Mixed sentiments on Wall Street amid Iran war🗽Oracle shares surge 10%

&P 500 futures are down 0.1% following the release of February US inflation data, which came in line with expectations, and the International Energy Agency’s proposal to release strategic oil reserves. Comments from Donald Trump suggest the conflict with Iran may be nearing an end, although Axios, citing sources, reported that the war could continue for several more weeks.

Source: xStation5

Corporate news

• Tesla (TSLA.US) rises 0.5% following reports that the company is accelerating work on an AI agent project.

• AeroVironment (AVAV.US) falls more than 12% after reporting weaker-than-expected third-quarter revenue and lowering its full-year guidance.

• Alliant Energy (LNT.US) gains 0.3% after RBC Capital Markets initiated coverage with an outperform rating.

• Campbell’s (CPB.US) declines 5% after cutting its full-year adjusted earnings-per-share outlook.

• CarMax (KMX.US) rises 7% after activist investor Starboard Value disclosed a stake worth about $350 million.

• Intuitive Surgical (ISRG.US) gains 0.3% after Citi upgraded the stock to buy.

• Nike (NKE.US) climbs 2% after Barclays raised its rating to overweight.

• Oracle (ORCL.US) jumps 10% after strong earnings and guidance pointing to continued demand for AI infrastructure.

• Serve Robotics (SERV.US) rises 13% after better-than-expected fourth-quarter results and improved guidance.

• Upstart (UPST.US) gains 2% after announcing plans to apply for a US national bank charter.

• uniQure (QURE.US) rises 2% after Mizuho upgraded the stock to outperform.

Oracle eases Nasdaq concerns

Oracle (ORCL.US), an AI infrastructure giant that has recently been at the center of debate over technology sector capital expenditures and debt levels, reported better-than-expected results for fiscal Q3 2026 and raised its 2027 revenue outlook. The results supported the stock price, although investors continue to assess the scale of spending on AI infrastructure and the associated financial risks.

• Oracle (ORCL.US) beat analyst expectations on both revenue and profit.

• The company raised its fiscal 2027 revenue forecast to $90 billion.

• Following the results, the stock surged as much as 14% in pre-market trading.

• Q3 revenue reached $17.19 billion, above forecasts of $16.9 billion and up from $14.1 billion a year earlier.

• Earnings per share (EPS) came in at $1.79, above expectations of $1.70.

• The cloud segment generated $8.9 billion in revenue, slightly above market estimates.

• Cloud infrastructure revenue reached $4.9 billion, also beating expectations.

• The company pointed to strong demand for AI and cloud services, with contract backlog reaching $553 billion.

• Oracle maintained its $67 billion revenue outlook for fiscal 2026 and kept its quarterly dividend at $0.50 per share.

• At the same time, the company is significantly increasing investment in AI data centers — capital expenditures surged 269% in one quarter to $8.5 billion, and full-year CAPEX could reach $50 billion.

• Media reports suggest the company may plan to cut thousands of jobs to finance its AI infrastructure expansion.

• Oracle also denied reports that the Stargate data center expansion project with OpenAI (OPAI.PVT) in Texas had been halted.

• Despite today’s rebound, the stock remains under pressure — shares have fallen about 54% over the past six months and 23% since the start of the year.

High AI infrastructure spending is a broader trend across the sector: Amazon (AMZN.US), Alphabet (GOOGL.US), Meta (META.US), and Microsoft (MSFT.US) plan to allocate a combined around $650 billion in CAPEX in 2026, largely for AI data centers.

Source: xStation5