The AI Trade Is Tanking as Anxieties Reemerge

Oracle stock has risen 14% in 2025. (An Rong Xu/Bloomberg)

Key Points

• Oracle’s stock dropped after its earnings report, impacting other AI-related hardware stocks.
• Oracle reported a $13 billion free-cash loss over 12 months, with $10 billion in the November quarter.
• The company increased its fiscal 2026 capital expenditures guidance to $50 billion from $35 billion.

Oracle’s latest earnings have stoked further anxiety around the artificial-intelligence trade.

The stock is down more than 16% in early trading Thursday, and is taking much of the AI data-center hardware trade with it. Shares of Nvidia , Advanced Micro Devices , Broadcom , Dell Technologies, and Hewlett Packard Enterprise were all down at least 2%.

Oracle posted its results Wednesday evening. Once a cash-flow king, has spent $35 billion on capital expenditures in the last 12 months. That has resulted in a $13 billion free-cash loss, with $10 billion of that coming in the November quarter.

What’s more, the company upped its capital expenditures guidance for fiscal 2026 which ends in May, raising it to $50 billion from $35 billion. This leaves $29 billion remaining in the second half of the year.

This episode underlines the fragility of the AI trade: Investors have one foot out the door, and are getting spooked easily.

Write to Adam Levine at adam.levine@barrons.com