Oracle's Q2 Results: Cloud Growth and AI Ambitions Amid Stock Slide

Oracle Shares Tumble on Lackluster Guidance. Is It Time to Buy the Stock on the Dip or Stay Away? | The Motley Fool

Oracle (ORCL -1.10%) share prices have had a strong year on the back of renewed interest due to strength in its cloud infrastructure business. However, the stock was falling following its fiscal 2025 second-quarter results after the company missed analyst estimates and offered tempered guidance. The stock is still trading up more than 60% year to date as of this writing. Let's dig into Oracle's fiscal Q2 results to see if this dip in price is a buying opportunity or if investors should stay away. For its fiscal 2025 Q2 ended Nov. 30, Oracle's revenue rose 9% year over year to $14.06 billion. That was right in line with the 8% to 10% growth it forecast and just below the $14.1 billion analyst consensus. Cloud revenue climbed 24% year over year to $5.9 billion. Within the cloud segment, cloud infrastructure revenue surged 52% to $2.4 billion, while cloud application revenue rose 10% to $3.5 billion. Overall, there was an acceleration from the 22% cloud revenue growth the company saw in fiscal Q1. The company said it saw record artificial intelligence (AI) demand in the quarter, which continues to outstrip supply. This led to Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) consumption revenue soaring by 52%, while graphics processing unit (GPU) consumption skyrocketed by 336%. Oracle said OCI is training a number of the world's most important generative AI models, claiming it is faster and less expensive than other cloud networks. It also said that it recently signed a deal with Meta Platforms to use Oracle's AI Cloud Infrastructure and that the companies would collaborate on the development of AI agents based on Meta's Llama models. It said other AI customers include OpenAI, xAI, and Cohere. It added that it now has 98 cloud regions that are live and that many more will follow. It said that was more cloud regions than any other competitors. Remaining performance obligations (RPO) soared 49% to $97 billion. Cloud RPO jumped nearly 80% and represented nearly three-fourths of its total RPO. It noted that it expects to recognize about 39% of its RPO as revenue in the next 12 months and that the growth of current RPO continues to accelerate. Adjusted earnings per share (EPS), meanwhile, increased 10% to $1.47. That fell just short of the $1.48 analyst consensus. Oracle forecasted fiscal third-quarter revenue to increase by 7% to 9%, with cloud revenue growing by 23% to 25%. Adjusted EPS is projected to rise by between 4% and 6%. For the full year, the company continues to forecast revenue growth in the double digits, with total cloud infrastructure revenue growing by more than 50%. Oracle continues to see strong growth from its cloud infrastructure business and in the quarter it brought online its largest-ever supercomputer, featuring 65,000 Nvidia GPUs, which adds some nice capacity. The company is ramping up its capital expenditures (capex) to capture this opportunity, with it rising to $4 billion from $2.3 billion in fiscal Q1. On the negative side, with operating cash flow of just $1.3 billion, the company saw meaningful negative free cash flow due to this increased capex spending. Meanwhile, while the company's RPO growth continues to be strong, it was slightly below fiscal Q1 levels and the early rapid growth appears to be starting to level out. Notably, the Meta deal was signed after the quarter and its contribution will show up next quarter. There is also the looming question of a potential TikTok ban next month. Its owner, ByteDance, is a big Oracle customer, and a ban of the popular social media app in the U.S. would hurt the company if it could not quickly redeploy its capacity. Fortunately for the company, cloud infrastructure demand is booming, so this may not be a huge issue but it is still something to watch. Oracle trades at a forward P/E of just under 28 based on current fiscal-year analyst estimates. That's not overly pricey, but unlike many other large tech companies, it carries a lot of debt. At the end of fiscal Q2, it had net debt of $77.4 billion, while it produced negative free cash flow of $2.7 billion in the quarter. Given that dynamic, along with the company's overall high-single-digit revenue growth and 10% earnings growth, I wouldn't be buying the dip, as I feel that there are better ways to play AI infrastructure.

The real story behind Oracle's 7% stock slide and AI optimism

Oracle shares dropped 7% in after-hours trading following disappointing fiscal second-quarter results that missed analysts' expectations. The database software company reported adjusted earnings per share of $1.47, slightly below the projected $1.48, on revenues of $14.06 billion, which also fell short of the $14.1 billion forecast. Oracle's fiscal second-quarter sales grew by 9% year-over-year. Net income surged 26%, reaching $3.15 billion, or $1.10 per share, up from $2.5 billion, or 89 cents per share, a year earlier. Notably, the company's cloud services revenue increased by 12% from last year, totaling $10.81 billion, which accounted for 77% of total revenues. Oracle highlighted strong performance in its cloud infrastructure sector, where revenue soared by 52% year-over-year to $2.4 billion. This area has become a significant growth driver as enterprises transition their data workloads away from traditional data centers. In his statement, Oracle founder Larry Ellison emphasized the company's strong positioning in the AI market, stating, "Oracle Cloud Infrastructure trains several of the world's most important generative AI models because we are faster and less expensive than other clouds." Tapping into increasing demand for computing power, Oracle recently signed an agreement with Meta to use its infrastructure for projects associated with the Llama family of large language models. CEO Safra Catz described the demand for AI as "record-level," asserting that Oracle's cloud infrastructure outpaced that of its hyperscale competitors. In terms of customer commitments, Oracle reported a 50% growth in remaining performance obligations (RPO), bringing the total to $97 billion. Catz noted that despite the current quarter's challenges, this figure indicates that growth rates may continue to rise. For the forthcoming quarter, Oracle projected revenue growth between 7% and 9%. At the midpoint of this guidance, revenue would approximate $14.3 billion, which is less than the $14.65 billion analysts expected. The company anticipates adjusted earnings of $1.50 to $1.54 per share, whereas analysts had predicted $1.57. In September, Oracle had raised its fiscal 2026 revenue guidance to $66 billion, approximately $1.5 billion above analyst expectations. The company also announced its cloud unit would begin taking orders for computing clusters powered by over 131,000 Nvidia "Blackwell" GPUs, designed for training AI models. Despite Monday's stock decline, Oracle has seen substantial gains in 2023, with shares rising over 80% year-to-date, marking the most successful year for the stock since 1999. Though the recent dip reflects investor caution following less stellar earnings, the strong growth in the AI segment and Oracle's cloud capabilities suggest ongoing potential. Disclaimer: The content of this article is for informational purposes only and should not be construed as investment advice. We do not endorse any specific investment strategies or make recommendations regarding the purchase or sale of any securities.

Oracle is plunging after being one of the hottest plays of 2024. What to do from here

Prepare for Oracle shares to take breather after triumphing as one of the hottest artificial intelligence plays of 2024, Wall Street says. The stock tanked 7% after posting fiscal second-quarter results after the bell Monday that missed Wall Street's estimates on the top and bottom lines. The company also offered up a weak outlook. Oracle has outperformed this year as investors bet on infrastructure cloud players to benefit as companies hunt for strong computing to power data-hungry AI workloads. That's put shares on pace for their best year since 1999 , with a nearly 81% year-to-date gain. ORCL YTD mountain Shares this year But the stock could face pushback from here after its monstrous run, according to some Wall Street firms. "We expect shares to trade off, as despite some modest reacceleration in [Oracle cloud infrastructure, or OCI], we're still not seeing meaningful upside to total cloud revenue, or consolidated revenue/EPS, which likely drives muted estimate revisions," wrote Citi's Tyler Radke. The analyst retained his neutral rating and 2024 estimates, saying that a light quarter suggests a "steeper ramp" in revenue and cloud expectations. Morgan Stanley's Keith Weiss also sees a murky setup for shares given the disappointing results and guidance, saying that the company will "face a higher bar." "With [free cash flows] increasingly pressured by rising capex, shares likely remain range bound as investors assess whether bookings momentum can return," he said, maintaining an equal weight rating. Bank of America's Brad Sills reiterated that Oracle's spending is a concern as gross margins could face some near-term pressure. Industry graphics processing shipment shortages also create some unpredictability, he said. Despite a shiny long-term outlook, JPMorgan's Mark Murphy also sees a "balanced" risk-reward at these levels. He retained his neutral rating and $140 price target, implying about 26% downside from Monday's close. "The success of the OCI ramp is necessitating substantial cloud infrastructure CapEx investments, negatively impacting FCF, which hinders an important valuation backstop, but ultimately we view this as a trade-off for potential revenue growth in the longer term," he wrote.

Oracle's rampant cloud growth wasn't enough for Wall Street, and its stock slides after-hours - SiliconANGLE

Oracle's rampant cloud growth wasn't enough for Wall Street, and its stock slides after-hours Oracle Corp.'s impressive rate of cloud revenue growth wasn't enough to offset declines elsewhere in its business, and its stock was headed lower in late trading after the company missed Wall Street's earnings and sales targets. The database company reported fiscal 2025 second quarter earnings before certain costs such as stock compensation of $1.47 per share, falling just shy of the $1.48 analyst consensus estimate. Revenue for the period rose 9% from a year earlier to $14.06 billion, below the Street's target of $14.1 billion. Oracle's net income rose 26% from a year earlier to $3.15 billion. Revenue from cloud services and license support sales increased 12% to $10.8 billion, accounting for 77% of the company's total, while sales of cloud and on-premises licenses were up 1%, to $1.2 billion. In recent years, Oracle's biggest growth engine has been its cloud infrastructure business, where it competes with companies like Amazon Web Services Inc., Google LLC and Microsoft Corp., and it's making good inroads in that area as more enterprises move computing workloads out of their own data centers. Oracle's cloud unit is positively booming as marquee customers like ByteDance Ltd.'s TikTok and Uber Technologies Inc. scramble to secure the computing power needed for their artificial intelligence projects. Wall Street analysts have predicted that the cloud infrastructure unit will break through the $10 billion in annual sales barrier by the end of the fiscal year in May 2025, and the company's latest numbers suggest that target is not unrealistic. During the quarter, cloud infrastructure revenue leapt by 52% from a year earlier, to $2.4 billion. Oracle Chief Executive Safra Catz said growth in the AI segment of the cloud infrastructure business was nothing short of extraordinary, with graphics processing unit consumption up by 336% from a year ago. "We have delivered the world's largest and fastest AI supercomputer, scaling up to 65,000 Nvidia H200 GPUs," Catz added. "With our remaining performance obligation up 50% to $97 billion, we believe our already impressive growth rates will continue to climb even higher. This fiscal year, total Oracle Cloud revenue should top $25 billion." Oracle revealed that it has also signed another agreement with Meta Platforms Inc., which will see the social media giant use its cloud infrastructure to power various generative AI projects related to its Llama large language models. "Oracle Cloud Infrastructure trains several of the world's most important generative AI models because we are faster and less expensive than other clouds," said Oracle Chairman and Chief Technology Officer Larry Ellison (pictured). "The Oracle Cloud trains dozens of specialized AI models and embeds hundreds of AI Agents in cloud applications. For example, Oracle's AI Agents automate drug design, image and genomic analysis for cancer diagnostics, audio updates to electronic health records for patient care, satellite image analysis to predict and improve agricultural output, fraud and money laundering detection, dual-factor biometric computer logins, and real time video weapons detection in schools." Oracle first launched its cloud infrastructure business in 2016, but it struggled to gain much traction until around 2022, when it achieved the economies of scale required to start offering customers some serious cost and performance benefits. "In the cloud infrastructure market, Oracle has gone from zero to become a major player in just a few years," said Valoir analyst Rebecca Wettemann. "It has transformed from a non-player to a legitimate competitor against heavyweights like AWS." The challenge for Oracle in future will be to move beyond what is currently just a technical pitch, focused on speed and performance. "Oracle needs to start telling a broader story about how integrated apps running on the same infrastructure can deliver better decision-making insights and stronger foundations for AI," Wettemann said. "If Oracle can nail this messaging, it can hold its own more effectively against the hyperscalers." Despite the impressive cloud growth, Oracle upset investors somewhat with its cautious guidance for the current quarter. The company said it's forecasting third quarter sales growth of between 7% and 9%, which would mean $14.3 billion at the midpoint. That's somewhat lower than expected, with analysts hoping for revenue of $14.65 billion. Oracle's earnings forecast also came up light, with the company's guidance of $1.50 to $1.54 per share trailing the Street's target of $1.57 per share. Investors made their dissatisfaction with the soft guidance quite clear, as Oracle's stock dropped almost 8% in the extended trading session. "Oracle has a reputation for consistently beating estimates, so even a minor miss tends to send Wall Street into a tizzy," Wettemann said. " Even with today's dip, Oracle's stock remains up more than 80% in the year-to-date, meaning it's still on track to deliver its best annual performance since 1999.

Oracle shares slide on earnings and revenue miss

Oracle chairman and chief technology officer Larry Ellison speaks at the Oracle OpenWorld conference in San Francisco on Sept. 16, 2019. Oracle shares slid in extended trading on Monday after the database software company reported fiscal second-quarter results that fell short of analysts' estimates. Here is how Oracle did compared to LSEG consensus: Oracle's second-quarter sales grew 9% year over year. The company said that it signed an agreement with Meta in which the social media giant will use Oracle's cloud computing service to help with its various projects related to the Llama family of large language models. "Oracle Cloud Infrastructure trains several of the world's most important generative AI models because we are faster and less expensive than other clouds," Oracle Chairman and chief technology officer Larry Ellison said in a statement. "And we just signed an agreement with Meta -- for them to use Oracle's AI Cloud Infrastructure -- and collaborate with Oracle on the development of AI Agents based on Meta's Llama models." In September, Oracle it raised its fiscal 2026 revenue guidance to $66 billion, which was about $1.5 billion more than what analysts projected. During that month, Oracle also announced that its cloud unit would start taking customer orders for so-called computing clusters derived from over 131,000 Nvidia "Blackwell" graphics processing units, used for AI-model training and related tasks. The stock is up more than 80% this year, headed for its best annual performance since 1999.

Oracle shares head for worst day of 2024 after earnings miss

Larry Ellison, chairman and co-founder of Oracle Corp., speaks during the Oracle OpenWorld 2017 conference in San Francisco, California, U.S., on Sunday, Oct. 1, 2017. Oracle shares dropped 8% on Tuesday and headed for their steepest drop in a year following the database software vendor's disappointing earnings report. The stock's worst day of the year had been a 5.4% decline in May. The shares are still up about 68% in 202, which would be the best annual performance since the dot-com boom of 1999. After the close on Monday, Oracle reported earnings per share for the fiscal second quarter of $1.47, trailing analysts' average estimate by a penny, according to LSEG. Revenue rose 9% from a year earlier to $14.06 billion, missing the $14.1 billion average estimate. Net income increased 26% to $3.15 billion, or $1.10 a share, from $2.5 billion, or 89 cents a share, a year earlier. Revenue in Oracle's cloud services business jumped 12% from a year earlier to $10.81 billion, accounting for 77% of total revenue. "A bit of a stumble here for a stock that's created some lofty expectations for itself," wrote analysts at KeyBank Capital Markets in a note after the report on Monday. They still recommend buying the stock and said "we still like oracle heading into 2025." For the current quarter, Oracle expects revenue growth of 7% to 9%. At the midpoint of that range, revenue would be about $14.3 billion. Analysts were expecting sales of $14.65 billion, according to LSEG. The company said it expects adjusted earnings of $1.50 to $1.54 per share. Analysts were calling for earnings per share of $1.57. Oracle's biggest growth engine has been cloud infrastructure, where it is competing with Amazon, Microsoft and Google as businesses move workloads out of their own data centers. The business is booming due to soaring demand for computing power that can handle artificial intelligence projects. Oracle said revenue in its cloud infrastructure unit soared 52% from a year earlier to $2.4 billion. Oracle said it just signed an agreement with Meta, allowing the social media company to use its infrastructure to help with various projects related to the Llama family of large language models. "Oracle Cloud Infrastructure trains several of the world's most important generative AI models because we are faster and less expensive than other clouds," Oracle founder Larry Ellison said in a statement. Analysts at Piper Sandler raised their price target on the stock to $210 from $185 "based on continued cloud momentum." They cited Oracle's cRPO (current remaining performance obligations) growth of 20%. That figures points to contracted revenue that has yet to be booked.

Oracle shares drop after results dip below expectations

Strong year ends with a dip, but Ellison signs Meta deal to boost AI cred Oracle shares tumbled around 7 percent on Monday after Q2 2025 revenues disappointed financial markets. Throughout 2024, Big Red impressed investors with its revenue and cloud services growth, but the latest figures offer a reality check to its lofty ambitions. Total revenue for the second quarter ended November 30 reached $14.06 billion, narrowly missing market expectations of $14.1 billion. Rebecca Wettemann, CEO of industry analyst firm Valoir, explained that Oracle has a long history of beating market expectations, so even slightly undershooting them could spook investors. Expectations for AI companies are also "overheated," she told Reuters. Oracle has in recent years struggled to paint itself as an AI company, despite databases, applications, middleware, and infrastructure making up the bulk of its offerings. Oracle CEO Safra Catz told investors to expect revenue growth of between 7 and 9 percent. Reports suggest that analysts were expecting a higher rate. Despite the after-trading dip in its valuation, Oracle has performed well this year, gaining around 80 percent of its value and set for its highest growth in nearly 25 years. Catz told investors that multi-cloud agreements with Microsoft, Google, and AWS provide customers more choice in how they can migrate their Oracle databases to the cloud. Co-founder and CTO Larry Ellison said Microsoft is the only partner where the contract is more than a year old. Nonetheless, the deals were going to provide "well over" $100 million in revenue in their first year. Meanwhile, Oracle has bolstered its credentials in AI by striking a deal with Meta to provide infrastructure for the social media giant's Llama large language models. Ellison claimed that in this context, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure was "faster and less expensive than other clouds." "Oracle-trained AI models and AI agents will improve the rate of scientific discovery, economic development, and corporate growth throughout the world. The scale of the opportunity is unimaginable," he said, with characteristic hyperbole. ®

Oracle Stock Slides as Revenue Falls Short of Expectations

Oracle (ORCL) reported fiscal second-quarter revenue that missed analysts' expectations, sending shares lower in extended trading Monday. The cloud services giant delivered quarterly revenue of $14.06 billion, up 9% year-over-year and below the analyst consensus compiled by Visible Alpha. Net income came in at $3.2 billion or $1.10 per share, compared to $2.5 billion or 89 cents per share a year earlier, beating estimates. However, adjusted earnings per share of $1.47 slightly missed expectations. Oracle's Cloud Services segment posted revenue of $10.81 billion, up 12% from the year-ago quarter, while Cloud Infrastructure revenue gained 52% to $2.4 billion on what CEO Safra Catz called "record level AI demand." The results come after Oracle's stock hit record highs last week on enthusiasm for the company's potential to gain from growing demand for AI. Shares fell over 7% in after-hours trading following the release. They were up more than 80% for 2024 through Monday's close.

Oracle Q2 Earnings: Revenue Miss, EPS Miss, AI Growth, Ellison Says 'Opportunity Is Unimaginable' - Oracle (NYSE:ORCL)

The company missed revenue and EPS estimates for the quarter. Software and technology giant Oracle Corporation ORCL reported second-quarter financial results after the market close Monday. What Happened: Oracle reported second-quarter revenue of $14.06 billion, up 9% year-over-year. The revenue total missed a Street consensus estimate of $14.11 billion, according to data from Benzinga Pro. The company reported adjusted earnings per share of $1.47, missing a Street consensus estimate of $1.48. Total cloud revenue for the quarter was $5.9 billion, up 24% year-over-year. The company said cloud services and license support revenues were $10.8 billion, up 12% year-over-year. Cloud license and on-premise revenues were $1.2 billion, up 1% year-over-year. "Record level AI demand drove Oracle Cloud Infrastructure revenue up 52% in Q2, a much higher growth rate than any of our hyperscale cloud infrastructure competitors," Oracle CEO Safra Catz said. Catz called the growth in the AI segment "extraordinary." "GPU consumption was up 336% in the quarter - and we delivered the world's largest and fastest AI SuperComputer scaling up to 65,000 NVIDIA H200 GPUs." Oracle Chairman and Chief Technology Officer Larry Ellison said the company trains several of the world's most important generative AI models "because we are faster and less expensive than other clouds." Ellison highlighted Oracle signing an agreement with Meta Platforms for the Oracle AI Cloud Infrastructure. Read Also: Oracle's Q2 Earnings: Strong Chart Signals, But Watch That RSI What's Next: Catz said Oracle has remaining performance obligations of $97 billion. "We believe our already impressive growth rates will continue to climb even higher. This fiscal year, total Oracle Cloud revenue should top $25 billion," Catz said. Ellison said Oracle will continue to see impressive growth thanks to artificial intelligence. "Oracle trained AI models and AI Agents will improve the rate of scientific discovery, economic development and corporate growth throughout the world. The scale of the opportunity is unimaginable," Ellison said. ORCL Price Action: Oracle stock is down 6.3% to $178.37 in after-hours trading Monday versus a 52-week trading range of $99.26 to $198.31. Oracle stock was up 82% year-to-date prior to the after-hours movement Monday. Read Next: Benzinga's 'Stock Whisper' Index: 5 Stocks Investors Secretly Monitor But Don't Talk About Yet Photo via Shutterstock. Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs

Oracle Posts Higher 2Q Revenue, Profit; Shares Fall After Earnings Miss Estimates

Oracle posted higher revenue and profit in its fiscal second quarter on continued demand for artificial intelligence, but shares fell after the company missed analyst estimates. The stock slid 8%, to $175.30, in after-hours trading. Shares ended the regular session having edged 0.6% lower, to $190.45, putting them up 83% since the beginning of the year. The Austin, Taxas, cloud-software provider on Monday reported a profit of $3.15 billion, or $1.10 a share, for its three months ended Nov. 30, compared with $2.5 billion, or 89 cents a share, for the same period a year earlier. Adjusted per-share earnings came in at $1.47, just missing the $1.48 that analysts were expecting, according to FactSet. Revenue rose 8.6% to $14.06 billion, slightly below the $14.12 billion that analysts surveyed by FactSet were projecting. Chief Executive Safra Catz said that record-level AI demand boosted revenue in the recent quarter. She said she expects Oracle's cloud infrastructure unit to surpass $25 billion in revenue in fiscal 2025, thanks to companies adopting its software to train generative AI models.

Profit up, revenues up, share price down - Oracle becomes the latest enterprise player to run foul of Wall Street's expectations

One more time for luck with another iteration of a sadly familiar 2024 enterprise tech narrative - profits up, revenue up, stock price down as greedy Wall Street expectations were not met by Oracle, despite its cloud business powering ahead. For Q2 2025, net income was up 26% year-on-year to $3.15 billion on total revenues of $14.06 billion, up nine percent on the same period last year. Revenue from cloud services and license support sales increased 12% to $10.8 billion, accounting for over three quarters (77%) of total as well as being the fastest growing line item, while cloud infrastructure revenue was up 52% to $2.4 billion on the back of growing AI demand. Wall Street's reaction? An eight percent drop in the Oracle share price. In fact, Oracle's cloud revenue for the full fiscal year could hit $2 billion, predicted CEO Safra Catz: Our cloud is faster and is less expensive than other clouds. We remain the preferred cloud for AI workloads as well as for non-GPU cloud infrastructure services. In addition, our ability to deploy our cloud in many sizes gives our customers flexibility, and our multi-cloud agreements with Microsoft, Google, and AWS provide customers more choice in how they can migrate their Oracle databases to the cloud. And our strategic SaaS applications continue to grow rapidly. And we are also seeing more of our industry-based cloud applications come online, which immediately contribute to revenue growth. CTO Larry Ellison picked up on the impact of generative AI on Oracle's infrastructure business, stating: Oracle Cloud Infrastructure trains several of the world's most important generative AI models. Our major AI customers include OpenAI, xAI, Nvidia, Cohere, and most recently, Meta with their large-scale Llama models. Oracle continues to win large AI training workloads because we're faster and less expensive than the other infrastructure clouds. And we just extended our AI performance advantage by delivering the largest and fastest AI supercomputer in the world, scaling up to 65,000 Nvidia H200 GPUs. From a customer perspective, Ellison pointed to the firm's roll out of cloud regions as making adoption of services easier: We don't have to provision like our competitors do. Our competitors have some of their services in some regions and some of their services in other regions. We have all of our services in all of our regions...When all of our racks are the same and all of our services are the same, they become very easy or, I should say, easier to automate. They're all identical. We have one suite of automation tools that works in all 100 of our current regions. And it makes it possible because of the high degree of automation to run not dozens of regions but hundreds or, even theoretically, thousands of regions as individual customers are dedicating their own region. Individual customers are buying complete Oracle regions and installing them. What seems like it would be on-premise, though it is a full Oracle Cloud region, just happens to be in a dedicated data center to that customer. We are selling a lot of those as well. So it allows us to address a market that our competitors can't reach. So standardization, automation, and from the smallest to the largest data centers give us a huge advantage in competing in this marketplace. The firm's multi-cloud partnerships with Microsoft, Google and AWS - hosting the Oracle database on those vendors platforms - are also providing Oracle with competitive edge, he argued. It's still early days here, he added: Microsoft is the only partner where the contract is more than a year old. So Google is much more recent and AWS even more recent than Google. So we're at the very beginning of multi-cloud...it's going to exit [at] well over $100 million in its first year. The first year is starting when we got AWS, when we had all three. It will be a multi-billion dollar business. This is just the beginning of the beginning. Regardless of Wall Street's by now characteristic short termism and over-inflated expectations, Oracle ends the calendar year with a strong Q2 with all important areas of the business on the up and the prospect of more to come as Catz noted:

Oracle Analysts Boost Their Forecasts After Q2 Results - Oracle (NYSE:ORCL)

Oracle Corporation ORCL posted weaker-than-expected earnings and sales results for its second quarter on Monday. The company reported second-quarter revenue of $14.06 billion, up 9% year-over-year. The revenue total missed a Street consensus estimate of $14.11 billion. The company reported adjusted earnings per share of $1.47, missing a Street consensus estimate of $1.48. "Record level AI demand drove Oracle Cloud Infrastructure revenue up 52% in Q2, a much higher growth rate than any of our hyperscale cloud infrastructure competitors," Oracle CEO Safra Catz said. "GPU consumption was up 336% in the quarter - and we delivered the world's largest and fastest AI SuperComputer scaling up to 65,000 NVIDIA H200 GPUs." Oracle shares fell 0.7% to close at $190.45 on Monday. These analysts made changes to their price targets on Oracle following earnings announcement. Piper Sandler analyst Brent Bracelin maintained Oracle with an Overweight and raised the price target from $185 to $210. Morgan Stanley analyst Keith Weiss maintained Oracle with an Equal-Weight and raised the price target from $145 to $175. BMO Capital analyst Keith Bachman maintained Oracle with a Market Perform and raised the price target from $173 to $205. Evercore ISI Group analyst Kirk Materne maintained the stock with an Outperform and raised the price target from $190 to $200. Mizuho analyst Siti Panigrahi maintained Oracle with an Outperform and raised the price target from $185 to $210. Considering buying ORCL stock? Here's what analysts think: Read This Next: S&P 500, Nasdaq Retreat From Record Highs As Nvidia Declines Over Chinese Antitrust Concerns: Fear & Greed Index Remains In 'Neutral' Zone Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs