New York, Jan 25, 2026, 10:33 EST — The market has closed.
Oracle shares slipped 0.6% on Friday, finishing at $177.16. The drop followed a price target cut from Morgan Stanley, which cautioned that investors might be underestimating the expenses tied to the company’s push to ramp up AI data-center capacity.
The call hit a shaky tape for big tech, with investors increasingly distinguishing “AI demand” from actual “AI profits.” Oracle stands out in this trade, locking in hefty cloud deals—but it still requires hardware, power, and real estate to fulfill those commitments.
Tension is high this week. The Federal Reserve convenes Jan. 27-28, while earnings reports roll in from Microsoft, Meta, Tesla, and Apple. These results could shift sentiment on cloud spending and capital intensity throughout the sector.
Morgan Stanley’s Keith Weiss highlighted the “significant capital intensity” of the infrastructure buildout and lowered his price target to $213 from $320. He maintained an equal-weight rating, according to Barron’s. Barron’s
Oracle’s recent earnings highlighted the vast scope investors are grappling with. Remaining performance obligations—contracted work still off the books—hit $523 billion, soaring 438% year over year. Finance chief Doug Kehring noted the quarter brought in fresh commitments “from Meta, NVIDIA, and others.” Q4 Investors
January has seen sharp swings in Oracle’s stock. By Friday, shares ended roughly 7% lower than their close on Jan. 16, following a selloff that pushed the price below $180 mid-month.
Oracle handed out a quarterly cash dividend of 50 cents per share on Jan. 23, according to a previous filing — highlighting how shareholder returns are now balancing against an expanding spending cycle.
A potential pitfall for bulls is that the contracts might have slimmer margins than anticipated, or that capacity grows quicker than customer demand, forcing the company to shoulder costs before seeing any revenue. Rising financing expenses would only make that balance riskier.
Oracle’s message to customers is straightforward: it has the supply, can ramp up fast, and supports workloads across multiple clouds. If demand stays steady, investors might tolerate short-term hits to free cash flow.
On Monday, traders will keep an eye on whether the stock can hold above last week’s lows and if tech sentiment remains steady following a volatile Friday that saw major U.S. indexes end largely flat.
After the Fed’s January 28 decision, the spotlight shifts to Oracle’s fiscal third-quarter earnings, slated for mid-March according to its investor-relations FAQ.
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