Oracle Stock Rises 3% as HPE Deal Expands, Jefferies Flags Sentiment Trough Before Earnings

Oracle shares advanced 3% to $150 on September 3, lifted by a convergence of positive catalysts including an expanded infrastructure partnership with Hewlett Packard Enterprise, bullish analyst commentary ahead of its upcoming earnings report, and a broader rally in cloud and AI-linked software names following Snowflake's blowout quarter.

HPE announced that Oracle will deploy HPE Juniper networking equipment across its AI data centers globally in a multi-year agreement, deepening a relationship that has already driven outsized growth for HPE's networking segment. Networking revenue at HPE jumped 75% to $2.9 billion in its fiscal third quarter, with data center networking more than doubling and routing revenue surging 270%. As part of the expanded deal, HPE granted Oracle warrants to purchase $205 million in HPE stock at a discounted rate, a structural tie that aligns the two companies around Oracle's accelerating AI infrastructure buildout. HPE raised its fiscal 2026 revenue growth forecast to a range of 34% to 37% following record quarterly sales.

Jefferies argued that sentiment on Oracle has reached a "peak negative" inflection point, cutting its price target to $290 from $320 while maintaining that the setup ahead of earnings favors a beat. Analysts noted Oracle's stock has fallen roughly 25% this year and is down approximately 55% from its all-time high, yet the company's backlog continues to grow substantially, even after its landmark deal with OpenAI. Free cash flow turned sharply negative in fiscal 2026 as Oracle borrows tens of billions to fund AI data center construction, a dynamic that has weighed on the stock despite strong revenue and backlog metrics.

The broader market read-through from Snowflake, which surged 23% to $377 after raising its full-year AI-driven guidance well above estimates, supported sentiment across cloud infrastructure names including Oracle and Cloudflare. Oracle also registered among the most actively traded names by options volume on the day. Larry Ellison's net worth rose enough on the session's gains to move him past Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang to eighth on the global wealth rankings, according to Forbes.