What happened
Shares of Oracle (ORCL +2.93%) rose 10.5% in June 2017, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence.
So what
On June 21, Oracle delivered a rock-solid earnings report. Earnings increased 10% year over year to land at $0.89 per share, based on a 3% revenue jump to $10.9 billion. Analysts had been expecting both the top and bottom lines to fall rather than grow. Share prices rose as much as 11.9% the next day.
Image source: Getty Images.
Now what
The company is leaning into the cloud computing market with confidence. Software-as-a-service sales jumped 67% higher year over year, and infrastructure-as-a-service platforms saw 40% larger order volumes. That trend should keep Oracle relevant as the enterprise software market reshapes itself around cloud-based service models, and it's also good news for the company's profit margins. That being said, Oracle is playing with fire because cloud computing also represents a serious threat to the company's traditional database products. Management needs to continue to execute as Oracle clears a path through the cloud-computing jungle. It's an interesting stock, but Oracle is far from the best cloud computing investment on the market today.
