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Oracle shares are surging +41% despite a relatively underwhelming start to FY26. Q1 (Aug) EPS and revenue came in slightly below expectations, and Q2 (Nov) guidance was merely in-line. However, the real story is not near-term execution — it's bookings.

• Revenue grew 12.2% yr/yr — Oracle's strongest growth in nine quarters — but that headline was overshadowed by explosive demand for its AI infrastructure.
• The company described its start to FY26 as "amazing," citing major cloud contracts with OpenAI, xAI, Meta, NVIDIA, AMD, and others.
• Remaining performance obligations (RPO) skyrocketed to $455 bln, up 359% yr/yr and up massively from $138 bln at the end of Q4 (May). Cloud RPO alone grew nearly 500%, building on 83% growth last year.
• Oracle now expects FY26 capex to hit $35 bln, with most of it going into revenue-generating equipment for new data centers.

Besides RPO growth, what also really jolted investors was Oracle's long-term OCI (Oracle Cloud Infrastructure) guidance, backed by already-booked RPO: FY26: $18 bln FY27: $32 bln FY28: $73 bln FY29: $114 bln FY30: $144 bln. Oracle also anticipates RPO will soon top $0.5 trillion, as more multi-billion-dollar customers come online.

Briefing.com Analyst Insight:
The quarter itself may have been lackluster, but the real story here is bookings — and Oracle just posted one of the most stunning RPO growth metrics we've ever seen. The five-year OCI roadmap shows rare confidence, backed by real contracts, not speculation. While valuation will undoubtedly expand from here, it's clear Oracle is fast becoming a foundational player in AI inferencing, where enterprise-grade data meets cutting-edge compute. For long-term investors, this is no longer your grandfather's Oracle.