Oracle stock spikes as strong Q3 earnings ease AI buildout concerns

Oracle shares rose 12% Wednesday after the company posted robust third-quarter earnings and assured analysts that the company does not plan to raise any additional debt in 2026 beyond what was already announced.

“Investing in AI infrastructure is capital-intensive, but our operating model is optimized to ensure profitability,” CEO Clayton Magouyrk said on the company’s earnings call Tuesday.

The hyperscaler has drawn skepticism for the financing measures funding its data center construction.

Last month, the company said it intends to raise up to $50 billion in 2026 with a combination of debt and equity, with no expectations to issue additional bonds.

Magouyrk addressed the company’s artificial intelligence infrastructure growth plans on the analyst call.

“We have signed more than $29 billion of contracts since then across multiple customers using that new model,” Magouyrk said. “A combination of bring-your-own-hardware and upfront customer payments enables us to continue expanding without any negative cash flow from Oracle.”

Magouyrk also noted that Oracle delivered 90% of 400 megawatt data centers on or ahead of schedule in the third quarter.

Fears of an AI bubble have taken a toll on software stocks, including Oracle, which is down over 50% from its all-time high in September and about 15% year to date.

The iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF (IGV) is down 18% so far in 2026.

In cloud revenue for the third quarter, including infrastructure and software as a service, Oracle reported $8.9 billion, a 44% increase from last year.

Wall Street was generally bullish on the stock after the call.

“Oracle’s core AI and cloud numbers and backlog tell a very healthy and robust AI Revolution demand story,” Wedbush’s Dan Ives wrote in a note Tuesday.

He added that the report will be viewed as a “huge relief for the software and tech sector.”