Oracle beats on earnings, but stock drops on plans to raise another $20B (www.cnbc.com)

Oracle has reported strong fiscal fourth-quarter earnings, beating analyst expectations with adjusted earnings per share of $2.03 and revenue of $19.18 billion, marking a 21% year-over-year increase. Despite these positive results, the company's stock fell 7% in after-hours trading. The decline was mainly triggered by Oracle’s announcement of plans to raise an additional $20 billion in equity and debt to support its ambitious AI initiatives, raising concerns about whether such an investment is warranted amid fluctuating demand for AI solutions. The company retained its fiscal year revenue guidance of $90 billion for 2027 while increasing its profit forecast to $8.05 per share. Notably, Oracle's revenue from cloud offerings surged by 47% to nearly $10 billion, with the cloud infrastructure segment experiencing a remarkable 93% growth. A significant portion of Oracle's revenue backlog, now at $638 billion, stems from prepayments related to large-scale AI contracts. As the AI landscape evolves, Oracle's aggressive investment strategy aims to bolster its data center capabilities, including bringing online substantial computing power, reflecting its commitment to becoming a leader in cloud-based AI solutions.