading higher this afternoon after the enterprise software company posted solid resultsfor its fiscal fourth quarter ended May 31. CFO Jeff Epstein said in a statement that the company “executed better than expected on both the top and bottom line for the quarter.”

Oracle posted revenue of $9.5 billion on a GAAP basis, up 39% from a year ago; the company had projected an increase of 36%-41%. On a non-GAAP basis, revenue was $9.6 billion, up 40%. New software license revenue was up 14% on a GAAP basis to $3.1 billion, while software license updates and product support revenue were up 12% to $3.4 billion.� GAAP operating income was up 14% to $3.3 billion, and GAAP operating margin was 35%. Non-GAAP operating income was up 26% to $4.4 billion, and non-GAAP operating margin was 46%.

EPS was 46 cents on a GAAP basis, and 60 cents on a non-GAAP basis, ahead of both the Street at 54 cents, and Oracle’s projection of 52-56 cents.

The company said that Sun Microsystems contributed over $400 million to non-GAAP operating income in the quarter. The company said it is increasing confident of meeting or exceeding its goal of having Sun contribute $1.5, billion to non-GAAP operating income in FY 2011, and $2 billion in FY 2012.

It wouldn’t be an Oracle earnings release without a few digs at the competition of course. Ergo, the company noted that it continues to take “large chunks of market share away from SAP,” and also noted that some of IBM‘s customers are buying Sun Exadata database machines instead of IBM servers.

In late trading, ORCL is up 54 cents, or 2.4%, to $22.76.

Update: For Q1, the company sees new software license revenue up 4%-14% at constant currency rates, or 2%-12% at current exchange rates. Hardware revenue expected to be about $1 billion, not including support. Total revenue is expected to be up 44%-48% on a non-GAAP constant currency basis, or 41%-45% at current exchange rates.� On a GAAP basis, the company expects 42%-46% revenue growth in constant currency, or 39%-43% at current rates. The company sees non-GAAP EPS of 36-38 cents at constant currency, up from 30 cents a year ago, and in line with the Street at 37 cents, or 35-37 cents assuming current exchange rates. GAAP EPS is expected to be 18-19 cents at constant currency, or 17-18 cents at current rates.