NEW YORK, July 7, 2026, 15:10 (EDT)
- As of the dateline, U.S. stocks were still trading in the regular session. Both NYSE and Nasdaq end their core session at 4 p.m. ET. The 2026 Independence Day holiday fell on July 3.
- Oracle Corporation NYSE:ORCL slipped 1.9% to $141.07. Shares fell after the stock snapped a nine-day skid with a bounce on Monday.
- Oracle said it has $638 billion in remaining performance obligations, or about 1.55x its current equity value. The company’s big obligations keep cash burn, funding needs and margins front and center for the stock.
Oracle Corporation NYSE:ORCL dropped Tuesday, paring Monday’s gains. The stock looked more like a debt-heavy AI infrastructure play than its usual image as a software company with a giant backlog.
The main point isn’t the drop on the day. It’s the market discount. Oracle’s market cap was about $410.8 billion based on the latest quote, but its remaining performance obligations at the end of fiscal 2026 sat at $638 billion. So the market put Oracle at roughly 64 cents for each $1 of reported RPO. RPO isn’t profit and it’s not this year’s revenue. The ratio just shows how much investors are still holding back to cover risk and big spending tied to the AI contract surge.
Oracle was quoted lower just before 3:10 p.m. EDT, down roughly the same amount as the Invesco QQQ Trust NASDAQ:QQQ, while cloud rivals Microsoft NASDAQ:MSFT and Amazon.com NASDAQ:AMZN traded higher.
| Security | Latest price | Intraday move | Investor read |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oracle NYSE:ORCL | $141.07 | -1.9% | AI order book still priced at a discount |
| Invesco QQQ NASDAQ:QQQ | $709.94 | -1.8% | Weak showing for growth stocks |
| SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust NYSEARCA:SPY | $747.74 | -0.5% | Loss for the broader index less sharp |
| Microsoft NASDAQ:MSFT | $390.87 | +1.1% | Big cloud stock stays up |
| Amazon.com NASDAQ:AMZN | $245.86 | +0.7% | Big cloud stock still firm |
The S&P 500 slipped 0.27% and the Nasdaq dropped 0.64% Tuesday as chip stocks lost ground. Samsung Electronics KRX:005930 reported results that missed the high bar set by AI hopes. “Expectations have gotten to be almost impossible to beat,” said Zachary Hill, head of portfolio management at Horizon Investments. Reuters
Oracle turned higher Monday, ending its longest slump in three years, Barron’s said. Shares gained 2.49% to finish at $143.76 after nine sessions down. The stock had dropped in 18 of 22 days and was off more than half from its September 2025 high, though most analysts stayed bullish.
The battle is now over cash conversion. Oracle reported operating cash flow of $32.0 billion for fiscal 2026, but free cash flow showed a loss of $23.7 billion as it ramped up cloud infrastructure investment. The company also plans to raise about $40 billion in fiscal 2027 by issuing debt and equity, including a previously announced $20 billion at-the-market equity deal.
| Measure | Figure | What it says |
|---|---|---|
| Oracle market value | $410.8 billion | Stock is trading far under RPO |
| Remaining performance obligations | $638 billion | That’s 1.55x the market cap |
| FY2026 operating cash flow | $32.0 billion | Company brings in strong cash |
| FY2026 free cash flow | -$23.7 billion | Expansion plan is burning cash |
| FY2027 planned debt/equity raise | About $40 billion | Near 10% of today’s market cap |
| Prepaid/customer-supplied hardware in large AI contracts | $75 billion | Offsets part of funding gap, not all |
That’s why the stock shows a big backlog but trades poorly. Last month, Reuters said Oracle projected around $70 billion in net capex for this fiscal year, and that its spending and debt strategy shook investors after it reported earnings. The shares fell 12% on June 11 after Oracle detailed its funding plan.
Analysts are still split on how to read Oracle, with some focused on the tape, others on the contract book. KeyBanc’s Jackson Ader said Oracle is “entrenched in the AI hyperscaler game” and argued that slower operating expense growth “has enough room to more than offset the gross margin hit,” TipRanks reported. According to TipRanks, Oracle holds a Strong Buy consensus, with 28 Buys, four Holds and no Sells. The average target price is $263.86. TipRanks
Oracle faces a key question for investors—will AI demand bring in enough revenue before fresh funding cuts into returns or puts pressure on the balance sheet. Shares swung from $137.57 to $146.44 during the session, about a 6.2% spread from Monday’s close. More than 30 million shares had changed hands in the latest figures.
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