Oracle (ORCL) stock has climbed over 16% this week, with the firm making big money moves and receiving forecast upgrades on Wall Street. On Wednesday, the software giant notched an $88 million cloud contract with the U.S. Air Force, helping propel its stock higher. Combined with an upgrade on Wall Street, ORCL is performing well at press time.
In a statement, Oracle noted that its new contract with the U.S. Air Force will see the company deliver its Oracle Cloud Infrastructure services to Cloud One, the U.S. Air Force’s centralized cloud-hosting program. The deal also reinforces Oracle’s role as a key partner in the U.S. Department of Defense’s (DoD) cloud modernization efforts, the firm noted.
In addition, Wall Street analysts have given mixed outlooks on ORCL stock this month. “In the past, we had been very critical of Oracle and OpenAI, but believe the market is now more appropriately reflecting the risks involved, especially in this relationship,” DA Davidson analyst Gil Luria wrote in a note for clients. “Considering Oracle’s move from $345 intraday Sept. 11 to the current $143 and subsequent moves down in Nvidia and Microsoft tied to OpenAI concerns, we believe the market has overshot to the downside.” The analyst went on to maintain his price target of 180 for Oracle (ORCL) stock.
In addition to DA Davidson, Guggenheim, and Jefferies have also set high price targets at $400, indicating strong confidence in ORCL. The former believes that the company’s strategic positioning, financial discipline, and long-term growth present an investment opportunity. For the firm, Oracle remains the best opportunity in the software sector, competing with other tech stocks like Palantir and Microsoft. At press time, ORCL is trading at $157.