Oracle is headed for a double debunk: its software business will hold up, and its AI investments will pay off. x.comÂ
Aggressive Value
Deep-Value & Asymmetric Investor, 25 Years in Markets
Oracle's AI buildout looks fundable as spending peaks and cash flow turns positive. Spending is forecast to peak in FY27-28, with free cash flow positive in 2H FY28 and above $30bn in FY29, a roughly $54bn swing. New capital raising is capped at $20bn through 2030, half equity and half debt. Revenue is projected to grow from $90bn next year to $225bn+ by FY30. Bullish Oracle. x.comÂ
Oracle looks mispriced because $11 of current consolidated earnings power puts it at 11x earnings without a breakup. It trades below its software business's value despite the highest gross retention in software; separating pre-AI OCI, AI operations and AI development makes it an obvious long. Future funding will cost more, but current leverage is no issue and all contracts are well below spot, leaving nowhere near neocloud risk. Fundamentals may not matter during panics. x.com x.com x.comÂ
Oracle looks set to burn many more billions in cash at least into the first half of fiscal 2028. That is the less reassuring implication of Reuters' headline that Oracle expects cash flow to turn positive in the second half of that fiscal year, even though the market liked the news. x.comÂ
Oracle's free-cash-flow forecast suggests today's capital intensity may have an expiration date. Oracle now expects free cash flow to turn positive in the second half of FY28 and reach at least $30 billion in FY29, a possible easing of the financing risk in its AI-compute buildout. x.com x.comÂ
Oracle is a long-term favorite for its combined AI infrastructure, database and cloud story, and should at least return to its 2025 high by year-end. Software in the near term depends on a recovery in the IGV software ETF, and the market still needs to reconfirm that AI does not only benefit hardware, with software showing signs of strengthening first. 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
Oracle's plan to fund its AI buildout from cash flow makes last week's financing fears look completely overdone. It expects capex to peak in FY27-28, free cash flow to turn positive in H2 FY28 and top $30B in FY29, funding growth from then. Oracle plans at most $20B in further capital raises through FY30, excluding refinancing, after an already completed $20B equity raise. Vendor financing, customer prepayments and customer-supplied hardware should reduce upfront cash needs. 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
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 should in theory benefit more than anyone if data-center returns come in high, because it applied the most leverage to the buildout. The stock is down 55% in a year despite continued earnings growth and accelerating revenue growth led by cloud. The software business is stagnating as the company pours its resources into data centers, and the continued selloff has been a surprise. x.comÂ