Shares of Oracle (ORCL) slid nearly 12% in pre-market trading on Thursday, after the tech company’s quarterly revenue missed Wall Street estimates.
Oracle (ORCL) posted revenue of $16.06bn (£12.01bn) for its fiscal second quarter, which was 14% higher than last year but lower than the $16.21bn projected by analysts tracked by Bloomberg.
However, earnings per share (EPS) of $2.26 topped forecasts of $1.64 and was up from $1.47 last year.
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Matt Britzman, senior equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: “Markets quickly looked past the massive earnings beat, driven by a one-off asset sale, and focused on the rising capex and weak cash flows.”
“Oracle (ORCL) has been at the epicentre of the AI financing debate, lacking the mammoth cash flows of the more traditional cloud giants (Alphabet (GOOGL, GOOG), Amazon (AMZN) and Microsoft (MSFT)).”
At close: 10 December at 16:04:41 GMT-5
Coca-Cola (KO) was in focus, after the soft drink company announced late on Wednesday that it had elected chief operating officer (COO) Henrique Braun to become CEO.
Braun is set to assume the role on 31 March 2026, taking over from James Quincey, who the company said would shift to the position of executive chairman after nine years as CEO.
Coca-Cola (KO) shares were little changed in pre-market trading on Thursday, following the announcement.
Hargreaves Lansdown’s Britzman said that Braun is a 30-year company veteran with “deep international experience”.
“The move was widely anticipated, as previous COO’s have stepped into the top job in the past, and Braun is already familiar to investors,” he added.
At close: 10 December at 16:00:02 GMT-5
Shares in software maker Adobe (ADBE) edged nearly 1% lower in pre-market trading on Thursday, despite reporting strong earnings, as broader market concerns around AI on the back of Oracle’s (ORCL) results weighed on the stock.
Adobe (ADBE) reported fourth-quarter revenue of $6.19bn on Wednesday, which topped estimates of $6.11bn, according to a Reuters report.
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The company’s outlook for the 2026 financial year also came in ahead of expectations, with a revenue forecast of between $25.90bn and $26.10bn, versus estimates of $25.87bn, according to data compiled by LSEG as reported by Reuters.
Adobe (ADBE) guided to annual EPS of between $23.30 and $23.50, on an adjusted basis, which also bested estimates of $23.34.
At close: 10 December at 16:00:01 GMT-5
Chip design and testing software maker Synopsys (SNPS) also delivered an earnings beat and an upbeat annual forecast on Wednesday.
