Oracle Earnings Impress: Are Cloud Stocks a Buy?
The big banks will really kick the Q2 earnings cycle into a higher gear in a few weeks, but the reality is that earnings season is never 'over'. We've heard from several companies over recent weeks, whose results we'll include as part of the broader Q2 tally.
Among the group that have already reported, Oracle ORCL saw a notably strong reaction thanks to its robust results, with shares seeing a strong move higher post-earnings. Up nearly 30% YTD, shares are now outperforming the S&P 500 following the print.
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Let's take a closer look at the release and a few other major cloud players, such as Microsoft MSFT and Amazon AMZN.
Concerning headline expectations in the release, sales of $15.9 billion and adjusted EPS of $1.70 both cleared our consensus expectations, reflecting growth rates of 11% and 4.3%, respectively. Below is a chart illustrating the company's sales on a quarterly basis.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Notably, its remaining performance obligations (RPOs) were up a strong 41% year-over-year, a reflection of the red-hot demand the company has been witnessing.
CEO Safra Catz said –
'We expect our total cloud growth rate—applications plus infrastructure—will increase from 24% in FY25 to over 40% in FY26. Cloud Infrastructure growth rate is expected to increase from 50% in FY25 to over 70% in FY26. And RPO is likely to grow more than 100% in FY26. Oracle is well on its way to being not only the world's largest cloud application company — but also one of the world's largest cloud infrastructure companies.'
The red-hot demand is also showing up in analysts' current year sales expectations, which have moved considerably higher following the release. As we can see, sales expectations were already trending higher for some time, with the recent commentary cementing the strong outlook.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Microsoft shares have been strong in 2025 so far, up 14% compared to the S&P 500's 2% gain. Concerning headline figures in its latest release, EPS of $3.46 and sales of $70.0 billion both handily exceeded our consensus expectations, up 13% and 18%, respectively.
The technology titan's sales growth continues to be mighty impressive, a common theme among the broader Mag 7 group overall.
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Strength in Microsoft Cloud and AI drove the results, with Microsoft Cloud revenue up 20% year-over-year to $42.4 billion. Demand has remained strong for the tech titan, with the trend expected to continue over the coming years.
Importantly, its Intelligent Cloud (includes Azure) revenue totaled a strong $26.8 billion, up 21% from the year-ago period.
Amazon's latest set of results also showed solid momentum within AWS, with sales of $29.3 billion in the segment up 17% year-over-year. The growth rates here have been a major focus, giving investors a gauge of whether sales have been decelerating or accelerating.
Further, AMZN signed several new AWS deals with companies throughout the period, a list that includes Adobe, Uber, Nasdaq, Ericsson, Cisco, and more. Many businesses have clamored for AWS, and market participants should expect Amazon to ink many more deals in the coming months/years.
Below is a chart illustrating AMZN's sales on a quarterly basis.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Analysts have taken a bullish stance on AMZN's current fiscal year, with the current $6.17 Zacks Consensus EPS estimate up roughly 6% over the past year. The value reflects 12% growth YoY, continuing the titan's growth trajectory.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Bottom Line
Oracle's ORCL recent set of quarterly results, which we count in our broader Q2 tally, were notably strong, enjoying strong growth thanks to snowballing demand. The growth within its remaining performance obligations (RPOs) helps confirm the strong demand.
Other major cloud players, including Amazon AMZN and Microsoft MSFT also enjoyed very healthy demand concerning their services throughout their latest periods, further confirming the broader cloud momentum.
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