Oracle Corp. (NYSE:ORCL) 

The analysis of the quarterly financial data reveals notable trends in key profitability and leverage metrics over the examined periods.

Return on Assets (ROA)

The ROA percentage illustrates a fluctuating yet generally declining trend from the earliest periods through to the middle timeframes. Starting around 9.03% and peaking near 11.35%, it subsequently declines to roughly 4.46% before stabilizing in the 6.3% to 7.8% range in the most recent quarters. This suggests a reduction in efficiency in asset utilization early on, followed by a period of relative stability, indicating a moderate improvement or consistent performance in asset profitability in recent terms.

Financial Leverage

Financial leverage ratios display considerable volatility with notable gaps in data during the intermediate periods. Initial leverage is moderate, ranging from approximately 11.96 to 25.03, with a significant spike reaching as high as 125.24 in later reports. Following this peak, there is a sustained and pronounced downward trajectory in leverage down to around 6.84 in the latest periods. This pattern implies an aggressive adjustment in capital structure over time, initially increasing leverage dramatically before strategic deleveraging to lower risk exposure.

Return on Equity (ROE)

ROE exhibits extreme variability, with very high percentages recorded at the start and later periods, including peaks exceeding 790%. After an initial increase to over 260%, the data gap is followed by another set of very high values, eventually showing a decreasing trend from nearly 800% to just over 50%. This volatility combined with the steep declines suggests the company experienced periods of exceptional equity returns potentially caused by high leverage or extraordinary gains that normalized over time as equity returns settled to more sustainable levels.

In summary, the data portray a company facing significant changes in financial structure and profitability efficiency. The adjustments in leverage correspond with highly volatile equity returns, while asset returns demonstrate a more stable but moderate performance in recent periods. These patterns may reflect strategic shifts in financing and operational management in response to varying economic or business conditions.

The analysis of the financial performance indicators over the multiple quarterly periods reveals several notable trends and fluctuations.

Net Profit Margin

The net profit margin was relatively strong at the beginning, beginning around 26% in the third quarter of 2020 and climbing to a peak above 34% by August 2021. After this peak, the margin experienced a marked decline, reaching a low point near 13% in August 2022. Subsequently, it showed gradual recovery and stabilization, increasing steadily to exceed 25% by November 2025. This indicates a period of profitability pressure followed by a consistent improvement in profit efficiency relative to revenues.

Asset Turnover

Asset turnover ratios remained fairly stable throughout the periods, generally fluctuating between 0.3 and 0.39. There was a slight decline towards the end of the timeline, dropping from around 0.37 in mid-2024 to about 0.3 by late 2025. This suggests a relatively consistent ability to generate sales from assets, although a minor reduction in efficiency is noted in the latter periods.

Financial Leverage

Financial leverage exhibited significant volatility, with missing data limiting a complete trend analysis for some periods. Where data is available, leverage surged sharply to an extreme level exceeding 125 times initially in early 2023. Following this spike, it steadily declined over subsequent quarters, falling to approximately 6.84 by the final period in late 2025. This pattern may point to a phase of very high debt or capital structure adjustment followed by deleveraging and increased financial stability.

Return on Equity (ROE)

ROE followed a highly variable path with extreme figures in some quarters. Early values showed very high ROE ratios surpassing 100%, peaking dramatically at over 790% in early 2023, then progressively decreasing in following quarters to stabilize near 51.5% by late 2025. Such elevated ratios suggest unusual financial events, significant leverage effects, or accounting impacts during the peak periods. The subsequent moderation indicates a return towards more normalized profitability levels on shareholders’ equity.

Overall, the data reflects a volatile period with peaks in profitability and leverage that gradually normalize over time. The improving net profit margins and stabilizing ROE in the later periods suggest recovery and strengthening profitability. Meanwhile, asset turnover stability indicates consistent utilization of assets, and the decline in financial leverage implies enhanced capital structure management.

The analysis of the quarterly financial ratios reveals distinct trends and fluctuations over the observed periods.

Tax Burden Ratio

This ratio remains relatively stable around the mid-0.8 to mid-0.9 range in most periods, with a peak above 1.0 in early 2021. The ratio exhibits minor fluctuations but generally shows a trend towards stabilization slightly below 0.9 in the latter periods, indicating a relatively consistent tax impact on pre-tax income over time.

Interest Burden Ratio

This ratio demonstrates a gradual decline from approximately 0.85 in 2020 to a low of 0.7 in mid-2022, suggesting an increasing interest expense burden on operating income during that period. From then on, it starts to recover gradually, reaching approximately 0.82 by late 2025, indicating an improvement in the ratio of earnings before interest and taxes to earnings before taxes.

EBIT Margin (%)

EBIT margin shows a downward trend from the mid-30s in 2020 to a low in the low 20s around mid-2022, reflecting a significant compression in operating profitability during that time. Starting late 2022, the margin begins to recover gradually, climbing back above 30% towards the end of the forecast period in 2025, though not reaching the initial highs observed in 2020 and early 2021.

Asset Turnover Ratio

This ratio fluctuates within a narrow range of roughly 0.3 to 0.39, showing a modest decline in the long term. An initial drop from around 0.36 to 0.31 is observed in early 2021, followed by a period of relative stability and minor decline towards 0.3 late in the dataset. The pattern suggests a slight reduction in the efficiency of asset utilization to generate revenue over time.

Financial Leverage Ratio

The data indicates dramatic volatility in financial leverage, with sparse data early on but a significant spike to over 125 in mid-2023, followed by a progressive decrease to about 6.8 by late 2025. This indicates a period of very high leverage followed by rapid deleveraging, possibly reflecting changes in financing structure or debt reduction strategies during the horizon.

Return on Equity (ROE %)

ROE exhibits extremely high values early in the series, starting near 108% and increasing to over 260% by mid-2021, peaking at almost 800% in mid-2023, then gradually declining to around 50% by late 2025. These extraordinary values are likely influenced by the unusual leverage and margin fluctuations, suggesting significant variability in net income relative to shareholder equity. The downward trend after the peak suggests a normalization or reduction of extraordinary returns.

Overall, the analysis shows a period of stress on profitability and interest burden around 2021-2022, with recovery in operating margins and interest burden ratios in subsequent periods. The severe fluctuation in financial leverage and ROE highlights a phase of heightened financial risk and subsequent correction. Asset turnover and tax burden remain relatively stable but show slight long-term weakening and stabilization respectively. These patterns collectively suggest a cycle of financial strain followed by strategic repositioning and performance recovery.

Net Profit Margin

The net profit margin exhibited a rising trend during the first year, increasing from 26.13% in August 2020 to a peak of 34.16% by August 2021. This was followed by a notable decline reaching a low of 13.15% in August 2022. Subsequent quarters showed recovery and moderate improvement, with the margin gradually increasing from 17.02% in May 2023 to 25.28% by November 2025. Overall, the net profit margin demonstrates cyclical behavior with significant fluctuations but a tendency towards recovery in the later quarters.

Asset Turnover

The asset turnover ratio remained relatively stable with minor variations during the initial periods, fluctuating between 0.30 and 0.39. It peaked at 0.39 during November 2020 to February 2022 and then showed a moderate declining trend from May 2022 onward. By November 2025, the asset turnover ratio decreased to 0.30, indicating a gradual reduction in efficiency in the utilization of assets to generate revenue over time.

Return on Assets (ROA)

The ROA followed a similar pattern to the net profit margin. A steady increase occurred from 9.03% in August 2020 to a peak of 11.35% by August 2021. This was succeeded by a steep decline reaching 4.46% in August 2022. From this low point, a period of recovery is observed, with ROA improving gradually to 7.52% by November 2025. This suggests that asset profitability weakened significantly mid-term but showed signs of improvement more recently.

The financial data reveals several trends and notable patterns across the analyzed periods.

Tax Burden

The tax burden ratio fluctuates moderately with values mostly ranging from 0.84 to 1.07 in early periods, peaking around November 2021, and then stabilizing closer to 0.88-0.95 in later periods. This suggests a relatively stable level of tax obligations affecting net income over time, with minor variations indicating possible changes in tax efficiency or tax rates.

Interest Burden

This ratio starts at 0.85 and remains relatively steady initially, then experiences a decline from mid-2021 through to around May 2022, reaching a low near 0.7. After this trough, the interest burden gradually increases back to around 0.8-0.82 by late 2025. The decline and subsequent increase could reflect changes in interest expenses or debt management strategies affecting earnings before interest and taxes.

EBIT Margin

The EBIT margin presents an initial upward trend from 36.44% to around 38.37% up to August 2021, followed by a marked decline down to low 20% levels during late 2021 through mid-2022. After this dip, the margin recovers steadily, reaching 34.78% by November 2025. Such variation indicates periods of reduced operational efficiency or pricing pressures followed by successful margin improvements and better cost control over the long term.

Asset Turnover

Asset turnover fluctuates between 0.30 and 0.39, peaking notably between late 2020 and early 2022. Thereafter, a gentle decline is observed, bottoming around 0.30 by the end of the horizon. This suggests that the efficiency in generating revenues from asset base has slightly weakened over time, implying slower asset utilization or increased asset base without proportional revenue growth in later years.

Return on Assets (ROA)

ROA follows a pattern similar to EBIT margin: it increases up to around 11.35% in August 2021, then sharply drops to a low near 4.46% by late 2022. It subsequently recovers gradually, rising to approximately 7.52% by late 2025. This trajectory indicates an initial period of strong profitability on assets which was disrupted, potentially by external challenges or operational issues, followed by a partial recovery demonstrating improving asset profitability but not to prior peak levels.

Overall, the data suggests that the company faced challenges impacting profitability and efficiency around the 2021-2022 periods, reflected in decreased EBIT margin, ROA, and asset turnover. Subsequent periods show signs of recovery and stabilization in key profitability ratios, although asset utilization slightly declined. Tax and interest burdens remained relatively stable, indicating consistent financial leverage and tax management practices throughout the periods analyzed.

The financial ratios and margins over the periods indicate several noteworthy trends and fluctuations.

Tax Burden Ratio

The tax burden shows moderate variability over the periods analyzed. Initially stable around 0.84 in late 2020, it peaks above 1.0 in early 2021, specifically reaching 1.19 in November 2021. Following that, it declines back to values near 0.88-0.89 from mid-2022 onwards, maintaining relative stability with minor fluctuations towards 0.86-0.89 in the later periods. This pattern suggests variability in taxable income relative to pretax income, with a notable rise and normalization over time.

Interest Burden Ratio

This ratio trends downward from 0.85 in late 2020 to around 0.70 by August 2022, indicating a reduction in interest expenses relative to earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT). From that low, it gradually increases again, reaching 0.82 by late 2025. The initial decrease may reflect improved interest management or lower debt costs, while the subsequent gradual rise could indicate increasing interest expenses or debt levels towards the end of the timeline.

EBIT Margin

The EBIT margin demonstrates a clear decline from approximately 36-38% in 2020 and early 2021 to a low around 21-26% during mid-2022 to early 2023. Thereafter, the margin steadily recovers, rising to around 30-35% by the last periods in 2025. This U-shaped trend indicates a compression in operating profitability followed by a recovery, suggesting operational challenges during 2021-2023 and a return to improved efficiency or revenue growth in later years.

Net Profit Margin

The net profit margin shows a similar pattern to EBIT margin but with greater variability. Starting around 26% in 2020, the margin peaks at about 34% in early 2021, then sharply declines to roughly 13-19% through mid-2022 to mid-2023. Following this trough, a gradual increase is observed, reaching above 25% by late 2025. This indicates that after a period of reduced net profitability—possibly affected by increased costs, taxes, or interest—the company recovers net earnings strength in the latter periods.

Overall, the data reveals an initial period of strong profitability and margin levels, followed by a phase of declining operational and net profitability accompanied by fluctuating tax and interest burdens. Recovery trends emerge from 2023 onwards, with gradual improvement in margins and cost burdens, suggesting successful adjustments in strategy or market conditions aiding profitability restoration in the medium term.