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Untouched by human hands.
It is a phrase often used to describe pristine, pristine or wild nature.
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However, the concept takes on a different meaning these days in artificial intelligence and cybersecurity.
While security analysts warn that AI systems can be vulnerable to attack, AI can also enhance cybersecurity by enhancing threat and phishing detection, quickly analyzing incidents, and simulating potential cyberattacks.
A report by Techopedia found that companies with comprehensive AI security solutions saw an average reduction in the cost of breaches of $1.8 million compared to those without such protection.
Nearly 70% of companies said that AI was a key security tool due to the many threats that humans cannot handle alone.
“Almost all cloud security breaches start with human error,” Larry Ellison, Oracle (ORCL) The chairman and chief technology officer said last week. “Ruling out the possibility of human error is the only way to be sure your cloud data won’t be stolen. That’s it.”
Oracle President: Robots eliminate human errors
Ellison, who co-founded the company, spoke With analysts During the cloud service provider’s fourth-quarter earnings call.
AI played a big role in the company’s results, and Ellison described Oracle Cloud Infrastructure’s security prowess.
“At OCI, humans don’t run the operating system or the database,” he said. “Autonomous software robots do that. No one else has this level of autonomy in the cloud. Eliminating human labor eliminates human error.”
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In AI alone, Oracle signed contracts with 30 different customers for $12.5 billion in new AI business this quarter, Ellison said.
The companies read like big names in the technology sector, with names like Nvidia (NVDA) Microsoft (MSFT) Google (Google) the creator of ChapGPTOpenAi, “and dozens more.”
“In other words, the world’s largest cloud companies and the world’s most successful and accomplished AI companies are choosing to use Oracle Cloud and data center services,” Ellison said.
Oracle reported fourth-quarter earnings of $1.63 per share on revenue of $14.29 billion. Analysts expected the company to earn $1.65 per share on sales of $14.55 billion. A year ago, Oracle earned $1.67 per share on revenue of $13.84 billion.
“We obviously had an absolutely amazing quarter,” CEO Safra Katz said during the call.
“As you know, Oracle’s Q4 is known for customers purchasing large software licensing contracts to support their businesses,” Katz added. “But because of the focus on the cloud, this fourth quarter was fueled by tremendous demand for our cloud services, and it showed up in our RPO, or remaining performance obligations.”
During the quarter, Oracle signed “the largest sales contracts in our history, driven by tremendous demand for training large language models, as well as record levels of sales for OCI, Autonomous, Fusion, and NetSuite,” Katz said.
Looking ahead, Katz said total cloud revenue is expected to grow 20% to 22%, while adjusted earnings per share are expected to grow 10% to 14%, or $1.31 to $1.35.
Analyst notes ‘strong cloud infrastructure bookings’
“Wall Street was looking for something around $1.32 billion on revenue of $13.4 billion, which would mean sales growth of just 7%, so that’s strong guidance,” TheStreet Pro’s Stephen Guilfoyle said.
Throughout fiscal 2025, Kazt said he expects strong cloud demand to continue to drive Oracle’s sales and RPO higher, resulting in double-digit revenue growth.
“Investors, traders, and algorithms alike appear to be very excited about Oracle’s guidance and the planned collaboration with both Microsoft and Google.” Guilfoyle wrote on June 12.
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“There is still this balance sheet that should be in a much better position than it is given the scale of the business and the cash flow it generates,” he added. “It’s a black eye and one can easily see that the majority of sell-side analysts are not that impressed. Neither am I.”
Other analysts issued research notes on Oracle and revised their stock price targets.
BMO Capital analyst Keith Bachman raised his price target on Oracle stock to $160 from $142, while maintaining a market perform rating on the stock.
Bachmann said the company’s strong cloud infrastructure bookings for two consecutive quarters and good fiscal 2025 revenue guidance compare favorably with tepid overall results in the company’s software and IT services coverage world.
Oracle has also moved into an “enviable position,” representing a unique combination of cloud infrastructure and enterprise software, the analyst added.
Deutsche Bank analyst Brad Zelnick raised the company’s price target on Oracle to $165 from $150 and maintained a buy rating on the stock after incorporating fourth-quarter results and guidance into the company’s model and adjusting fiscal 2025-26 revenue and non-accounting EPS estimates. Generally accepted.
Argus analyst Joseph Bonner raised his price target on Oracle to $159 from $145, and maintained a buy rating on the shares.
The company’s third-quarter results represent the first quarter in which its fast-growing cloud revenue represents a higher percentage of total revenue than the company’s legacy license support revenue. This could mean cloud revenue will become a bigger driver of overall revenue in the coming quarters, the analyst said.
The company added that as the company races to invest in building global data centers to meet demand, its management remains optimistic about the upcoming revenue acceleration in FY25.
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