This article was written by

Follow

Analyst’s Disclosure: I/we have a beneficial long position in the shares of IBIT either through stock ownership, options, or other derivatives. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.

Seeking Alpha’s Disclosure: Past performance is no guarantee of future results. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. Any views or opinions expressed above may not reflect those of Seeking Alpha as a whole. Seeking Alpha is not a licensed securities dealer, broker or US investment adviser or investment bank. Our analysts are third party authors that include both professional investors and individual investors who may not be licensed or certified by any institute or regulatory body.

Quick Read

• Oracle stock plunged 50% despite co-CEOs delivering a $664 billion contract backlog and 121% cloud infrastructure revenue growth in one year.

• Q1 capex hit $28.5 billion with free cash flow negative $5.4 billion, as FY27 spending guidance reaches $90 to $95 billion.

• Wall Street remains 82% bullish with a $238 consensus target, and we award the co-CEOs a B+ for operational execution in year one.

• Just released. Our analysts combed the entire stock market and named the ten best stocks to buy right now, and Oracle didn’t make the cut. Enter your email to see the names that beat ORCL. The report is free. Enter your email and see if any of your stocks made the cut.

One year into the most recent co-CEO era at Oracle (NYSE:ORCL), the stock is down 50.2% over the trailing 12 months, with a 52-week range that has swung from a high of $329.50 to a low of $114.50. Shares changed hands around $148.99 in Monday’s premarket.

Clay Magouyrk and Mike Sicilia took over as co-CEOs near the peak. The contracted business under their leadership then grew at a pace almost nothing in enterprise software has matched. The stock went the other way. Did the business genuinely improve, or did the market simply reprice what investors will pay for growth that requires heavy capital investment?

What Changed Under the New Chiefs

Remaining performance obligations, essentially the dollar value of signed contracts not yet recognized as revenue, ended Q1 FY2027 at $664 billion, a $209 billion year-over-year increase. Cloud infrastructure revenue grew 121%, and Oracle booked more than $30 billion in new AI cloud contracts in a single quarter.

Free Report, Just Released

Why Didn’t ORCL Make The Top 10 List?

24/7 Wall St has helped investors make money for over two decades, and our top analysts just finished ranking the definitive Top 10 Stocks To Buy Now. Not the ten biggest companies. Not the ten everyone is arguing about. The ten best stocks to buy right now.

And ORCL didn’t make the cut!

The report is free, and you can see why we think each stock is a top investment today.

Enter Your Email and See the Ten →

The operational execution has real substance. Oracle delivered 850 megawatts and more than 300,000 GPUs since Q4, with utilization at 97.9% and renewals coming in at a 20% premium. Total revenue reached $19.34 billion, up 29.6%, versus the $14.93 billion posted in the quarter the handover happened. Co-CEO Magouyrk said, “We are delivering data center and GPU capacity at a pace that would have seemed impossible only a year ago.”

The multicloud pact with Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Azure, Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) AWS, and Google is the strategic pivot. Multi-cloud database revenue grew 353% year over year. The GPU muscle comes from Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA), whose Vera Rubin systems ship to Oracle customers in Q2. (The power, cooling, and networking suppliers riding the same buildout are the subject of a free report on seven non-chipmaker AI infrastructure names.)

Where the Skeptic Case Lives

Capital intensity is the whole bear case. Q1 capex hit $28.5 billion, free cash flow was negative $5.4 billion, and management guided FY27 capex to $90 billion to $95 billion. Oracle completed a $20 billion at-the-market equity issuance, and interest expense rose 55% to $1.4 billion. CFO Hilary Maxson has flagged a roughly five-percentage-point full-year gross margin decline for fiscal 2026.

The earnings optics deserve scrutiny. FY26 EPS of $7.63 flatters against FY27 guidance of $8.10, but Q2 FY26’s $2.26 EPS included a $2.7 billion Ampere divestiture gain. The remaining performance obligations figure is only as good as the customers behind it, and cash goes out years before revenue arrives.

Verdict: Year One Grade

Grade: B+. The co-CEOs inherited businesses they already ran and delivered a scale test with numbers that back the story. Worth watching over the next 12 months is whether operating cash flow of $23.1 billion continues to outpace net cash capex, which management estimates at no more than $70 billion for the year. Wall Street is with them: 82% bullish and a $237.97 consensus price target. Now the co-CEOs need to prove it.

Got $1,000? Before You Buy ORCL, Read This

If you have cash sitting in your account right now, give this two minutes. After more than two decades of helping investors beat the market, our top analysts at 24/7 Wall St. put together a definitive report on the Top 10 Stocks To Buy Today. And ORCL wasn’t one of them.

They combed the entire market. It’s not 10 ideas, not 10 stocks everyone is talking about, it’s what their research points to as the 10 best stocks to buy right now, and it’s free. Read more here and see which stocks made the list –>>

Contact editorial@247wallst.com for any questions or corrections.

She is taking over from Dave Lees who is stepping down at the end of the year

Bristol Airport has appointed a new chief executive as it continues to push for further expansion. Charley Maher will take over from current boss Dave Lees who has been at the helm of the transport hub since 2018 and will be stepping down at the end of the year.

Ms Maher is currently group chief executive of South Staffordshire Group, a regulated water and infrastructure services group, and has spent her career working in the travel, financial services and utilities sectors.

She held senior leadership roles with NatWest and Wessex Water/YTL Group before joining South Staffordshire as its top boss in 2023.

Jason Holt, chair of Bristol Airport, said the appointment followed an “extensive and highly competitive selection process”.

“Charley brings extensive experience of delivering long-term infrastructure investment, successful customer delivery, and the balancing of commercial performance with environmental and social responsibilities,” he said.

Under Mr Lees’ leadership, Bristol Airport has seen an unprecedented growth in passenger numbers and the delivery of a number of major projects, including a new public transport interchange as well as the positive outcome of a planning application to increase passengers to 12 million a year.

The airport, which became majority-owned by Macquarie Asset Management last year, now employs more than 5,800 people and supports thousands more jobs through the wider supply chain. It is currently undergoing a £400m upgrade and is seeking further expansion – to 15 million passengers a year – a move it says will create an extra 1,000 new jobs while increasing long-haul connectivity to global markets.

Ms Maher said: “I am genuinely excited to be joining Bristol Airport at such an important and ambitious stage in its journey. Having grown up, lived and worked in North Somerset and Bristol for many years, it is a real privilege to be appointed to such a key role that sits at the heart of the region I call home.

“The airport plays an important part in connecting people, supporting businesses and helping our communities thrive, and I’m looking forward to working with the team, partners and stakeholders to build on the fantastic work already achieved, and to help shape an ambitious and sustainable future.”

Mr Lees said it had been “the highlight of my career” to lead the team at Bristol Airport.

“Together we have delivered significant improvements for our customers, airlines and the community which we are proud to serve, including our industry leading position on our pathway to deliver net zero Airport operations by 2030,” he added.

Bristol Airport is England’s third-largest regional airport, with more than 10.8 million passengers passing through the terminal over the past 12 months and links to more than 120 destinations in 34 countries.