BEA Swings to a Profit

SAN FRANCISCO - In continuing good news for Oracle(ORCL Quote), BEA Systems(BEAS Quote) beat fourth-quarter revenue expectations Thursday.

Middleware vendor BEA, which is being acquired by Oracle for $8.5 billion, reported top line growth of 12.5%, to $440.9 million compared with $391.8 million a year ago. Analysts were expecting revenue of $428.5 million, according to Thomson Financial.

The company reversed a large bottom line loss a year ago, reporting net income of $75.7 million, or 18 cents a share, compared with a negative $99.7 million, or 25 cents a share, in the year-ago quarter.

Excluding items, EPS was 23 cents, a penny better than analysts' estimates.

Federal regulators approved Oracle's acquisition of BEA Wednesday. Shareholders will vote on the deal at an April 4 meeting.

BEA was up a penny to $19.06 in after-hours trading. And shares of Oracle were up 6 cents, or 0.3%, to $19.47.