Introduction: Oracle shares slide as earnings cast doubt over AI profitability<\/p>\n
Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of business, the financial markets and the world economy.<\/strong><\/p>\n Fears about the profitability of the AI industry are on the rise again, after results from Oracle<\/strong> failed to impress Wall Street.<\/p>\n Oracle<\/strong>, part of the race to provide huge computing power for AI companies, missed revenue and profit expectations last night. It also reported a jump in spending on AI data centers \u2013 an area where it has already been spending (and borrowing) heavily.<\/p>\n Capital expenditure for the 2026 fiscal year is now expected to be $15bn higher than the $35bn Oracle estimated in September, showing that the cost of constructing the infrastructure for the AI revolution is rising fast\u2026 before many profits show up.<\/p>\n Oracle<\/strong> also booked a one-off $2.7bn pre-tax gain through the sale of its stake in chip designer Ampere Computing.<\/p>\n Oracle<\/strong> chairman Larry<\/strong> Ellison<\/strong> took time out of reshaping the media industry <\/a>to explain:<\/p>\n \u201cOracle sold Ampere because we no longer think it is strategic for us to continue designing, manufacturing and using our own chips in our cloud datacenters.<\/p>\n We are now committed to a policy of chip neutrality where we work closely with all our CPU and GPU suppliers. Of course, we will continue to buy the latest GPUs from NVIDIA, but we need to be prepared and able to deploy whatever chips our customers want to buy. There are going to be a lot of changes in AI technology over the next few years and we must remain agile in response to those changes.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n For the last quarter, Oracle reported total revenue of $16.06bn, below with analysts\u2019 average estimate of $16.21bn.<\/p>\n And looking ahead, Oracle<\/strong> said that adjusted profit for the current fiscal third quarter would be $1.64 to $1.68 per share, below analyst estimates of $1.72 per share, according to LSEG data. Oracle\u2019s<\/strong> third-quarter revenue growth forecast of between 16% and 18% also missed analyst estimates of 19.4% growth to $16.87 billion,<\/p>\n The initial response was brutal, with Oracle\u2019s<\/strong> shares sliding by 11.5% in after hours trading on Wall Street.<\/p>\n Ipek Ozkardeskaya<\/strong>, senior analyst at Swissquote<\/strong>, explains why:<\/p>\n The company continued to burn cash last quarter: its free cash flow reached a negative $10 billion. To make matters worse, the company said that it expects capex to reach about $50 billion in the fiscal year ending May 2026 \u2013 $15 billion more than its September forecast \u2013 and investments at Oracle are financed by debt: overall, the company has about $106 billion in debt.<\/p>\n Frankly, the report was not dramatically bad, but it came to confirm concerns around heavy AI spending, financed by debt, with an unknown timeline for revenue generation, sending Oracle shares down by more than 11% in after-hours trading.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n The agenda<\/p>\n 9am GMT: IEA\u2019s monthly oil market report<\/p>\n<\/li>\n 9.50am GMT: Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey speaks at Financial Times Global Boardroom event<\/p>\n<\/li>\n 11am GMT: Turkey\u2019s interest rate decision<\/p>\n<\/li>\n 1.30pm GMT: US trade data for September<\/p>\n<\/li>\n 1.30pm GMT: US initial jobless claims<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Key events<\/p>\n Show key events only<\/p>\n Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature<\/p>\n Google DeepMind to build its first ‘automated science laboratory’ in the UK<\/p>\n Google DeepMind is to build its first \u201cautomated science laboratory\u201d in the UK, in a boost to the country\u2019s artificial intelligence ambitions.<\/strong><\/p>\n The lab will be focused on materials science research, and will involve \u201cworld-class robotics\u201d synthesizing and characterizing hundreds of materials per day, with the goal of significantly shortening the timeline for identifying transformative new materials.<\/p>\n Google<\/strong> DeepMind<\/strong> say the lab, to be built in 2026, will \u201chelp turbocharge scientific discovery\u201d, explaining:<\/p>\n Discovering new materials is one of the most important pursuits in science, offering the potential to reduce costs and enable entirely new technologies.<\/p>\n For example, superconductors that operate at ambient temperature and pressure could allow for low cost medical imaging and reduce power loss in electrical grids. Other novel materials could help us tackle critical energy challenges by unlocking advanced batteries, next-generation solar cells and more efficient computer chips.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n DeepMind<\/strong> is run by Sir Demis<\/strong> Hassabis<\/strong>, who won the Nobel prize for Chemistry last year for his work using AI to predict and design the structure of proteins (older readers may fondly remember his earlier work on computer games such as Theme Park and Syndicate).<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Shares in European semiconductor and tech firms have fallen in early trading after Oracle\u2019s results last night.<\/strong><\/p>\n The STOXX Europe Technology index is down 0.8%, after Oracle missed market expectations.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Drax considers data centre at Yorkshire power plant<\/p>\n In other AI-related news, power company Drax is drawing up plans to add one gigawatt of data-centre capacity to its Yorkshire power plant.<\/strong><\/p>\n In its results this morning, the company reveals it is preparing a planning application for a data centre of around MW on land at its Drax Power Station.<\/p>\n It believes infrastructure and transformers previously used to support coal generation could support the operation of a data centre at Drax Power Station as soon as 2027.<\/p>\n Drax says it is focused on options to maximise value from the Drax Power Station site, which covers more than 1,000 acres.<\/p>\n The biomass plant is subsidised<\/a> to burn wood pellets to generate electricity.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a003.36 EST<\/p>\n Oracle price targets cut<\/p>\n Financial analysts have been quick to cut their target price for Oracle\u2019s shares following last night\u2019s results (and the drop in after-hours trading).<\/strong><\/p>\n According to Reuters, Barclays<\/strong> have cut their target price for Oracle Corp to $310 from $330<\/p>\n Bank<\/strong> of<\/strong> America<\/strong> cut their price objective to $300 from $368, and JP<\/strong> Morgan<\/strong> cut their target price to $230 from $270.<\/p>\n Before releasing its results, Oracle<\/strong> closed at $223.01 last night, before falling to $197.26 in after-hours trading\u2026<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n The disappointment over Oracle\u2019s earnings report is rippling through the AI sector.<\/strong><\/p>\n In Japan, shares in Softbank<\/strong> \u2013 a major AI investor \u2013 have fallen by 7.7%, pulling down the Nikkei 225 stock index.<\/p>\n Tokai Tokyo Intelligence Laboratory<\/strong> market analyst Shuutarou Yasuda<\/strong> explains:<\/p>\n \u201cThe Nikkei opened higher to track overnight Wall Street\u2019s rises, but the gains were erased by declines of SoftBank Group.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe earnings of Oracle raised concerns if the data centre project, in which SoftBank Group is involved, would proceed as expected.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Overnight risk sentiment is \u201csubdued after weaker revenue and higher capex requirement from Oracle\u201d, reports Mohit<\/strong> Kumar<\/strong> of investment bank Jefferies<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Introduction: Oracle shares slide as earnings cast doubt over AI profitability<\/p>\n Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of business, the financial markets and the world economy.<\/strong><\/p>\n Fears about the profitability of the AI industry are on the rise again, after results from Oracle<\/strong> failed to impress Wall Street.<\/p>\n Oracle<\/strong>, part of the race to provide huge computing power for AI companies, missed revenue and profit expectations last night. It also reported a jump in spending on AI data centers \u2013 an area where it has already been spending (and borrowing) heavily.<\/p>\n Capital expenditure for the 2026 fiscal year is now expected to be $15bn higher than the $35bn Oracle estimated in September, showing that the cost of constructing the infrastructure for the AI revolution is rising fast\u2026 before many profits show up.<\/p>\n\n
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