Oracle (ORCL) Stock Gets a Huge Price Target Cut from Barclays Ahead of Earnings

FomoAnxiety · 2026-03-09T17:07:03+00:00

Barclays reduced Oracle's price target by 26% to $230 ahead of its Q3 earnings report, while maintaining a Buy rating. Despite expected short-term profitability pressures due to heavy AI infrastructure spending, long-term growth prospects remain strong, with a consensus Strong Buy rating on Wall Street.

FomoAnxiety

2026-03-09 17:07:03

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Investment bank Barclays (BCS) lowered its price target on Oracle (ORCL) stock by 26% just one day before the tech company is scheduled to report its third-quarter earnings for Fiscal Year 2026. While the firm kept its Buy rating on the stock, it reduced the price target from $310 to $230. Still, Barclays expects some positive developments in the upcoming report. In particular, analysts, led by Raimo Lenschow, believe that Oracle’s AI-related revenue could come in slightly above expectations, partly because more AI computing capacity became available during the quarter.

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However, Barclays warned that profitability may face short-term pressure. Although favorable currency movements could help reported revenue numbers, the company is currently spending heavily to expand its AI infrastructure. As a result, upfront investments and new lease expenses tied to major data-center expansions planned for the second half of 2026 may temporarily weigh on gross margins and earnings per share.

Nevertheless, Barclays still believes that the long-term outlook remains strong and says that Oracle could look like a very different company in the future as its cloud and AI businesses expand. In addition, Oracle is scheduled to release its fiscal third-quarter results after the market closes on March 10, with analysts expecting adjusted earnings of $1.70 per share on $16.92 billion in revenue. However, the company has struggled to beat revenue expectations recently, missing estimates in six of the last eight quarters.

Is ORCL Stock a Good Buy?

Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Strong Buy consensus rating on ORCL stock based on 25 Buys, six Holds, and zero Sells assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. Furthermore, the average ORCL price target of $265.10 per share implies 78% upside potential.

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