Oracle raises annual profit forecast to $8.10 per share as AI cloud demand surges
Oracle topped Wall Street revenue estimates in the first fiscal quarter while boosting its annual earnings guidance, citing strong prepayment rates from AI clients.
Oracle reported first-quarter revenue of $19.3 billion, exceeding analysts' average estimate of $19.14 billion by 30 cents per share. The company lifted its adjusted earnings per share forecast for fiscal 2027 to $8.10 from a prior projection of $8.05, surpassing the consensus annual profit estimate of $8.07. Revenue growth was driven by increased spending on cloud services for artificial intelligence among enterprise clients. Oracle brought 850 megawatts of data center capacity online during the June-August quarter and expanded its revenue backlog to $664 billion at period-end, up from $638 billion in the preceding three months. This figure beat analyst estimates compiled by LSEG and Visible Alpha, which averaged $639.89 billion. Financial chief Hilary Maxson noted that most new contracts utilized prepayment or bring-your-own-hardware models, avoiding large capital outlays for chips from Oracle. Consequently, cash burn remained lower than expected while annual spending targets between $90 billion and $95 billion were maintained. Shares rose nearly 8 per cent in extended trading despite the stock declining over 21 per cent during the year.
