By PUI-WING TAM

Many Silicon Valley technology companies might be shifting away from using stock options, but they haven't stopped handing them out.

Silicon Valley firms such as Oracle Corp. and Cisco Systems Inc. continued to give out big options packages to executives during the recession last year, according to an analysis from executive-compensation research firm Equilar Inc. Some companies handed out option grants that were similar in scope to what they gave in 2008, while others raised such grants substantially from 2008, when they didn't hand out any stock options to executives.

Overall, many tech companies have been moving away from stock options to restricted stock in recent years. Some of the companies in Equilar's analysis, such as Oracle, continue to give out stock options only. Others, such as Cisco, now hand out a mix of stock options and restricted stock.

A stock option is a form of equity compensation that typically vests over several years; holders reap gains if a company's stock price rises above the "strike price" of the option. For its options analysis, Equilar pulled data from public filings and used the Black- 
Scholes options-pricing methodology to value the option grants handed out by the top 150 Silicon Valley firms by revenue. Some companies use different options-pricing methods and assumptions to come up with option valuations.

The five Silicon Valley companies that handed out the most options in terms of value in 2009 were Oracle, Cisco, GoogleInc., NetApp Inc. and Gilead Sciences Inc. Oracle was tops, giving 12 executives a total of 21.27 million options in 2009, according to the analysis. Those options carried a value of more than $174 million, according to Equilar. That was less than in 2008, when Oracle doled out 23.2 million options to executives with a value of $203.9 million.

An Oracle spokeswoman declined to comment.

Meanwhile, Cisco, Google, NetApp and Gilead all handed out options that totaled between $16.8 million to $34.9 million in value last year. Those grants came after neither Cisco nor Google handed out options in 2008. Meanwhile, NetApp nearly doubled the number of options it granted in 2009 from 2008, according to Equilar. Gilead granted slightly fewer options than in 2008.

NetApp's beefed-up options grants partly reflect a leadership change. The data-storage company appointed a new chief executive, Thomas Georgens, last year and implemented a new compensation package for him. Several of the other companies declined to comment on the valuations of the option grants.

Of the Silicon Valley CEOs that benefited from stock option grants last year, Oracle's Larry Ellison was head of the pack, according to Equilar. Mr. Ellison was awarded seven million stock options last year with a value of more than $57 million, according to Equilar.

He was followed by Cisco's John Chambers, NetApp's Mr. Georgens, Gilead's John Martin and departing NetApp CEO Daniel Warmenhoven. Each received stock options packages last year valued at more than $5 million to just over $8 million, according to Equilar.

Write to Pui-Wing Tam at pui-wing.tam@wsj.com