Oracle Posts Strong Results, but Shares Sink After Hours on AI Investment Burden

[Financial News, New York = Reporter Lee Byung-chul] Oracle beat market expectations with its quarterly earnings and raised its annual profit outlook, but investors grew concerned after the company unveiled a large financing plan to expand its Artificial Intelligence (AI) infrastructure. In particular, backlog surged on rising OpenAI-related contracts, but the cost of supporting that growth is also becoming enormous.
Oracle said on the 10th, local time, that adjusted earnings per share (EPS) for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2026, covering March through May, came in at $2.03. That topped the market forecast of $1.96. Revenue for the same period rose 21% from a year earlier to $19.18 billion, slightly above the expected $19.1 billion. Net income increased to $4.22 billion, or $1.45 per share, from $3.43 billion, or $1.19 per share, a year earlier.
Oracle raised its adjusted EPS forecast for fiscal 2027 to $8.05, up from its previous guidance. That also exceeded the market estimate of $8.01. Even so, Oracle shares fell more than 7% in after-hours trading on concerns over the financing burden tied to expanded AI investment.
What unsettled investors was the company’s large-scale funding plan. Oracle said it plans to raise an additional $40 billion through debt and equity issuance, including the $20 billion stock offering it had already announced. The company had already raised $43 billion in debt and $5 billion in capital during fiscal 2026.
Demand for data center investment is rising as the company responds to growing AI needs, but concerns are also spreading over whether such massive capital spending will translate into stronger profitability in the years ahead.
Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Hilary Maxson projected that net capital expenditure cash outlays for fiscal 2027 would reach about $70 billion.



pride@fnnews.com Reporter Lee Byung-chul Reporter