NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Database software company Oracle Corp. late Wednesday reported earnings of 10 cents a share for its fiscal second quarter, flat with a year earlier but 2 cents a share above Wall Street forecasts.

Oracle (ORCL: Research, Estimates) surpassed analysts' revenue estimates as well. The company posted revenue of $2.3 billion in the quarter, down from nearly $2.4 billion a year earlier but above average analyst forecasts compiled by First Call of about $2.2 billion.

The results also were an improvement from the previous quarter. In Oracle's fiscal first quarter, the company reported earnings of 7 cents a share and sales of $2 billion.

During a conference call Wednesday evening, Chief Financial Officer Jeff Henley said that the company expects earnings per share of 9-to-10 cents in its fiscal third quarter, which ends in February. Analysts are expecting 9 cents a share, according to First Call.

But the company lowered its revenue guidance slightly. Analysts currently expect revenue of $2.3 billion in the quarter, up 4 percent from a year ago. Henley said that revenue growth in the quarter would range from zero to 4 percent.

Still, Henley was upbeat. "It's fair to say we are more optimistic right now than at anytime since the industry slump began a few years ago. We think we have bottomed out," he said.

For the second quarter, license revenue came in at $765 million, down 7 percent from a year ago. Services revenue slid 11 percent to $590 million. But license update and product support revenue rose 8 percent to $954 million.

"Even during an economic downturn, Oracle's installed base of customers continues to grow, so our revenues from license update rights continue to rise. That's the underlying strength in our business model. That's what allows us to maintain our profitability at high levels even though we increased research and development spending by 15 percent," Henley said in a statement.

Oracle CEO Larry Ellison said he was pleased that the company's core database business was showing signs of improvement and dismissed concerns about increased competition from IBM.

"We think of Microsoft as our major competitor in the database business, not IBM," Ellison said.

Although earnings per share were flat compared with last year, net income was actually slightly lower. Oracle reported $535 million in net income for the quarter, down 2.6 percent from $549 million a year ago. Operating margins were 34 percent, unchanged from last year.

Oracle has been keeping costs in check, especially on the jobs front. Oracle's head count as of November 30 was 2.1 percent lower than the end of the company's fiscal first quarter and 4.2 percent lower than a year ago. Henley said that there would be more job cuts in the third quarter as well. Overall operating expenses were 3.9 percent lower than the same period last year.

Looking at a geographic breakdown of the company, sales increased from the fiscal first quarter in all regions. But sales growth was lowest in the Americas, with revenue increasing 4.7 percent to $1.2 billion. Sales in Asia increased 13 percent from the fiscal first quarter to $333.3 million. And sales in Europe, Africa and the Middle East surged 30.3 percent to $817.4 million.

The Europe division was also the only one to report an increase in sales from the same period a year ago. Sales were up 8.6 percent from a year ago. However, Henley cautioned people to not get overly excited about the strong gains in Europe, saying that business there was unusually low in the fiscal first quarter.

Oracle's shares fell 3.6 percent on Wednesday, to $10.62. But investors seemed to like the earnings report, released after the bell, and management's guidance for the fiscal third quarter. In after-hours trading, Oracle's stock was up 4.3 percent to $11.08, according to Island ECN. Competitors Microsoft (MSFT: Research, Estimates) and Siebel Systems (SEBL: Research, Estimates) were up in after-hours trading as well.

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