Austin, Texas, May 28, 2026, 11:03 CDT
Oracle shares climbed 6.2% on Thursday, hitting $204.16 before pulling back. Investors are looking at upbeat commentary around the company’s earnings prospects, even as Oracle’s AI data-center costs remain high. Shares were last at $202.78, putting Oracle’s market value near $590.7 billion.
Oracle’s AI pitch is under the microscope as investors look for signs that big cloud deals can add profit quickly. The company had $552.6 billion in remaining performance obligations as of Feb. 28, meaning revenue it hasn’t booked yet. But only about 12% of that is set to show up in the next year.
Oracle bulls got some support from the company’s latest quarter. On March 10, Oracle said fiscal third-quarter revenue was up 22% to $17.2 billion, with cloud revenue gaining 44% to $8.9 billion. Cloud infrastructure jumped 84% to $4.9 billion.
Zacks moved Oracle up to Rank #2 (Buy), saying improved earnings-estimate momentum could lift the stock, per a Yahoo Finance article listed by Nasdaq. The upgrade came as investors revisit Oracle’s position in AI infrastructure, separate from its legacy database and software focus.
Some of the fresh analysis wasn’t fully bullish. Seeking Alpha’s Louis Gerard moved his rating on Oracle up to Hold, shifting from a more negative view. “The easy short is gone,” Gerard wrote, but he cautioned there are still open questions on Oracle’s backlog turning into profit and whether debt worries have actually faded. Seeking Alpha
Oracle is looking to pitch its data-center growth to New Mexico locals. On Tuesday, the company started a bilingual ad campaign in the state, focused on its Project Jupiter campus in Doña Ana County. Oracle says the effort will bring jobs, work on the local water system, and a fuel-cell power plant. Julia Robin, who heads infrastructure planning and sourcing for Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, said the company wants residents to “get the facts about the project directly from us.” PR Newswire
Oracle is stepping up in the hunt for AI computing power. Reuters said in March that the company is putting up data centers for partners like OpenAI and Meta, looking to grab business from bigger cloud players including Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure.
Oracle execs say profit margins, meaning the share of revenue after direct costs, are set to get better if customers start paying for more than just AI chip rentals. Reuters cited eMarketer analyst Jacob Bourne, who called Oracle’s quarter “a beat and a stress test result for the AI trade.” Reuters
The risk is clear. Oracle reported $130.9 billion in senior notes and other long-term debt outstanding as of Feb. 28. The company sold $43 billion in senior notes during the first nine months of fiscal 2026 and spent $39.2 billion in cash on capital outlays. It also reported $261 billion in additional lease commitments, mostly for data centers and not yet on balance sheet.
Oracle told investors it sees fiscal 2026 revenue at $67 billion, with capital spending targeted at $50 billion. The company also raised its outlook for fiscal 2027 revenue to $90 billion. For the fiscal fourth quarter, Oracle forecast overall revenue to grow 19% to 21% in U.S. dollars. Cloud revenue is expected to jump 46% to 50%.
