Shares of Oracle Corp. catapulted to a nine-year high on Friday, a day after the software giant reported solid quarterly results that eased investor concerns about tech spending, prompting at least 9 brokerages to raise their price targets on the stock.
Shares of the Redwood City, California-based company rose 7 percent to $27.09 on Nasdaq. Nearly 70 million shares changed hands — more than double its normal trading volume.
"ORCL remains an attractive large-cap software investment, given new product introductions, actions to drive higher profitability and growth in the Sun business," Jefferies said in a note to clients.
For the first quarter, the company posted a 25 percent surge in software sales and a pickup in its new hardware business.
FBR Capital Markets said Oracle can deliver better-than-expected revenue and exceed its goal for Sun to deliver $1.5 billion of operating income in its first year.
Earlier this year, the company stepped into the high-end computer server market with its acquisition of top player Sun Microsystems for $7.4 billion.
"Software companies seem to execute best when they have the benefit of a technologist CEO and a sales and operations-focused President — Oracle now has that combination in place," said JMP Securities, referring to ex-Hewlett Packard CEO Mark Hurd's recent move to Oracle.
JMP Securities, which raised its rating on the Oracle stock to "market outperform" from "market perform," said the company would see a new growth driver in high-end engineered systems that combine hardware and software, two of which might be launched next week.
The company's shares, which have risen 11 percent since Hurd joined Oracle on September 6, were trading up $1.40 at $26.76 Friday morning on Nasdaq.
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