Breaking

Oracle Shares Slide 19% in a Week on AI Debt Fears, Worst Since 2001

June 26, 2026 at 18:22 EDT

Infra & Chips
Funding & M&A

Oracle's stock fell about 19% in the week following its earnings report, its worst weekly performance since August 2001, when the dot-com bubble was collapsing. Heavy capital spending on AI data centers and a ballooning debt load spooked investors.

FY2026 Q4 Earnings · Oracle

Record Revenue, Worst Week Since 2001

Oracle beat estimates with a 363% backlog surge — yet shares fell 19% in a week. Massive AI infrastructure spending and a $40B debt-and-equity plan spooked investors as monetization lags the buildout.

+21%

Revenue YoY to record $19.2B

+363%

Backlog surged to $638B

−19%

Stock fell over the week

The Spending Problem

Capex is climbing while free cash flow collapses into deep deficit — the gap markets reacted to.

Capex outlook ($B)

$55.7B

FY2026

~$70B

FY2027e

Free cash flow ($B)

−$0.4B

FY2025

−$23.7B

FY2026

Funding The Buildout

~$40B

New debt & equity planned for FY2027 (incl. $20B ATM)

~$125–130B

Existing debt load already cited

Baa2

Credit rating near lower end of investment grade

Bull Case

$638B backlog signals huge committed demand. Recovery expected as large AI contracts — including OpenAI compute — are executed over time.

Bear Case

Dependence on a few large customers, thin GPU-rental margins, ~13% workforce cuts and debt-driven cash burn — read as a reassessment of the AI bubble.

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