Remember when Oracle was just that boring database company your IT department complained about? Well, plot twist: they just had the kind of earnings call that makes Wall Street analysts sound like they’re witnessing actual magic.
Oracle’s stock absolutely exploded 42% on Wednesday, turning Larry Ellison into the world’s richest person (at least according to Bloomberg—Forbes says Musk still holds the crown, but who’s counting when you’re worth $393 billion?). That’s a casual $110 billion day for Larry. Not bad for a Wednesday.
Here’s the thing: Oracle’s Q1 numbers were actually pretty meh. Revenue of $14.9 billion missed estimates, earnings were flat, and honestly, if you just looked at the quarterly results, you’d wonder what all the fuss was about.
But then CEO Safra Katz dropped some numbers that made analysts literally say they were “in shock” and “blown away.” And when Wall Street types start using words like that, you know something wild is happening.
The Cloud Gold Rush
Oracle’s cloud revenue jumped 48% to $7.2 billion, which is nice. But here’s where it gets spicy: their multi-cloud revenue—where Oracle runs on other companies’ platforms like Microsoft and Amazon—shot up more than 1,500%. That’s not a typo. Fifteen. Hundred. Percent.
But wait, there’s more! (I know, I sound like an infomercial, but stick with me.)
Oracle signed four multi-billion-dollar contracts in just one quarter, boosting their contract backlog to $455 billion. That’s money they’ve already locked in but haven’t billed yet. It’s like having the world’s most expensive IOU collection.
The Five-Year Plan That Broke Brains
Here’s where Katz really sent analysts into orbit. She laid out Oracle’s revenue projections through 2030, and they’re absolutely bonkers:
- 2026: $18 billion (77% growth)
- 2027: $32 billion (almost double)
- 2028: $73 billion (more than double again)
- 2029: $114 billion
- 2030: $144 billion
That’s a 700% increase over five years. Most of this revenue is already contracted, sitting in that $455 billion backlog like money in the bank.
Deutsche Bank’s Brad Zelnick summed it up perfectly: “We’re all kind of in shock in a very, very good way.” Guggenheim’s John DiFucci was even more direct: “Even I am sort of blown away by what this looks like going forward.”
When seasoned Wall Street analysts start talking like teenagers who just discovered their favorite band, you know something seismic is happening.
The AI Infrastructure Play
What Oracle figured out is that everyone wants AI, but nobody wants to build the massive infrastructure to support it. So Oracle became the picks-and-shovels play for the AI gold rush, providing the cloud infrastructure that powers everyone else’s AI dreams.
The stock is already up 95% this year and just got price target upgrades to $400 per share. At a forward P/E of 35, it’s not exactly cheap, but when you’re looking at 700% revenue growth over five years, suddenly those multiples start making sense.
Sometimes the most boring companies end up having the most exciting stories. Oracle just reminded us why.