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By Brian Nelson, CFA
On December 10, Oracle (ORCL) reported second quarter fiscal 2026 results that were mixed, with revenue missing the consensus forecast, but non-GAAP earnings per share exceeding expectations. Total quarterly revenues were up 14% in USD, and up 13% in constant currency. Second quarter remaining performance obligations (RPO) were $523 billion, up 438% in USD. Cloud revenue (IaaS plus SaaS) was up 34% in USD and 33% in constant currency. Cloud Infrastructure (IaaS) revenue was up 68% in USD and 66% in constant currency, while Cloud Application (SaaS) revenue was up 11% in both USD and constant currency. Non-GAAP earnings per share was up 54%, to $2.26.
Management had the following to say about the results:
Remaining Performance Obligations (RPO) increased by $68 billion in Q2—up 15% sequentially to $523 billion—highlighted by new commitments from Meta, NVIDIA, and others. Q2 GAAP earnings per share was up 91% to $2.10, and non-GAAP earnings per share was up 54% to $2.26. Our GAAP and non-GAAP earnings per share were both positively impacted by a $2.7 billion pre-tax gain in the sale of Oracle’s interest in our Ampere chip company.
Oracle is very good at building and running high-performance and cost-efficient cloud datacenters. For years Oracle has been investing in AI and building autonomous cloud software. Oracle’s Autonomous Database and Autonomous Linux have been key to reducing human labor and human error in our datacenters. Because our datacenters are highly automated, we can build and run more of them. Oracle has over 211 live and planned regions worldwide—more than any of our cloud competitors. We are more than halfway through building 72 Oracle Multicloud datacenters to be embedded throughout the Amazon, Google and Microsoft clouds. We are committed to Cloud Neutrality because we believe that our customers should be able to run their Oracle databases in any cloud they choose. That strategy is definitely paying off. Our Multicloud database business is our fastest growing business—up 817% in Q2.
AI Training and selling AI Models are very big businesses. But we think there is an even larger opportunity—embedding AI in a variety of different products. Oracle is in a unique position to embed AI in all three layers of our software products: our Cloud Datacenter software, our Autonomous Database and Analytic software, and our Applications software. All three of these Oracle software businesses are already big—AI will make them all better and bigger. AI allows us to automate complex multistep processes that were impossible to automate before AI. AI is enabling us to automate loan origination and risk quantification for banks and their customers. AI is enabling us to help doctors diagnose and care for their patients and manage the reimbursement process between healthcare providers and payers. All of the top five AI Models are in the Oracle Cloud. We have huge advantages over our applications competitors.
Oracle ended the fiscal second quarter with $19.8 billion in cash and marketable securities and $108.1 billion in notes payable and other borrowings. For the six months ended November 30, cash flow from operations was $10.2 billion, while capital expenditures were $20.5 billion, resulting in meaningfully negative free cash flow. For the tailing twelve months ended in the second quarter of fiscal 2026, cash flow from operations was $22.3 billion, while capital expenditures were $35.5 billion, resulting in negative free cash flow of $13.2 billion. On the call, management noted that its fiscal 2026 revenue expectations of $67 billion remains unchanged, but that capital spending will be about $15 billion higher than it forecasted at the end of the first quarter. Since Oracle is now a net-debt heavy, free cash flow burning enterprise, we now view shares as a source of cash in the newsletter portfolios.
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Brian Nelson owns shares in SPY, SCHG, QQQ, QQQM, DIA, VOT, RSP, and IWM. Valuentum owns SPY, SCHG, QQQ, QQQM, VOO, and DIA. Brian Nelson’s household owns shares in HON, DIS, HAS, NKE, DIA, RSP, SCHG, QQQ, QQQM, and VOO. Some of the other securities written about in this article may be included in Valuentum’s simulated newsletter portfolios. Contact Valuentum for more information about its editorial policies.
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