Ignore the OpenAI Panic and Keep Buying Oracle Stock, Says Wedbush - Barchart
π ORCL stock dropped more than 4% on April 28 after OpenAI missed internal user and revenue targets, triggering fears that Oracle's AI bet might be cooling.
π° Wedbush analyst Dan Ives initiated coverage with an 'Outperform' rating and a $225 price target, urging investors to treat the recent decline as a buying opportunity.
π Oracle reported Q3 revenue of $17.19 billion, a 22% year-over-year increase, beating market estimates and accelerating cloud business growth.
βοΈ Cloud services and license revenue climbed 44% to $8.9 billion, while OCI revenue surged 84% to $4.9 billion in the latest quarter.
π€ Oracle has a massive backlog of contracts totaling $553 billion, representing a 325% year-over-year increase driven by large AI-related agreements.
ποΈ The company is executing a major data-center buildout and plans to raise approximately $45-50 billion in capital this year via debt and equity issuance.
π Oracle announced a partnership with AWS to create a private, high-speed link between its cloud and Amazon's cloud infrastructure.
π» The firm signed a deal to use AMD's new MI450 AI chips in its servers, deploying 50,000 units by late 2026.
π Wall Street consensus sentiment is cautiously positive, with an average price target of $247.43 implying roughly 39% upside from current levels.
βοΈ Analyst views remain mixed; while Barclays raised its target to $240, Morgan Stanley maintained an 'Equal-Weight' rating citing uncertainty around new GPU-as-a-Service margins.
- Wedbush analyst Dan Ives explicitly calls the recent stock decline an 'overreaction' and a buying opportunity due to underlying business strength.
- Oracle's Q3 revenue grew 22% year-over-year to $17.19 billion, significantly beating market expectations.
- Cloud services and license revenue accelerated with a 44% increase to $8.9 billion, demonstrating strong demand for cloud infrastructure.
- OCI revenue jumped 84% to $4.9 billion, highlighting the rapid expansion of Oracle's cloud operations.
- The company's remaining performance obligations rose 325% year-over-year to a massive $553 billion, indicating locked-in future revenue.
- Oracle raised its fiscal 2027 revenue target to $90 billion, signaling confidence in long-term growth trajectory.
- Strategic multicloud partnerships with AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud are expanding Oracle's market reach and customer base.
- The company secured a deal to deploy 50,000 AMD MI450 AI chips by late 2026, strengthening its hardware capabilities.
- ORCL stock has cooled off significantly from its all-time highs near $346, trading around $172 and down roughly 50% from the peak.
- Investors are concerned about Oracle's heavy spending on a $50 billion data-center buildout and associated debt levels.
- Weaker smartphone demand has negatively impacted revenue in Oracle's legacy hardware business.
- Oracle is trading at a premium valuation with a forward P/E of 26.5x, compared to tech averages of roughly 4x.
- Some bondholders have sued the company, fearing dilution and increased debt from its capital raising plans.