Oracle Completes Sun Merger

For Oracle shareholders, the acquisition of Sun gives Oracle key resources for long-term growth. Sun is the world's No. 4 server maker and has a number of the most high quality and recognizable brands in the tech business. Oracle now owns the coveted JAVA programming language, Solaris operating systems, SPARC processors and MySQL database, all of which will strengthen its portfolio of middleware and business applications. Analysts have largely approved of Oracle's move to expand its business model from primarily software into hardware, allowing it to take on competitors in both spaces.

"The acquisition will enable Oracle to eliminate its prime competitor, Sun Microsystems, and help the company compete against International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) its biggest database software rival, as well as Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) and Cisco Systems (CSCO)," said an analysts' note from Zacks Equity Research. The report also said, "The acquired business will contribute over $1.5 billion to Oracle's non-GAAP operating profit in the first year, increasing to over $2 billion in the second year."

The true benefits of the merger may take some time to emerge as Oracle will still have to fully develop many of Sun's assets and then successfully integrate them into its core product lines. With the benefits of the merger factored in, Morningtar projects 14% annual growth through 2014. Analysts have raised their opinion of the stock in recent days, with Bloomberg listing the consensus 12-month target price at $28.60 with a range of $24 to $37.