PREVIEW: Oracle shares edge lower as investors eye cloud business in quarterly results

Shares of Oracle ORCL.N edged down 0.5% at $220.43 on Wednesday ahead of its quartely earnings report due after markets close with investors anticipating strong growth amid demand for its cloud services

ORCL has emerged as one of the bigger providers of the rented computing power essential for generative AI thanks to a $300 bln contract with ChatGPT-creator OpenAI

Wall Street analysts expect ORCL to report ~12% growth in adj EPS to $1.64 on revenue of $16.2 bln, up 15.3% from a year ago

ORCL's rev has missed expectations 6 times over the last 8 quarters while adj EPS has met estimates 4 times in the same period

In Sept, ORCL's Safra Catz said it expects booked revenue at the cloud infrastructure business to exceed half a trillion dollars, sending its shares up 27%

Among 46 analysts covering ORCL, avg rating is "BUY" and median PT is $350, per LSEG data

ORCL is up 32.4% YTD vs Nasdaq Composite Index's .IXIC 21.4% increase