Oracle's Fourth Quarter Will Be Tough to Top

Excluding special items, the operating margin reached its highest yet, of 49%, Catz said. Deferred revenue jumped 32.6% year over year to $4.75 billion. Operating cash flow grew 38% year over year to $7.4 billion at the end of the quarter. And the company repurchased 24 million shares at an average price of $20.76.

For the seasonally slow first quarter, Catz said it would be tough for comparisons due to last year's growth rate of 35%. She projected revenue growth of 18% to 20%, implying a top line ranging from $5.42 billion to $5.51 billion. That is in line with analysts' expectations for revenue of $5.47 billion, but disappointing to investors.

On a down day for stocks, shares of Oracle were off 62 cents, or 2.8%, to $21.93 in recent trading.

Yet, investors may reasonably question whether Oracle is getting low on fuel, as it has depleted its prospects for large cross-industry software buyouts, like the $8.5 billion acquisition of BEA Systems in April. Goldman Sachs analyst Sarah Friar asked if in overdelivering on earnings growth projections for the past year, the company would find it harder to keep up earnings growth of 20% in 2009.

"We don't think our strategy is running out of gas," because much leverage is left in the business model of cross-selling its expanding portfolio of products, Catz said. When new customers come to Oracle for applications, "invariably they buy database and middleware."

As Oracle adds to its offerings through development and acquisition, "these products are very synergistic" and are far from exhausting their potential market. Mixing metaphors, Catz added, "We're not even in the second inning at this point."

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