Oracle shares rose nearly 9% in extended trading on Monday after the database software company reported fiscal fourth-quarter results that beat analysts’ estimates.

Here’s how the company did it:

• Earnings: $1.54 per share, adjusted, versus $1.37 as expected by analysts, according to Refinitiv.
• Revenue: $11.84 billion, versus $11.66 billion as forecast by analysts, according to Refinitiv.

Revenue rose 5% year over year, driven by growth in the company’s cloud infrastructure business, which competes with Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure.

Oracle said this unit increased sales by 36%, boosting total cloud revenue by 19% to $2.9 billion. According to Synergy Research Group, Oracle failed to rank among the top five global cloud infrastructure providers at the end of last year. But the company touts its ability not only to attract old customers to its cloud products, but also to attract new customers.

CEO Safra Catz said in a statement that the company has seen a “significant increase in demand” for cloud infrastructure.

“We believe this spike in revenue growth indicates that our infrastructure business has now entered a phase of hyper-growth,” Catz said.

Before the after-hours pop, Oracle shares were down 27% for the year, slightly outperforming the Nasdaq, which fell 31%.

Oracle’s earnings pace is particularly important as investors focus on companies that can generate profitability and cash flow during a downturn.

LOOK: Oracle beats estimates