The tech giant earned no fewer than four price-target hikes this morning
The shares of Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL) are down 3.2% to trade at $86.09, after the business software concern reported fiscal first-quarter revenue that fell short of Wall Street's estimates. The company noted an increase in cloud computing technology has added pressure of late. However, Oracle reported earnings of $1.03 per share, which beat forecasts by 6 cents.
Despite this morning's pullback, the brokerage bunch is responding with optimism. The security earned at least four price-target hikes, including one from Monness Crespi Hardt to $115 from $113. Analysts were skeptical towards Oracle stock coming into today, though, with 13 of the 19 in coverage carrying a tepid "hold" rating, while six said "buy" or better. Meanwhile, the 12-month consensus target price of $86.56 is a slim 0.7% premium to current levels.
Options traders are responding as well. In the first hour of trading, 25,000 puts and 20,000 calls have crossed the tape already, which is four times the intraday average. Most popular is the September 90 put, followed by the 90 call from the same series.
Today's negative price action pushed the equity back toward its lowest level since early July. However, Oracle stock still boasts a 32% year-to-date lead, while up 43% year-over-year. Meanwhile, on the charts, ORCL is testing long term support from the 80-day moving average.