Wall Street analysts can't reach a consensus on how investors should react to Oracle Corporation (NYSE: ORCL)'s stock after the company released its fiscal first quarter earnings results.
Oppenheimer: Good Results, Not So Good Outlook
Oracle's earnings report was "good" as a whole, with a revenue beat and SaaS revenue of $1.089 billion that grew 62 percent year-over-year, Oppenheimer's Brian Schwartz said in a note. But on the other hand, the company's fiscal second quarter guidance was mixed as SaaS, PaaS and IaaS revenue growth were guided to be between 41 and 45 percent, below the 48 percent analysts were already modeling.
Oracle's management removed the ARR cloud bookings and new customer wins metrics, which may imply a "soft sales quarter" ahead, the analyst said. Also, management didn't offer any new commentary on its previous fiscal 2018 double-digit growth PF EPS guidance.
"While the valuation catch-up for Oracle this year has been impressive, we think the inflation to the multiples is now mostly behind the stock," the analyst said. "We also see risks to sentiment lurking from possible large M&A activity and slowing SaaS/PaaS/IaaS revenue growth."
Schwartz maintains a Perform rating on Oracle's stock with no assigned price target.
UBS: Encouraging Report But Mixed Guidance
Oracle's earnings report were decent, especially when considering that the fiscal first quarter is typically slower, UBS' Fatima Boolani said in a note. But, similar to Oppenheimer's Brian Schwartz, Boolani said the company's outlook isn't as strong.
Of particular note, Oracle's fiscal second quarter cloud revenue guide of 39 to 43 percent growth represents a deceleration from 51 percent in the fiscal first quarter and also falls short of the 48 percent growth figure analysts were looking for, she said. While the deceleration is attributed to the anniversary of the NetSuite acquisition, cloud revenues are still slowing from 39 percent in the fourth quarter of 2017 to 28 percent in the first quarter 2018 to 24 percent even when excluding the acquisition, according to UBS.
The stock still looks attractive on a valuation basis, Boolani said. The analyst's Buy rating and $57 price target are based on a 19x P/E multiple, modestly ahead of its 10-16x historical range, yet still at a discount to some of its peers at 20 and 21x — and the broader market at 22x.
Credit Suisse: Upside Ahead
Credit Suisse's Brad Zelnick listed six aspects of the Oracle earnings report which investors should like and three others that he said investors should like less.