Oracle

Oracle’s stock surged 28% after hours following its earnings call, driven by optimistic forward-looking projections for its cloud infrastructure business and new AI deals. Analysts were “blown away” by the anticipated 77% revenue increase in cloud infrastructure. Oracle also announced multi-billion-dollar contracts, including a collaboration with OpenAI to develop data center capacity and a substantial increase in remaining performance obligations, signaling strong future revenue. The company’s strategic focus on technology and networking, rather than owning data center buildings, also contributed to the positive outlook.

Oracle shares surged after hours due to optimistic growth projections driven by new cloud contracts, overshadowing slight earnings and revenue misses. Q1 revenue rose 12% to $14.93 billion. Remaining Performance Obligation skyrocketed 359% to $455 billion, fueled by deals like OpenAI’s 4.5 gigawatt data center agreement. Oracle is leveraging AI, integrating Google’s Gemini, and launching Oracle AI Database. Cloud infrastructure revenue grew 55%. Oracle projects significant revenue growth through 2030, with substantial capital expenditure increases planned.

Salesforce’s stock has significantly underperformed compared to Oracle, reversing their pandemic-era market cap crossover. Investors await Salesforce’s quarterly results amid slowing growth in its core CRM market. AI presents both a challenge and an opportunity, with Salesforce launching Agentforce, an AI-powered customer support system. Analysts are watching improvements in remaining performance obligations and the impact of the Informatica acquisition. Activist investors remain engaged, seeking further improvements in profitability. Oracle, meanwhile, benefits from cloud infrastructure commitments related to AI.

OpenAI is significantly expanding its AI infrastructure through a massive deal with Oracle to build new data centers across the US as part of its Stargate initiative. These centers, requiring 4.5 gigawatts of power, will house over two million chips and support wider access to advanced AI. This supports OpenAI’s pledge to invest heavily in US AI infrastructure, potentially exceeding $500 billion, and is projected to create over 100,000 jobs. Collaborations also include SoftBank and Microsoft, highlighting the extensive industrial effort behind AI development.