Jonathan Ponciano, The Motley Fool Wed, November 11, 2026 at 5:11 PM EST 4 min read ORCL +7.69% NVDA -2.13% CRWV +21.41% Explore stocks on Coinbase Trading disclosure Trading disclosure The above button links to Coinbase. Yahoo Finance is not a broker-dealer or investment adviser and does not offer securities or cryptocurrencies for sale or facilitate trading. Coinbase pays us for certain activity generated through this link. Prices displayed are informational.
Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) shares rose nearly 9% to about $128 on Wednesday, part of a broad rally in AI stocks after AI cloud company CoreWeave (NASDAQ:CRWV) raised its revenue forecast and reported a massive order backlog of about $132.5 billion.
The jump follows a brutal stretch. Even after Wednesday's gain, Oracle is still down about 34% this year and more than 60% from its record levels last year.
Missed Nvidia in 2009? This Rare Signal Is Flashing Again. In 2009, a "Double Down" signal flashed for a little-known chipmaker called Nvidia. For the first time in years, that same "Total Conviction" signal is flashing for a company 1/100th the size of Nvidia. Continue »
CoreWeave and Oracle are in the same business: renting out huge amounts of AI computing power. Both are spending heavily to build data centers, and investors have worried about how they'll pay for it.
CoreWeave's report eased some of that worry. Its CEO, Michael Intrator, said the company's growth is funded partly by "financing backed by customer contracts" and about $9 billion in customer prepayments and deposits expected in the next three months alone. In other words, customers are paying up front for capacity they want, which suggests demand for AI computing is real rather than speculative.
That obviously matters for Oracle, which is making the same kind of bet, but on a much bigger scale.
The latest worry for AI stocks is political. After last week's midterm elections, investors grew concerned that states and towns could restrict new data center construction. The restrictions have gotten bipartisan support. On Wednesday, Sen. Josh Hawley called for a moratorium on building them.
Still, analysts at Mizuho think Oracle is better prepared than most. In a note on Monday, the firm said all five of Oracle's mega sites are already under construction, and four have the necessary permits. The firm said potential delays are already built into Oracle's guidance, and that tighter permitting could even help Oracle by limiting new AI computing supply. Mizuho called the recent sell-off a buying opportunity and kept its Outperform rating.
Oracle's own numbers show why investors care. In its latest quarterly report, for the three months ended Aug. 31, cloud infrastructure revenue more than doubled to $7.4 billion. Total revenue rose 30% to $19.3 billion.
Its remaining performance obligations, or revenue it's already under contract to collect, reached $664 billion, up from $455 billion a year earlier. Oracle said the jump came mainly from "significant" (or, large) cloud contracts.
Building all that capacity costs a fortune. Oracle spent $28.5 billion on capital expenditures in the quarter, more than three times the year before. That left free cash flow at negative $5.4 billion, well below negative $362 million one year prior. To help pay for it, Oracle raised about $19.9 billion by selling new shares, which, of course, dilutes existing shareholders.
Oracle is also carrying a lot of debt. It had about $125 billion in senior notes and other long-term borrowings at the end of August. There is a bright spot: like CoreWeave, Oracle's customers are paying in advance. Prepayments added about $11.4 billion to its operating cash flow in the quarter, helping that figure nearly triple to $23.1 billion. Profit is growing, too, with earnings per share up 54% to $1.56.
Oracle also expects to recognize only about 13% of that $664 billion over the next 12 months. Much of the payoff seems years away, and depends on customers following through.
Mizuho makes a good point: if building new data centers gets harder, companies with sites already underway have an edge. But Oracle is a high-stakes bet that AI demand will last for years.
At about $128 a share, Oracle is worth roughly $390 billion. For investors who believe in that story, the stock's 34% drop this year offers a better entry point. Just size the position for the risk, and watch Oracle's next earnings report in December for updates on spending and its backlog.
In 2009, a "Double Down" signal flashed for a little-known chipmaker called Nvidia. If you'd invested $5,000 then, you'd be sitting on $2,195,396 today.*
Now, for the first time in years, that same "Total Conviction" signal is flashing for a company 1/100th the size of Nvidia. It's a key player in the $1.8 trillion space race, and with the stock recently sitting 20% off its highs, the window to get in early is closing fast.
*Stock Advisor returns as of November 11, 2026.
Jonathan Ponciano has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Oracle. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Oracle Stock Just Surged After CoreWeave Earnings. Here's Why One Analyst Says It's Built for the Data-Center Backlash was originally published by The Motley Fool
