Oracle stock soars as it promises the AI spending will start paying for itself

For months, investors have asked how Oracle (ORCL) would pay for its AI build-out. On Wednesday the company put numbers on it, and the stock had its best day since May.

Shares closed up about 11% at about $144 Wednesday, adding more than $40 billion in market value, as the company laid out new financial targets at its investor day. Even with the jump, the stock is still down about 25% this year.

144.54 +14.01 (+10.73%)

At close: 4:03:50 PM EDT

140.88 -3.66 (-2.53%)

After hours: 7:40:38 PM EDT

The stock barely moved for most of the session, hovering near $130 until about 2:20 p.m. ET. Within minutes, it was up 13% after Oracle’s release crossed.

Oracle said it expects about $30 billion in free cash flow, the cash left over after paying for data centers and other spending, in its fiscal year ending May 2029. It burned through about $24 billion in the fiscal year that ended this May. The company also said it would limit new fundraising, a mix of stock and debt, to $20 billion through May 2030, and that capital spending would start falling in fiscal 2029 after peaking.

Oracle stuck with its goal of $225 billion in revenue in fiscal 2030. It also reaffirmed its outlook for the current fiscal year, including at least $90 billion in revenue.

Investors this year have worried about how much debt Oracle and other AI cloud providers are taking on to build data centers, and the fundraising cap speaks directly to that. Before the investor day, Fidelity’s Jurrien Timmer pointed out on X that credit worries were back, citing the rising cost of insuring Oracle and CoreWeave (CRWV) debt against default.

“The bond market is regulating as it always does,” wrote Timmer, Fidelity’s director of global macro. He added that “a more disciplined allocation of capital today will prevent a bursting bubble tomorrow.”

Wednesday’s gain was one of Oracle’s biggest since September 2025. That month, the stock soared 36% in a single day, its best since 1992, after the company reported a surge in contracted AI cloud business. Shares then lost more than half their value from that record as investors questioned how Oracle would fund the build-out, bottoming near $115 in July.

Line chart of Oracle's daily closing price from June 2025 to Oct. 28, 2026. It marks the record close of about $323 after a 36% jump on Sept. 10, 2025, the July 24, 2026 low of about $115, and the Oct. 28 close of about $144.
Yahoo Finance

The rally spread to the companies that supply and run AI data centers. Vertiv (VRT), which makes power and cooling equipment, jumped about 16%. Memory makers SK Hynix (SKHY) and Sandisk (SNDK) rose 8% to 13%, and Micron (MU) gained about 6%. CoreWeave (CRWV) and Nebius (NBIS), which rent out AI computing power, each rose about 7%. Bloom Energy (BE) and Quanta Services (PWR) gained around 5%.

The biggest AI names didn’t join in. Nvidia (NVDA) and Meta (META) each fell about 1%, and Microsoft (MSFT) ended flat.

Heat map of one-day stock moves for 21 AI-related companies, sized by market value, with gains in green and losses in red. Vertiv is up about 16%, SK Hynix about 12% and Oracle about 12%. Sandisk, CoreWeave, Micron, Lumentum and Lam Research are up about 5% to 7%. Nvidia, Meta, GE Vernova and Vistra are down about 1.5% to 2%, and Microsoft is slightly lower.
AI builders such as Vertiv, SK Hynix and CoreWeave rallied with Oracle on Wednesday, while Nvidia and Meta slipped. · Yahoo Finance AlphaSpace

Timmer also flagged the risk on the other side of the trade. “The bubble might not be in valuations but in (circular) earnings,” he wrote, warning that a slower data center build-out could cut into the demand for chips.

The promise bought Oracle its best day in months. Making good on it starts with earnings in December, when investors will look for signs that free cash flow is heading toward $30 billion, not deeper below zero.

Internal AI tools helped analyze interview transcripts, research, and draft this post. Humans reviewed, edited, and fact-checked this post before publication.

Jared Blikre is the global markets and data editor for Yahoo Finance. Follow him on X at @SPYJared or email him at jaredblikre@yahooinc.com.

Click here for in-depth analysis of the latest stock market news and events moving stock prices

Read the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance

Source link

Visited 1 times, 1 visit(s) today

Related Article

Google stock plunges as Q3 sales fall short of expectations

Google (GOOG, GOOGL) reported its third quarter earnings after the bell on Wednesday, missing revenue projections on lower-than-anticipated advertising sales, despite Google Cloud growth of 103%. Google saw earnings per share (EPS) of $2.12 on revenue of 127.58 billion. Analysts were looking for EPS of $3.01 on revenue of $127.93 billion. Revenue excluding traffic acquisition

Microsoft Stocks Edge Higher Ahead of First Results Under New AI Reporting

This article first appeared on GuruFocus. Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) faces a familiar earnings test tonight: can its AI push deliver enough growth to justify the spending? Shares traded at $530.37, down 0.18%, at 9:55 a.m. ET on October 28. The company’s earnings preview puts Azure and investment costs in focus, but investors also have new reporting

Applied Digital Insiders Just Bought More Shares. Should You Join Them?

Applied Digital (NASDAQ: APLD) insiders have been buying the dip as the artificial intelligence (AI) stock continues to slide. The company’s CEO and president bought a combined $6.7 million worth of shares on Oct. 16. Despite the insider buying, Applied Digital is down by more than 30% over the past month. No doubt, sentiment around

Wingstop Soars 13% on Q3 Earnings Beat Even as CEO Says He’s “Not Satisfied”

Wingstop Soars 13% on Q3 Earnings Beat Even as CEO Says He’s “Not Satisfied” ©PeskyMonkey from Getty Images via Canva Key Takeaways Wingstop shares rose 13% after third-quarter adjusted EPS of $1.08 beat the $1.02 analysts expected, despite a revenue miss. The stock had already fallen so far that a modest beat and steady restaurant

Are You Overpaying For Home Depot Stock Versus Its Rivals?

Image from Pixabay For questions about this article or underlying research, email help@trefis.com. Investors pay 22.3 times earnings for Home Depot (HD) stock. That valuation is higher than for its closest rival, Lowe’s, or for Amazon, but lower than for Walmart or Costco. Among these five large retailers, Home Depot retains the highest share of

The S&P 500 Is Approaching a Valuation Not Seen Since the Peak of the Dot-Com Bubble, and History Suggests a Crash Could Follow

The S&P 500 (^GSPC +0.20%) index has more than doubled from its 2022 bear market low point, driven by blistering returns from the technology sector which is home to many of the companies leading the artificial intelligence (AI) revolution. The index’s Shiller cyclically adjusted price-to-earnings (CAPE) ratio recently hit 41, a stone’s throw away from

Oct. 27 Has Historically Marked the Stock Market’s Autumn Bottom

Quick Read Jim Reid found October 27 historically marks the S&P 500’s autumn low, and SPY gained 0.57% as small caps surged over 1%. RSP hedges megacap concentration risk. Microsoft alone holds nearly 5% of SPY, meaning one bad earnings report can erase seasonal gains. The S&P 500 has averaged +17% returns in the year

US Stock Market Today: S&P 500 Futures Edge Up On Durable Demand Optimism

The Morning Bull – US Market Morning Update Wednesday, Oct, 28 2026 US stocks are set for a slightly positive open, with sentiment leaning cautiously upbeat. The single driver this morning is stronger US demand data, which keeps the soft landing debate very much alive. September durable goods orders rose 1.8%, while core orders excluding

Qualcomm Stock Has an AI Opportunity Most Nvidia Investors May Be Overlooking

Quick Read QCOM trades at a forward P/E of 18 while two hyperscaler custom silicon deals are set to generate revenue as early as the December quarter. Broadcom’s AI semiconductor revenue hit $17 billion, up 221%, representing the exact market QCOM is now entering, yet it trades at a steep discount to both NVDA and

The stock market’s best 6 months of the year start Monday: Chart of the Day

The stock market’s favorite season starts Monday. For decades, November through April has beaten the rest of the year by a mile. That’s the Halloween indicator, also called the “best six months” or “sell in May.” Buy stocks at the end of October, hold them through April, then step aside for the summer. Yale Hirsch

Alphabet Stock Breaks Down Ahead of Q3 Earnings: Could GOOGL Fall 30%?

Alphabet (GOOGL) stock trades below its 200-day moving average by the widest margin in 17 months, Barchart data show. AI spending fears pushed shares near $317 ahead of Wednesday’s third-quarter (Q3) earnings. Wall Street sees a different picture. Twelve of 13 analysts tracked by Visible Alpha rate GOOGL a buy. Their average $433 target sits

Hybrid Software : Update on the share repurchase program

Market Closed – 12:55:00 2026-10-27 pm EDT 5-day change 1st Jan Change 3.800 EUR -2.56% -2.56% -6.86% Published on 10/27/2026 at 01:06 pm EDT Publicnow Issuer HYBRID SOFTWARE GROUP PLC PRESS RELEASE – REGULATED INFORMATION Cambridge (UK), 27 October 2026 (18.00 CET): On 10 December 2024, Hybrid Software Group PLC announced the start of its

Is the Brazilian 20% Stock Market Rout an Opportunity?

The largest stock market in Latin America was just routed.  Stocks in Brazil nearly experienced a technical crash on Monday, falling by almost 20% after the re-election of incumbent president Luiz Inacio Lula de Silva, better known as Lula.  Lula’s victory was stunning because he finished behind challenger Flavio Bolsonaro in a broader election earlier

NovaJet Launch Might Change The Case For Investing In Universal Display Stock (OLED)

Universal Display, through subsidiary Universal Vapor Jet Corporation, launched the NovaJet UVJP system, a solvent free printing platform developed in Singapore for precise thin film deposition across semiconductor, electronics and advanced manufacturing uses, and is showing it at the WESEMiBAY conference in Shenzhen. The same period brings a ten year OLED lighting milestone with Audi

0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x