Lacking firmer footing in the cloud “until it can prove otherwise,” Oracle (ORCL) stock was downgraded Thursday by FBR & Co. to market perform from outperform, though FBR kept its price target at 44. Oracle stock, up 14% since late September, was down a fraction, near 40, in afternoon trading on the stock market today. “Although we have patiently awaited a turnaround story at Oracle, and the company has talked a great talk, the lack of consistent
As IBM (IBM) kicks off the third-quarter earnings season Monday afternoon for those tech companies catering to businesses, analysts say the questions that investors need to ask is where the growth will come from for big-ticket stocks and whether smaller players on the rise can perform. The likes of IBM, Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), Cisco Systems (CSCO) and Oracle (ORCL) are struggling to find ways to grow, says Daniel Ives, analyst for FBR Capital
Look for more blockbuster, large-cap tech M&As, says Goldman Sachs, which says IBM has the biggest war chest and Salesforce.com (CRM) is the biggest difference maker among potential targets. Goldman analyst Heather Bellini says cash-rich Microsoft, Oracle (ORCL), IBM (IBM) and SAP (SAP) will continue making acquisitions targeting cloud-based software-as-a-service, security, Big Data and business intelligence. “We think IBM could support an