Oracle Corp. reported quarterly earnings that exceeded Wall Street’s expectations, leading to a 13% surge in its shares during extended trading. The fiscal third quarter ending Feb. 29 saw the company’s earnings per share at $1.41, higher than the expected $1.38, while its revenue of $13.28 billion fell slightly short of the $13.3 billion anticipated. Looking ahead, Oracle projected earnings of $1.62 to $1.66 per share for the fiscal fourth quarter, with revenue growth expected to be between 4% and 6% over sales of $13.8 billion a year ago.

Oracle CEO Safra Catz expressed the company’s commitment to reaching its previously stated sales goal of $65 billion by fiscal 2026, suggesting that these targets might be too conservative given the company’s momentum. The quarter saw a 7% increase in revenue from a year earlier, with net income climbing 27% to $2.4 billion. The company’s cloud services and license support segment, its largest business, experienced a 12% sales increase to $9.96 billion, attributed to strong demand for its artificial intelligence servers. Additionally, the company’s cloud revenue rose 25% year over year to $5.1 billion.

During the earnings call, Oracle Chairman Larry Ellison mentioned increased business from Microsoft, revealing that Oracle is building 20 data centers for Microsoft and Azure, with three more ordered in the recent week. However, the company’s cloud license and on-premise sales declined 3% to $1.26 billion, slightly beating forecasts.