New York, January 12, 2026, 17:11 EST — after-hours trading
- Oracle shares climbed roughly 3% in late trading following Goldman Sachs’ debut coverage, which included a Buy rating and a $240 price target.
- Goldman noted that AI is broadening the software market, though investors remain focused on which companies can convert that demand into lasting profits.
- At NRF in New York, Oracle unveiled a new retail supply-chain cloud tool and secured a new hospital client for Oracle Health.
Oracle Corp shares climbed 3.1% to $204.68 in after-hours trade Monday, bouncing between $194.91 and $206.58 during the session. The jump followed Goldman Sachs initiating coverage with a Buy rating and setting a $240 price target. 1
The call comes at a tricky time for big-cap software. Investors crave AI-driven cloud growth but are quick to punish spending that clouds the outlook for cash flow and margins.
Oracle occupies a middle ground in this balancing act. The company provides the essential infrastructure — databases, business software, and cloud services — and has increasingly linked its offering to AI workloads, where data centers and energy costs often outpace revenue growth.
Goldman Sachs analyst Gabriela Borges expressed a “constructive” view on AI adoption, seeing it as a boost to the software total addressable market (TAM). However, she cautioned that annual “datapoints may be uneven as the ecosystem matures.” Borges highlighted the main question: which companies can turn AI infrastructure demand into “a sustainable, profitable business.” Goldman projects infrastructure software providers will push gross margins — a key profitability metric — from “<40% to 60%+.” 2
Oracle rolled out new product updates on Sunday, launching Oracle Retail Supply Chain Collaboration. This cloud-based tool aims to help retailers share data with suppliers and keep compliance in check amid rising disruption risks. “Retailers are in a constant battle to better balance their supply chains,” said Paul Woodward from Oracle Retail. 3
On Monday, Oracle announced that Community Memorial Hospital in Central New York will replace its outdated health record systems with Oracle Health Foundation EHR — electronic health records. The hospital will also deploy Oracle Health Clinical AI Agent to automate clinical documentation. “Choosing Oracle Health is a pivotal step in our journey to modernize and unify our clinical systems,” said CMH President and CEO Jeffery Coakley. Oracle Health chief Seema Verma added that the aim is to deliver “integrated, AI-powered solutions” tailored for smaller hospitals. 4
AI infrastructure news is also shaping Oracle’s cloud narrative. OpenAI and SoftBank plan to pour $1 billion into SB Energy for a 1.2-gigawatt Stargate data center in Texas. Stargate, a venture launched alongside OpenAI, SoftBank, Oracle, and MGX, targets $500 billion in infrastructure spending over four years. Greg Brockman, OpenAI’s co-founder and president, called the partnership “a fast, reliable way to scale compute.” 5
Oracle’s bet depends on turning those hefty AI workloads into steady, higher-margin cloud revenue—not merely expanding capacity. The company is also pushing to grab market share from bigger cloud rivals, with pricing and power limits playing a key role in the investment story.
The risk is clear: costs could outpace demand, or demand might arrive in fits and starts, causing uneven utilization. That scenario would squeeze margins and push the market to revisit a familiar dilemma — just how much spending crosses the line.
Investors are now looking for follow-up from other broker reports after Goldman’s call, along with any new customer wins linking Oracle’s retail and healthcare efforts to actual bookings. Oracle remains in the thick of NRF 2026 in New York through Jan. 13, showcasing its retail supply-chain solution.
