What caused Oracle's recent stock surge?

Oracle's stock jumped after a Stifel analyst upgraded it to 'Buy' based on strong momentum in its cloud and AI businesses. The upgrade was supported by a 41% year-over-year increase in Oracle's Remaining Performance Obligation (RPO), which is a key indicator of future revenue. This suggested Oracle is becoming a serious competitor to cloud giants like AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud.

What is AI cloud infrastructure?

AI cloud infrastructure refers to the specialized hardware, software, and data centers needed to train and run artificial intelligence applications. Unlike traditional computing, AI requires enormous processing power (typically from GPUs), ultra-fast networking, massive data storage, and specialized cooling systems. Companies are investing billions to build this infrastructure as AI adoption accelerates across industries.

Why are companies like NVIDIA included in this theme?

NVIDIA is included because its graphics processing units (GPUs) are essential for AI computing. These specialized chips perform the complex calculations needed for machine learning much faster than traditional CPUs. As companies like Oracle expand their AI cloud services, they need to purchase thousands of NVIDIA GPUs, creating massive demand that directly benefits NVIDIA's business.

What is a Remaining Performance Obligation (RPO)?

Remaining Performance Obligation (RPO) is a financial metric that represents a company's contracted future revenue that hasn't yet been recognized. It includes both short-term commitments and long-term contracts. For cloud companies like Oracle, a growing RPO (in this case, up 41%) indicates strong future business momentum as customers are committing to significant spending on their platform.

How do cybersecurity companies like CrowdStrike benefit from AI cloud growth?

As companies expand their cloud infrastructure for AI applications, they need to protect these valuable assets and sensitive data. Cybersecurity providers like CrowdStrike offer specialized solutions designed for cloud environments. The massive growth in cloud adoption creates a parallel need for advanced security, driving demand for cloud-native cybersecurity services.

16 handpicked stocks

Oracle's AI Cloud Catalyst

Oracle's recent surge proves AI is revolutionizing enterprise cloud spending. These carefully selected companies represent the entire AI infrastructure supply chain — from chips to networking to security — all positioned to ride the same powerful wave.

Han Tan | Market Analyst

Updated 2 days ago | Published at juillet 1