A gain of 8.83% on the latest quote (Nov. 11, 2026) put Oracle (ORCL) at 128.4 USD, still well below the top of its 52-week range of 109.21-250.25 USD. One Motley Fool headline tied the surge to CoreWeave's earnings, and a MarketWatch headline quoted an analyst calling Oracle a go-to AI play. Underneath, the most recent quarter shows fast cloud growth, a higher operating margin and a heavy spending bill.
A note to avoid confusion: a similarly named company, Oracle Commodity Holding Corp., which trades in Canada, announced a small private placement the same day. It is unrelated to Oracle Corporation.
Key facts
- Share price: 128.4 USD on the latest quote (Nov. 11, 2026), up 8.83%. Market cap is $388.25B.
- Earnings reported 2026-09-10: EPS of 1.92 (the figure compared with analyst estimates) against an estimate of 1.74, a difference of +$0.18, or 10.3%. Revenue of $19.34B against an estimate of $19.13B, a difference of +$210.0M, or 1.1%.
- Quarter ended Aug. 31, 2026 (Q1 FY2027): revenue of $19.34B, up 29.6% from the year-ago quarter. Net income of $4.76B, up 62.6%. Diluted EPS (the GAAP figure) was 1.56.
- Free cash flow in that quarter: -$5.40B, after operating cash flow of $23.10B and capital expenditure of -$28.50B.
- Balance sheet as of Aug. 31, 2026: cash and short-term investments of $37.08B, total debt of $155.93B. FMP reports net debt of $119.56B.
- Next earnings date: Dec. 14, 2026, with an EPS estimate of 1.88 and a revenue estimate of $21.33B.
| Metric (quarter ended Aug. 31) | Q1 FY2027 | Q1 FY2026 (year-ago) |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $19.34B | $14.93B |
| Operating income | $6.73B | $4.28B |
| Net income | $4.76B | $2.93B |
| Diluted EPS | 1.56 | 1.01 |
| Cloud revenue | $11.61B | $7.19B |
| Software revenue | $5.55B | $5.72B |
| Hardware revenue | $774.0M | $670.0M |
| Services revenue | $1.41B | $1.35B |
What happened
None of the sources we reviewed include an Oracle Corporation release that day. The Motley Fool headline said the stock surged after CoreWeave earnings. A MarketWatch headline the same day quoted an analyst calling Oracle misunderstood and a potential go-to AI play. Those are the outlets' framings, not Oracle statements, and we cannot confirm what drove individual trades.
The latest results are from the first quarter of fiscal 2027, ended Aug. 31, 2026, reported on Sept. 10, 2026. EPS of 1.92 beat the analyst estimate of 1.74. Revenue of $19.34B was slightly above the estimate of $19.13B.
The segment data shows where growth came from. Cloud revenue was $11.61B, against $7.19B in the year-ago quarter. Software revenue of $5.55B was lower than a year earlier. Hardware and services revenue both rose modestly. By region, the Americas contributed $13.71B, EMEA $3.73B and Asia Pacific $1.91B.
Why it matters for investors
Margins: operating up, gross down. Operating margin rose overall over the past five quarters, with a dip in the May 2026 quarter: from 28.7% in the quarter ended Aug. 31, 2025 to 29.5% in November 2025, 32.8% in February 2026, 32.0% in May 2026 and 34.8% in the latest quarter. Gross margin moved the other way, from 67.3% a year ago to 60.0% in the latest quarter. Gross margin is what is left after the direct cost of delivering the product. Oracle kept more of each sales dollar as operating profit while keeping less after direct costs. The data does not show why, and we are not offering a cause.
Cash flow: spending outruns what the business generates. Free cash flow is operating cash flow minus capital spending. It was negative in all five quarters: -$362.0M in the quarter ended Aug. 2025, -$9.97B in Nov. 2025, -$11.48B in Feb. 2026, -$1.87B in May 2026 and -$5.40B in the latest quarter. Operating cash flow of $23.10B in the latest quarter was the highest of the five, but capital expenditure of -$28.50B was also the largest. Buybacks were $0.00 in the latest quarter, and dividends were -$1.56B.
Balance sheet. Total debt was $155.93B against shareholders' equity of $66.77B, and debt/equity is 2.34. FMP's Altman Z score is 1.55, which is on the weak side, and its Piotroski score is 5 on a 0-9 scale, which is middling. Both are measures of financial strength, and the Altman Z reading stays among the named risks.
Valuation versus peers (trailing 12 months). Oracle has a P/E of 19.81 and a net margin of 26.4%. Peers:
| Company | P/E | Net margin |
|---|---|---|
| Salesforce (CRM) | 19.82 | 22.0% |
| IBM (IBM) | 20.86 | 16.0% |
| Microsoft (MSFT) | 27.14 | 41.2% |
| ServiceNow (NOW) | 73.40 | 9.4% |
Oracle's P/E is close to Salesforce and IBM, and its net margin sits between those two and Microsoft. Price to free cash flow is -13.52, which is negative because free cash flow is negative. FMP's own discounted cash flow model gives a value of -23.76 USD per share. That is a model estimate, and it is not a forecast we endorse.
Analysts. Of 87 ratings, 59 are buy, 24 are hold and 4 are sell, and the consensus is Buy. Analyst price targets average 229.20 USD, with a median of 225.00 USD, a high of 325.00 USD and a low of 95.00 USD. Stephens & Co. upgraded the stock from Equal Weight to Overweight on 2026-11-02. Analyst estimates for the period ending Aug. 31, 2029 are revenue of $48.94B and EPS of 4.60.
MoonshotScore. Stock Expert AI's MoonshotScore V2 for Oracle is 52.3, rated Fair. Among the pillars, quality is the strongest at 69, and growth is 54. Valuation is 39, momentum is 36 and safety is the weakest at 18. These are sector-relative scores, and the low safety score is consistent with the debt and negative free cash flow shown above, though the inputs to the score are not disclosed.
What could go wrong. The business is spending more than it generates. Debt is large, the Altman Z score is on the weak side, and the safety score is the lowest pillar. Software revenue fell from a year earlier, so the growth is concentrated in cloud. The stock is far below its 52-week high, so the 8.83% move on Nov. 11, 2026 followed a large drawdown. If demand for the AI data-center capacity Oracle is building slows, the capital spending would be harder to justify.
What to watch next
- Dec. 14, 2026 earnings: the EPS estimate is 1.88 and the revenue estimate is $21.33B. Compare cloud revenue with the $11.61B of the latest quarter.
- Free cash flow: whether the negative streak ends or the gap narrows.
- Gross margin: whether it stabilizes after falling to 60.0%.
- Debt: any change in total debt from $155.93B.
- Analyst actions: further upgrades or cuts after the Nov. 2 Stephens move.
Frequently asked questions
Q: Why is Oracle stock up on Nov. 11, 2026?
Oracle shares traded at 128.4 USD on the latest quote, up 8.83%. Headlines from The Motley Fool linked the move to CoreWeave's earnings. None of the sources we reviewed include an Oracle Corporation release that day. The outlets' explanation is not confirmed by the company.
Q: Did Oracle beat earnings estimates in its latest quarter?
Yes. For the quarter ended Aug. 31, 2026, reported on 2026-09-10, EPS was 1.92 against an estimate of 1.74. Revenue of $19.34B was above the estimate of $19.13B.
Q: Is Oracle generating free cash flow?
Not at the moment. Free cash flow was -$5.40B in the quarter ended Aug. 31, 2026. Operating cash flow was $23.10B, but capital expenditure was -$28.50B. It was also negative in each of the four prior quarters.
This is educational content, not investment advice. Past performance does not guarantee future results.