Storage company Oracle is reporting one of its best years.

While the economy may be suffering, Oracle has soared well beyond analyst expectations in its fiscal second quarter and raised hopes for a strong start in 2008 with an upbeat forecast.

The company earned $1.3 billion for the three months ended November 30, which is a 35 percent increase from net income of $967 million at the same time last year. If the company had not had such generous stock option expenses and not carried out its program of buying companies, the profits would have been even greater.

Oracle's sales of software licenses climbed by 38 percent to $1.67 billion. Analysts had predicted gains in the 20 percent range.