Oracle Shares Plunge on Disappointing 3Q

Oracle's latest acquisition is the $8.5 billion takeover of rival BEA Systems Inc., a deal that culminated in January after several months of acrimony but has yet to be finalized.

Even if the acquisitions haven't shielded Oracle from broader market forces, and investors might have liked a brighter forecast, the company's profit and sales guidance for the fourth quarter both fall within the range of what analysts were expecting.

Oracle expects net income of 43 cents or 44 cents per share in the fourth quarter, excluding one-time charges, and expects sales to increase 15 percent to 19 percent.

Investors were also disappointed with Oracle's fourth-quarter outlook for sales of new software licenses, which are important because they open the door for Oracle to sell product upgrades and maintenance services to the same customers later.

In the third quarter, software sales jumped 21 percent to $4.2 billion, with new software license revenues up 16 percent to $1.6 billion.

In the fourth quarter, sales of new software licenses are expected to grow between 10 percent and 20 percent over last year.

There could be "quite a bit of upside, but we want to be cautious," Catz said.