There are no safe havens in the stock market. Every stock carries risk. But some less than others. This column features stocks that have shown one or more of the following characteristics: less volatility, better earnings, larger market caps, safe and increasing dividends. In these times of turmoil, our goal is to show readers better opportunities for investing with fewer risks.

August 22, 2011 - Oracle Corporation (ORCL-NASDAQ), an enterprise software company, develops, manufactures, markets, distributes, and services database and middleware software, applications software, and hardware systems worldwide.

The company also offers customers with rights to unspecified software product upgrades and maintenance releases; Internet access to technical content; and Internet and telephone access to technical support personnel.

In addition, its hardware systems products consist of computer server and hardware-related software, including the Oracle Solaris Operating System; and storage products, such as tape, disk and networking solutions for open systems and mainframe server environments. Its hardware systems support solutions include software updates for the software components.

Further, the company offers consulting solutions in business and IT strategy alignment, enterprise architecture planning and design, initial product implementation and integration, and ongoing product enhancements and upgrades; cloud services, including Oracle Cloud Services and Advanced Customer Services; and education solutions comprising instructor-led, media-based, and Internet-based training in the use of its software and hardware products. The company was founded in 1977 and is headquartered in Redwood City, California.

Earnings are the answer. And they're going higher. In fact, if investors only looked at earnings, they wouldn't know there was a recession. Oracle's per share earnings went up every year since 2002 when they were 39 cents. Last year, they finished at $2.22 (fiscal year ends May 31). This year, consensus estimate from 39 analysts is for $2.41, then they see $2.67 for 2012. For the first quarter (first fiscal quarter ended August 31), expect 47 cents compared to 42 cents last year in the first. Next quarter look for 57 cents vs 51 cents last year.

Last year saw an improvement in sales of database and business applications as well as hardware (Oracle bought Sun Microsystems to enter the hardware market). Revenues were: New software licenses (26%); software license updates and product support (41.5%); hardware systems (12.3%); hardware support (7.2%) and services (13%). International sales were 57% of the total. 2011 revenues were $35.85 billion, up from $27.034 billion in 2010. This year, analysts expect $39.15 billion.

Cloud computing is gaining market share. It's the delivery of computing as a service rather than a product, whereby shared resources, software and information are provided to computers and other devices as a utility (like the electricity grid) over a network (typically the Internet). Cloud computing increases capacity or adds capabilities on the fly without investing in new infrastructure, training new personnel, or licensing new software. In other words, businesses only subscribe to as much Information Technology as they need, then add capabilities as they grow without spending for large IT upgrades.

A couple of data that will make conservative investors smile: the company has over $28 billion in cash. That's $5.70 a share. ORCL carries a Financial Strength rating of A++. Furthermore, debt is only 27% of capital, giving the company a Debt/Equity ratio of 39.56%.

Essential numbers: Trailing P/E is 14.89 while Forward P/E is 9.31. Price to sales ratio is 3.52. Price to book is 3.16. Operating margin is 35.73% and Profit margin is 23.99%. Return on equity for the last 12 months was 23.93% and Return on assets was 11.78%. Total debt is $15.92 billion. Book Value is $7.85. The stock is up 7.65% over the last 52 weeks. There are 5.07 billion shares Outstanding with a Float of 3.91 billion. Insiders own 21.91%, mostly held by Lawrence Ellison, CEO. Institutions have 62% of the Float. The dividend is 24 cents annually for a yield of 1%.

Conservative investors can find a lot to like here, but there are some valuations that may cause a pause. But this is a tech company that is growing, and in all the right ways (think Cloud computing). The current dip in price could be an opportunity to buy this stock before it starts another move higher. That will depend on the global economy and businesses' appetite for expanding IT departments. If that shrinks, don't expect ORCL to be immune.

- Company Web site: www.oracle.com

- Ted Allrich