Things haven’t been going so well for networking giant Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) of late. While that might be bad news for already-in investors hoping to finance a retirement, it’s actually good news for new investors, according to Evercore ISI analysts. In fact, Evercore thought so much of Oracle that it upgraded the stock, and that was enough for a scant fractional bump in share prices in Monday afternoon’s trading.
Evercore analysts notched up Oracle from In Line to Outperform, and also hiked the price target from $131 to $135. It noted that the recent losses in share price have created an attractive entry point for investors to buy in. Analysts noted that Oracle “…is now in a better position to deliver more consistent revenue and earnings growth due to a higher percentage of revenue coming from its cloud solutions.” Analysts noted that there may be “lumpiness” seen in Oracle’s cloud infrastructure operations, as well as issues surrounding the Cerner acquisition, but substantial revenue growth was likely just around the corner.
Those with concerns are likely not helped much by the notion that Oracle stock is up about 35% against this time last year, even with the recent pullback. With the S&P 500 itself only up about 12%, that’s likely got some investors—and potential investors—concerned that perhaps this nail that’s so obviously sticking out might be the next to get hammered. However, with Oracle improving in the cloud, and also being increasingly considered a winner in the AI gold rush, there’s a lot of room here for better performance. Even if some may be already priced in.
Is Oracle a Buy, Sell, or Hold?
Oracle has a somewhat mixed picture of analyst support. Oracle stock is considered a Moderate Buy by analyst consensus, with 12 Buy ratings and 11 Hold ratings making up the picture. Further, with an average price target of $130.67, Oracle stock boasts 18.67% upside potential.
