Stocks to Watch: Oracle's Earnings Soar; Yahoo!, eBay Reportedly in Talks

Oracle(ORCL Quote) posted third-quarter earnings of 17 cents a share, beating the First Call/Thomson Financial 31-analyst estimate of 13 cents and up from the year-ago 9-cent profit. The software maker said that sales increased 18% to $2.45 billion from $2.08 billion. Oracle said it was able to slash costs by $1 billion through the efficient use of its own database software. TheStreet.com/NYTimes.com joint venture newsroom wrote about Oracle's earnings in a story yesterday. In the wake of the report, Warburg Dillon Read raised its price target on the stock to 100 from 85. Donaldson Lufkin & Jenrette raised its 2000 earning estimates to 71 cents from 56 cents, and its 2001 estimates to 80 cents from 66 cents.

Yahoo!(YHOO Quote) and eBay(EBAY Quote) are negotiating a possible pact or merger, CNBC reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

Meanwhile, the Financial Times reported, citing people familiar with the situation, that the talks between the two companies, which it said were preliminary in nature, ended last week. ...