All articles tagged with #cloud
Britain’s CMA has opened a strategic market status investigation into Microsoft’s enterprise software licensing in cloud, aiming to address concerns about licensing practices and preserve competition as AI features are integrated into business tools; the designation signals closer scrutiny without alleging wrongdoing, with Microsoft and AWS already engaging on cloud egress and interoperability.
Oracle surged after beating Q3 estimates, with bulls arguing more than 150% upside in 2026 driven by AI data-center investments and a record backlog in Remaining Performance Obligations. Guggenheim’s John DiFucci has ORCL as his Best Idea for 2026 with a $400 target, while the street’s average target (~$256) implies ~57% upside. The quarter posted EPS of $1.79 on revenue of $17.19B, up 22% year-over-year, underscoring strong cloud/AI demand and potential long-term cash-flow growth from Oracle’s AI/data-center investments and its bring-your-own-chip model.
Oracle reported a standout Q3 FY2026 with total revenue of $17.2 billion, up 22% year over year, led by cloud revenues of $8.9 billion, up 44% (IaaS + SaaS) and IaaS growth of 84% while SaaS rose 13%. Remaining Performance Obligations reached $553 billion, up 325% YoY. GAAP EPS was $1.27 and non-GAAP EPS $1.79. Operating income was $5.46B GAAP and $7.38B non-GAAP; cash flow from operations year-to-date was $23.5B. The company kept its FY2026 revenue guidance at $67B and raised FY2027 revenue guidance to $90B, while declaring a $0.50 quarterly dividend. For Q4 FY26, it guided total revenue up about 18–21% in USD terms (roughly 19–21% in USD) and Cloud revenue up about 44–48% in constant currency (46–50% in USD), with non-GAAP EPS of about $1.92–$2.00 depending on currency.
Oracle beats Q3 estimates with $1.79 EPS on $17.19B revenue (+22% YoY); AI and cloud demand remain robust, and backlog rose to $553B, signaling early monetization of AI infrastructure. Wedbush calls the results a huge relief and notes AI monetization is starting, while Jefferies hails a clean beat across the board. Cloud growth was 41% year over year in constant currency, operating margin 42.9%; consensus rating remains Strong Buy with a substantial upside potential.
Iranian strikes on Amazon data centers reveal how geopolitical shocks can threaten cloud services, underscoring the industry’s vulnerability to physical disasters and prompting questions about resilience and redundancy.
Workday posted solid Q4 results with adjusted operating income above expectations, but issued weak guidance for fiscal 2027 and showed a year-end subscription backlog about $1 billion below analyst forecasts, triggering a after-hours stock drop. The rise of AI, especially agent software that can automate development tasks, threatens traditional software models and creates an innovator’s dilemma for incumbents like Workday. The company plans to defend its current revenue while expanding into AI agents, a transition led by co-founder and CEO Aneel Bhusri who says cloud software isn’t getting replaced, it’s being built upon.
After a broad market pullback spurred by cautious Q4 results, the piece argues that Microsoft, Alphabet, and Amazon present a compelling buying opportunity. It notes Microsoft’s Azure cloud growth (39% in Q2 FY2026), Alphabet’s Google Cloud expansion (48% YoY) alongside AI leadership, and Amazon’s strength in AWS and advertising (14% companywide growth with ads up 23% YoY). With large 2026 capex plans for all three, near‑term spending concerns exist, but the articles contends that AI investments and long‑term AI-driven demand justify adding these giants to portfolios now.
Microsoft remains a high-quality business, but AI-driven change is pressuring cloud dynamics, Copilot traction, and mature markets. Key risks include cloud price/mix competition, uncertain payback on AI infrastructure capex, and potential erosion of productivity software value from new developer tools. Valuation suggests modest undervaluation (around $443.7 per share) with only about 56.8% odds of beating the current price, implying limited upside relative to risk. Overall, the article recommends holding Microsoft as an AI player that hasn’t shown a clear edge over peers, despite aggressive data-center expansion.
Alphabet’s Q4 2025 revenue is expected around $111.4B, with cloud-margin expansion aiding profitability amid ad resilience; Amazon’s Q4 revenue is seen near $211.6B, supported by a strong online retail performance and a rising North America retail margin (~8.5%), while higher CapEx and AI-related cost dynamics keep cloud and AI bets as key risk and potential stock catalysts.
Microsoft beat on earnings with strong profit/revenue growth and a big AI data-center spend, but a 10% stock drop followed a tepid reaction to cloud growth and capital outlays. OpenAI revenue and Copilot subscribers show AI momentum, margins are expanding, and the stock looks cheaper on a low P/E multiple with a potential dividend hike looming, suggesting a buying opportunity despite the near-term volatility.
Belkin will shut down cloud support for most Wemo smart devices on January 31, 2026, leaving only Thread-based models and devices already set up in Apple HomeKit functional. Remote access, voice assistant integrations, and future app updates will end for affected devices, though HomeKit-configured units set up before the cutoff will continue to work; some devices may still operate manually, and warranty holders may qualify for partial refunds.
Microsoft reported Q2 2026 revenue of $81.3B and net income of $30.9B, with cloud revenue crossing $50B and up 26% YoY (Azure up 39%), while the More Personal Computing group fell 3% as gaming declines. Windows OEM revenue rose 5% on end-of-life Windows 10 demand, Surface had no new device launches this quarter, and Xbox hardware revenue dropped 32% as overall gaming fell 9%. The company unveiled the Maia 200 AI chip for large-scale workloads, and capex reached $37.5B; commercial cloud bookings surged 230% YoY, and Microsoft 365 consumer and commercial cloud revenues grew 29% and 17%, respectively, with LinkedIn up 11% as AI and cloud remain the focus.
Microsoft topped fiscal Q2 estimates with $4.14 per share on $81.27 billion in revenue as Azure grew 39% year over year (38% in constant currency), lifting Intelligent Cloud and overall cloud results; however, shares fell after hours on concerns that Azure’s pace cooled versus the prior quarter, while Productivity and Business Processes beat estimates and More Personal Computing was modestly below.
KeyBanc Capital Markets upgraded Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and Intel (INTC) to Overweight after Asia checks, citing solid data-center/cloud demand and memory constraints. AMD raised its 2025/2026 earnings forecasts to $4.01 and $7.93 with a $270 target (about 30% upside); Intel’s 2026 EPS was raised to $0.66 with a $60 target (about 50% upside), led by strong adoption of its latest server chips at major cloud providers like AWS. Wall Street consensus shows AMD with a Strong Buy (avg target ≈$283.90, ~37% upside) and Intel with a Hold (avg target ≈$40.64, ~8% downside).
Google has recently laid off employees in its Cloud division, primarily affecting those in user experience roles, as part of its ongoing efforts to become more efficient and agile, with staff being informed via email and some affected employees needing to find new roles due to visa restrictions.