Tag Archives: Deepmind

I was confronted with an Oracle article this morning, it came with the complements of the Insider Monkey (at https://www.insidermonkey.com/blog/oracles-orcl-backlog-drives-its-bull-thesis-according-to-analysts-1726682/). The article ‘Oracle’s (ORCL) Backlog Drives Its Bull Thesis According To Analysts’ which might be a conundrum, so lets take a look. We are given “The major factors in the firm’s bullish thesis on ORCL are its massive backlog and its ability to cater to increasing AI investments in the US. Oracle has a remaining performance obligation (RPO) of $553 billion, which offers good visibility into the company’s future earnings.” I would go with that a backlog gives stock and future of a company value, but that might be an oversimplification. And $553,000,000,000 is nothing to sneer at. It is seemingly more than the overall business that several nations have and in this case it is more then Norway gets on an annual level. So I would go with that, but what is a bullish thesis? 

Well, in short “A bull thesis is a structured argument supporting the belief that a specific stock, sector, or the overall market will rise in value, driven by positive catalysts like strong earnings, innovation, or economic expansion. It focuses on growth potential, such as AI-driven productivity, high revenue backlogs, or increased market share.” (Source: Simply Wall Street).

So I had it correct the first time over (a few days ago). There was nothing new under the hot sun, but the next bit ‘surprised’ me a bit. It was “The analyst also pointed out that a major risk in the bull thesis is the customer concentration. A large part of this backlog comes from OpenAI. OpenAI intends to invest a total of $600 billion in computing power by 2030. Previously, in October, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said the company could spend up to $1.4 trillion on infrastructure by 2033. One month ago, BNP Paribas analyst Stefan Slowinski commented on how this particular risk is now reducing for Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL):” So in short, most of the backlog comes from OpenAI, if OpenAI fails (not a weird thought) Oracle stumbles as would be the case, so the backlog is due to mostly one customer and that is a rusk. How big a risk remains to be seen. The people wanting OpenAI to succeed are numerous and ‘THEY’ would be reducing the risk like the metal dealer reducing the risk of riveting and downplaying potential dangers. This went well before the Titanic saw the shores of the ocean (bottom of the sea), but what happens afterwards? Now, riveting is largely supported, there are whole fleets still out there based on riveting. But what happens when the next big thing comes (like welding), so that is where we are right now. But on the horizon we see Google DeepMind, Anthropic, Meta, DeepSeek and something called Cohere. I believe Oracle is in a good space as whatever comes next will require a system that deal with data and I believe that the only competitor here is Snowflake. As such yes, there is a risk to (what some call) the Bull thesis, but the risk is seemingly small as nothing can match Oracle and Snowflake can only partially cover Oracle (as I see it) and I have some reservations on BNP Paribas analyst Stefan Slowinski as BNP Paribas and OpenAI have a multifaceted relationship involving financial analysis, infrastructure, and competition within the AI landscape and this article dos not bare this out. But in that setting we also fail to see the setting that ‘SoftBank Secures $40 Billion Loan to Fund $30 Billion OpenAI Investment’ (source: TradingView) this matters as there is a backlog and they still need loans/investment funds? And the second setting is given to us (at https://www.nssmag.com/en/lifestyle/44761/sora-openai-shutdown) where we see ‘Understanding OpenAI’s U-turn on Sora’ where we see “The development team of Sora, the artificial intelligence software by OpenAI that allowed users to generate realistic videos from a simple prompt, recently announced the shutdown of the app. It is a sudden and highly significant change, one that is expected to produce notable effects in the technology and entertainment sectors, with repercussions that could extend well beyond the U.S. market. The shutdown of Sora is not relevant only for the company led by Sam Altman, but also for other players active in the field of generative AI applied to video production. Google, for instance, now finds itself in an advantageous position in this area, with the concrete possibility of consolidating its leadership in the generation of realistic AI-based videos – thanks to its tool Veo.” So some will see this as a boost to Google (DeepMind) but this happens before these tracks became financially viable (read: paying off) and these elements will create some sort of minor shockwave. The problem is that 3-4 shockwaves can create a massive customer turnover (like towards a competitor) and even if it doesn’t ‘damage’ Oracle, it might hurt prospects in that near future. Consider that this backlog of $553 billion reduces it to a mere $125,000,000,000 Still a large number, but that is when it starts raining men on Wall Street (aka: watch out below).  All elements overlooked in Insider Monkey and the non-Chinese media is not too bitty in the DeepSeek settings. So we are mostly unaware how their next version of its engine is. All elements that will influence the view on Oracle. I still have faith that Oracle will pull through successfully, but these pesky investors are at present more jittery than a room full of roaches as you turn on the lights. It might not be the best setting for a long term ‘understanding’ and that is something Oracle has to deal with. 

Have a great day, I am now 120 minutes from breakfast, although if I was in Vancouver I could enjoy another lunch in the Nightingale like a Cache Creek Beef Tartare, yummy.