OracleORCLBUY ON WEAKNESSJul 12, 2013Stock price when the opinion was issued
As of Jun 04, 2026. Market Open.
They delivered a strong quarter yesterday. When Oracle issued debt to pay for its big data centre build-out, investors became concerned over its credit, starting last fall. However, their Q3 had many highlights: top and bottom line beat and every division except their smallest posted better than expected sales. Also, their operating margin rose over the last quarter. EPS also grew. Q4 guidance: 19-21% revenue growth, higher than expected. Meanwhile, OpenAI completed its fundraising so it can pay its bills for the short/medium term; Oracle doesn't have to worry about this in their partnership with OpenAI.
They're putting their eggs into one basket, OpenAI, to build its massive infrastructure. They carry a lot of debt and lack the cash flow of the hyperscalers who are building data centres. To raise funding, Oracle issued debt. Credit default swaps on this debt blew out. Also, the Google vs. OpenAI rivalry happened, with Google outperforming OpenAI. However, Oracle is hiring Microsoft engineers to build the data centres, so if they pull this off, there could be a lot of upside. Don't count them out, but it wouldn't hurt to de-risk and trim your position.
By 2030, earnings should about double due to new Stargate venture with OpenAI. That will take a lot of debt. Training margins with its AI training model won't be the highest, though still quite good. After all that, can it regain market share? More likely yes than no, but understand what you're signing up for.
Keep your position size modest, and make sure to diversify elsewhere.
Have good products but are up against enterprise spending budgets. Software is not a priority in the same way that data analytics, big data or storage are. They have a product on the enterprise side that has kind of missed the sales targets they originally planned. Made excuses rather than explanations and created doubt in investors’ minds. Missed the boat on a number of things. Senses that they are building the balance sheet in order to do something. Would wait for a better entry point.