Stefan Waldhauser
Tech Investor, Co-Founder of StocksGuide
Oracle's reliance on OpenAI makes its backlog vulnerable. About $250B of backlog comes from OpenAI, which is not making money; that risk is no longer in Oracle's hands, and the stock is very likely to fall further. x.com x.comÂ
Oracle looks like the Lehman of the hyperscalers in a subprime-style debt bust around the AI data-center build-out funded by private credit, private equity and bank lending. Per HedgieMarkets, Oracle sent a force majeure notice on Project Jupiter, its New Mexico data center for OpenAI's Stargate, after the state twice denied permits for a gas pipeline the site needs. Oracle wants the right to delay payments if it misses its 2028 opening, and $18 billion of project loans trade at 89 to 91 cents. … Show more
Oracle's non-AI revenue and scale could help it outlast debt-starved neoclouds. Elon Musk says debt markets have largely shut out firms lacking substantial non-AI revenue. Oracle raised $20B through an ATM without significant dilution; unlike other major hyperscalers, it is not building Nvidia alternatives, giving Nvidia reason to prioritize it. If Musk is right, consolidation could lift Oracle's pricing power; at 19x earnings, it is without a doubt one of AI infrastructure's best buys. x.comÂ
Oracle's OpenAI exposure makes buying its shares here a bet too big to take. x.com x.comÂ
Oracle's big rally on its RPO jump was fake, and the only data since show OpenAI writing checks its business can't cash. The pop came on an earnings miss and took 57 days to undo; the stock then fell another 46% and has dropped after every report since. Within two weeks, a force majeure dismissed as a nothing burger gave way to word that its cash-incinerating key customer has $20B less revenue than due diligence assumed. Shorting in size is still hard. x.com x.com x.comÂ
Easing credit fears should make debt cheaper for neoclouds and other capital-heavy AI builders, allowing some of the hardest-hit infrastructure stocks to explode higher. Five-year CDS for CoreWeave, Oracle, Meta, Amazon and Nvidia peaked on October 26 and has since eased. Anthropic's S-1, AI infrastructure earnings and Oracle's investor day gave the debt market evidence of demand and returns. The risks should fade quickly so long as revenue and pricing power keep showing up. x.comÂ
Oracle faces double jeopardy, viewed both as a legacy software business and as an overlevered infrastructure business that depends on OpenAI being good for its capex commitments. OpenAI is already so aggressively valued that even catching Anthropic in private valuation leaves limited upside, which also limits how much SoftBank, which @goodalexander calls leveraged long OpenAI, could benefit. x.comÂ
Oracle is exposed because OpenAI, one of its biggest compute customers, may not be able to pay its bills. Per Bloomberg via Unusual Whales, OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar worried the company might not afford future computing contracts if revenue doesn't grow fast enough, despite an $852 billion valuation. Oracle carries more than $123 billion of long-term debt. This looks like a WeWork moment in data centers rather than an iPhone moment. x.com x.comÂ
Oracle will not be allowed to fail if the US government is all in on AI supremacy; it may dip, but not fail. Widening credit default swap spreads, now at 230 bps, and a high debt-to-equity ratio can weigh on the stock, but one quarter of major revenue outperformance would turn the tide. x.com x.comÂ
Heavy AI-related borrowing with little to show for it is pressuring Oracle, IREN and Nebius shares. These stocks are beginning to trend lower. x.comÂ