March 26 (Bloomberg) -- Oracle Corp., the world's third- largest software maker, reported third-quarter sales that missed analysts' estimates after an acquisition spree failed to spur orders of business applications. The shares fell 8.6 percent.

Sales that include maintenance fees from acquired companies climbed to $5.37 billion in the quarter ended Feb. 29, Redwood City, California-based Oracle said today in a statement. That trailed the $5.41 billion average estimate of analysts in a Bloomberg survey.

Customers are trimming their budgets, concerned that tightening credit markets and record home foreclosures may pull the economy into recession. Growth in U.S. information-technology spending this year will slow to 5 percent from 7 percent in 2007, according to a Goldman, Sachs & Co. survey of 100 executives. That's making it harder for Chief Executive Officer Larry Ellison to get a payoff from his $33.5 billion in acquisitions.

``A lot of investors had bought the stock in anticipation of a strong quarter,'' Jeff Gaggin, an analyst with Avian Securities Inc. in New York, said in an interview. He has a positive rating on Oracle shares, which he doesn't own. ``The applications business was definitely disappointing.''

Company Forecast

For the fourth quarter, Oracle forecast sales growth of 14 percent to 18 percent, including revenue from acquired companies. That equates to sales of $6.71 billion to $6.94 billion. Analysts had estimated $6.77 billion on average.

Excluding stock compensation and acquisition costs, profit will be 43 cents to 44 cents a share, Chief Financial Officer Safra Catz said today in a conference call. Analysts estimated 44 cents. Sales of new software licenses will rise as much as 20 percent to $2.98 billion.

``The guidance was very strong, lifting all numbers across the board, except for earnings,'' Sarah Friar, a Goldman Sachs analyst in San Francisco, said today in an interview. She advises buying the shares, which she doesn't own.

Oracle fell $1.79 to $19.15 in extended trading after closing at $20.94 on the Nasdaq Stock Market. The shares have declined 7.3 percent this year.

Net income last quarter climbed 30 percent to $1.34 billion, or 26 cents a share, from $1.03 billion, or 20 cents, a year earlier. According to generally accepted accounting principles, sales rose 21 percent to $5.35 billion.

`Surprised'

Excluding some costs, profit was 30 cents a share, meeting the average estimate of 20 analysts in a Bloomberg survey. Oracle said in December that profit would be 29 cents to 30 cents.

``We are a little bit surprised,'' said Brendan Barnicle, an analyst with Pacific Crest Securities in Portland, Oregon. ``We had thought we would see a little bit more revenue upside, and as a result, a little bit more upside on the bottom line.''

Oracle dominates the market for database programs. It also sells business-management applications for tracking sales, managing billing systems and handling other tasks, and so-called middleware software, which helps different types of programs share information. Oracle trails Walldorf, Germany-based SAP AG in the market for business-management applications, while International Business Machines Corp. leads in middleware.

In total software sales, Oracle ranks behind Microsoft Corp. and IBM.

Oracle's sales of new licenses, the key indicator of future growth among software companies, gained 16 percent to $1.62 billion last quarter. In December, Oracle predicted the sales would rise as much as 25 percent to $1.74 billion.

`More Cautious'

``Customers got a little more cautious at the end of the quarter, given what was going on in the financial market,'' Catz said today. ``Deals are getting done, although they took a bit longer than anticipated.''

While license sales of database and middleware software gained 20 percent to $1.17 billion, new sales of business- management applications rose a slower 6.6 percent, to $451 million. Goldman Sachs's Friar had estimated $571 million.

Every time Oracle customers buy a program, they also purchase maintenance contracts entitling them to updates, new features and bug fixes. The contracts renew each year, delivering a recurring revenue stream that's bigger than new product sales. Support sales rose 24 percent last quarter to $2.62 billion.

BEA Purchase

Oracle won approval last month from the U.S. Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission for its $8.5 billion purchase of BEA Systems Inc. Oracle expects the deal, its largest since the 2005 acquisition of PeopleSoft Inc., to close by the middle of the year.

BEA won court approval today to let shareholders vote on the buyout. With San Jose, California-based BEA, Ellison, 63, gains software that will help him challenge IBM for the middleware lead.

Oracle said in January that the transaction should add as much as 2 cents to per-share profit in the first full year after the takeover is complete. BEA wasn't included in today's forecasts, Oracle said.

``Many customers want to wrap together BEA and Oracle products, and they want to know what kind of deals they can get,'' Barnicle said. ``Oracle can't offer those deals until the acquisition closes.''

To contact the reporter on this story: Rochelle Garner in San Francisco at rgarner4@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: March 26, 2008 19:45 EDT