By Adam Clark
Oracle stock is being treated as a high-risk play on artificial-intelligence. That is a shortsighted view, according to Wedbush analysts who are backing the company to successfully take on Microsoft and Amazon.com in AI computing.
Oracle shares fell 1.7% on Friday, to $173.28, down from their highs of more than $300 last year when excitement about its pivot to AI cloud-computing was at its height. Concerns about its spending and debt load have hampered the stock.
But Wedbush analyst Dan Ives initiated coverage of the stock with an Outperform rating and $220 target price on Friday.
"We believe Oracle is on a path to become a foundational infrastructure provider for the AI Revolution, and the market is fundamentally misinterpreting the company's aggressive, contract-backed investment cycle as speculative risk," Ives wrote in a research note.
Oracle has been a component of the Dan IVES Wedbush AI Revolution ETF since it was launched in June. The ETF holds 30 tech stocks that Ives has said will benefit from the future of AI.
Oracle began building up its cloud-computing business to compete with Amazon and Microsoft a decade ago. However, its growth has been supercharged by demand for AI infrastructure. Wedbush's analysts think it can continue to gain at the expense of its rivals, noting its high-performance, low-latency compute could give it a "distinct advantage over more complex legacy cloud platforms."
But the big question hanging over Oracle is financial rather than technological -- can it fund all the data centers required to fulfill its huge $300 billion computing deal with ChatGPT-developer OpenAI?
Lenders struggled for months to spread the risk of billions of dollars in loans they made to build data centers leased to Oracle in Texas and Wisconsin, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
However, the pressure was relieved somewhat after Oracle said earlier this year it plans to raise between $45 billion and $50 billion via a mixture of debt and equity financing.
"We see this not as a sign of distress, but as a calculated and de-risked investment to secure a durable position in the AI infrastructure buildout," Ives wrote.
Write to Adam Clark at adam.clark@barrons.com
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April 24, 2026 16:30 ET (20:30 GMT)
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