[ORCL  Loading...      ()   ] said earnings excluding items were 54 cents a share in its fiscal second quarter, up from 51 cents per share a year ago.

Revenue was $8.8 billion, a 2 percent increase from $8.65 billion in the year-earlier period.

Analysts had expected Oracle to report earnings of 57 cents per share on revenue of $9.23 billion, according to Thomson Reuters.

The company's stock fell sharply lower in after-hours trading. (Click here for latest quote.)

"The licensing revenue came in lower than expectations and that really drives most of the profitability at the company," said Michael Nemeroff, an analyst at Morgan Keegan. "That obviously is a disappointment."

When the company last reported earnings three months ago, it had forecast that new software sales would climb between 6 and 16 percent.

Oracle also reported that hardware product sales fell 14 percent to $953 million. It had forecast that they would be flat to down 5 percent.