There you go again

"The applications business grew 77%. But a lot of that growth came from purchased companies. The year-earlier period included only two months of PeopleSoft and no Siebel or Retek. And the applications business is even less impressive when compared with the comparable period in 2004, when all the companies were operating independently. Then, the companies including Oracle notched $297 million in application sales, according to research by Pat Walravens of JMP Securities. Oracle's third-quarter application revenue of $269 million doesn't look quite so hot, some argue."

As I was listening to Larry, Safra and Charles yesterday on Oracle's earnings call, Ronald Reagan's words to Jimmy Carter in 1980 kept ringing in my ears. "There you go again"

Comparing revenue numbers from a year ago to current ones that don't include the same products. Oracle did the same thing last quarter and folks are starting to catch on.

"Oracle (ORCL ) is developing something of a pattern. The big U.S. software maker reports earnings that on the surface look impressive. But when analysts and investors get a closer look, they're less than enthused. That was the case on Mar. 20, when Oracle Chief Executive Larry Ellison unveiled fiscal third-quarter results. "

“We reported record revenues..." Oh, yeah, let's take a look at your database numbers. If I'm not mistaken database revenue is just over 80% of total Oracle revenue.

"....no excuse for what's ailing the database business. For a third straight quarter, database revenue disappointed, climbing only 4%. Ellison said again on the conference call that database revenues will grow in low double digits for the next few years. "

There you go again.