Oracle Corporation’s stock ORCL rose 2.34% to close at $160.14 on Friday, February 13, 2026. This was driven by investors emphasizing its ambitious $50 billion cloud expansion plan. Goldman Sachs will lead the bond offering, while Citigroup will manage the equity and convertible preferred offerings. The shift comes amid a holiday-shortened trading week with U.S. markets closed for Presidents’ Day, with the markets resuming on Tuesday.
Financing Structure: Equity and Debt Mix
Oracle announced plans to raise between $45 billion and $50 billion in 2026 to accelerate the buildout of Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI), funding the data centers, AI hardware, and cloud capacity. The capital raise will include up to an $20 billion at-the-market (ATM) equity program and the remainder through debt issuance, including a recent $25 billion bond sale.
While the plan has sparked optimism, analysts are weighing how this financing approach will impact the earnings, dilution, and interest expenses, particularly if the AI-driven cloud demand softens or delays the deployment plans. Investors remain cautious due to risks around debt levels, equity dilution, and intense competition from Amazon, Microsoft, and Google in the AI cloud space.
Oracle is already carrying a $100 billion debt load, and raising it to $50 billion would further intensify the concerns about its creditworthiness. The firm’s debt-to-equity ratio stands at 4.15, signaling high financial leverage and precarious balance-sheet management. The credit default swap (CDS) spreads have surged to $153.90 annually per $10,000 of debt, reflecting a growing investor skepticism about Oracle’s ability to service its debt.
Raising $20 billion through equity would allow Oracle to sell shares gradually, which would put downward pressure on the stock price, reducing the Earnings Per Share. Demand for AI infrastructure would outpace the supply, but the revenue recognition will be delayed. As Oracle’s AI strategy is heavily tied to OpenAI, this will greatly be contracted to it and others like Nvidia, Meta, and xAI.
To mitigate these risks, Oracle leverages multicloud partnerships, indusattempt-specific AI tools, and disciplined capital deployment. The success of this plan will hinge on converting infrastructure into revenue in the upcoming earnings report. Thus, serving as a critical milestone. Investor sentiment remains divided, reflecting optimism about the AI leadership potential and, on the other hand, raising concerns about the overall financial strain and execution.
Long-Term Success Depconcludeing on Execution
As Oracle shifts forward with its funding and expansion plans, investors are cautiously weighing growth prospects against the financial and operational risk of scaling its cloud infrastructure. The combination of market timing, competitive pressures, and macroeconomic signals set the stage for a closely watched market reopening today.
However, Wall Street remains divided on the revenue generation of the plan, while firms like D.A. Davidson upgraded Oracle to “purchase”, citing the eased concerns over OpenAI. Others, like Melius Research, downgraded it to “hold”, citing the deficit of free cash flow. The stock’s recent rebound can be attributed to the growing confidence in Oracle’s AI infrastructure ambitions, though the long-term success hinges on timely revenue generation from large-scale AI contracts and market adoption.
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