Oracle Stock Jumps Pre-Market After Upbeat Earnings Report, Retail Chatter Up Nearly 6,000%

Shares of Oracle Corp. (ORCL) surged over 8% in pre-market trading on Tuesday after the software giant reported strong fiscal Q1 earnings that outperformed Wall Street expectations.

Oracle posted Q1 revenue of $13.31 billion, up from $12.45 billion a year ago, meeting Wall Street estimates of $13.23 billion. Adjusted earnings came in at $1.39 per share, beating analysts’ expectations of $1.33 per share.

Revenue from Oracle’s cloud services and license support, a key growth driver, reached $10.52 billion, marking a 7% increase year-over-year and slightly exceeding forecasts of $10.47 billion.

A major highlight of Oracle's earnings call was the announcement of a new multi-cloud partnership with Amazon (AMZN), set to launch in December. This partnership is expected to allow AWS customers seamless access to Oracle databases, potentially expanding Oracle's market reach and solidifying its position in the competitive cloud space.

Looking ahead, Oracle provided Q2 earnings guidance of $1.45 to $1.49 per share, aligning with the consensus estimate of $1.47.

CEO Safra Catz also said that capital expenditures stood at $2.3 billion for the quarter, significantly below the $3.04 billion analysts had projected. She expects capital expenditures to double in the fiscal year ending May 2025, signaling continued investment in cloud and AI infrastructure.

Oracle’s Q1 performance has prompted a wave of optimism among analysts, with at least 10 brokerages raising their price targets.

JMP Securities upgraded the stock to “Outperform” with a price target of $175, citing Oracle’s transition into a leading cloud platform services provider and double-digit revenue growth trajectory.

Mizuho set the highest price target at $185, representing a potential 35% upside from current levels.

Stifel noted that Oracle’s revenue acceleration is likely to continue, driven by strong AI infrastructure bookings and expanding database partnerships with major cloud providers. However, the firm warned that significant multiple expansion could be limited in the short term.

Retail message volume about ORCL on Stocktwits soared nearly 6,000% on Monday, pushing the stock into the top five trending symbols before the market opened on Tuesday.  

One retail investor views Oracle as a value play in the tech sector, noting that the company’s market cap of under $400 billion makes it relatively undervalued compared to other AI and cloud leaders like Apple, Nvidia, and Microsoft.

Oracle has been one of the best-performing large-cap software stocks this year, gaining about 34% year-to-date and outperforming both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq.

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