Oracle Stock Closes at $144.54 After Investor Day Sets $30 Billion Cash Flow Goal
Oracle's stock rose 10.73% to close at $144.54 on Wednesday, Oct. 28, after the company said its free cash flow would reach $30 billion in the fiscal year ending May 2029, Bloomberg reported.
Chief Financial Officer Hilary Maxson gave the figure at the company's annual conference in Las Vegas.
Free cash flow is the money left after a company pays its operating costs and capital spending. Investors had expected it to stay negative that year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Volume reached 79.1 million shares, about 161% above the three-month average of 30.4 million, The Motley Fool reported.
What Oracle Projected at Investor Day
Oracle's guidance points to at least $225 billion in revenue for fiscal 2030. For fiscal 2027, it expects sales of at least $90 billion, up from a record $67.4 billion in the prior year.
On cash, the company projected free cash flow turning positive in the second half of fiscal 2028. It then forecast at least $30 billion in fiscal 2029. These are company projections, not reported results.
Oracle also addressed how it plans to fund the buildout.
The company stated, as quoted by Motley Fool, that "Vendor financing, customer-provided hardware and customer prepayments are expected to reduce upfront cash requirements through the transition to positive free cash flow."
Why Investors Had Been Wary
Oracle shares had fallen about 50% over the previous 12 months. The company was spending heavily on computing capacity for the artificial intelligence boom and borrowing to pay for it. Its credit rating was cut in 2026 to BBB-, one notch above speculative grade.
Oracle shares also slid after a force majeure notice on a New Mexico AI data center. Force majeure is a contract clause that can excuse delays caused by events outside a party's control.
The company's September quarter had already helped steady sentiment. Oracle posted record revenue of $19.3 billion, up 30% from a year earlier. Investors are now watching for progress on free cash flow and for restraint in AI capital spending.
How the Broader Market Traded
Oracle's move came as all three major U.S. indexes finished higher after the Federal Reserve held interest rates steady. The S&P 500 rose 0.28% to 7,744, the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.27% to 26,550, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.19% to 52,475.
The 10-year Treasury yield stood at 5.02%.
Fed Chair Kevin Warsh stressed the committee's commitment to reducing inflation. Officials said further data would inform decisions at their next meeting in December.
Among software and cloud peers, SAP closed up 0.48% at $236.93 and IBM rose 1.19% to $253.22. Several large AI-linked names moved the other way, with Nvidia and Meta Platforms each down about 1.2%.
Meta had said on Oct. 26 that it plans to raise up to $95 billion for AI infrastructure, and its shares fell that day.
After the close, Microsoft reported earnings that beat expectations, led by its Azure cloud division. Alphabet shares slipped in after-hours trading when its revenue and sales missed analyst forecasts.