Oracle (ORCL)
Shares of Oracle rose more than 8% in premarket trading after the software company announced cloud deals with Google (GOOG) and OpenAi.
“In Q4 alone, Oracle announced more than 30 AI projects totaling more than $12.5bn (£9.8bn), including a contract with OpenAi to train ChatGPT on Oracle Cloud,” said CEO Safra Catz. signed a sales contract.” said.
The company also said it will bring its database to Google’s cloud, with availability coming in November. Organizations will be able to distribute workloads across Google and Oracle cloud data center regions without incurring data transfer fees.
“In Q3 and Q4, Oracle signed the largest sales contracts in our history, driven by tremendous demand for training AI large language models on Oracle Cloud,” Catz said. he added.
Read more: How to invest in Indian stock market?
Despite this, Larry Ellison’s company’s fourth-quarter results fell short of Wall Street’s expectations.
Total revenue increased 3% to $14.29 billion. Net income was $3.14 billion, or $1.11 per share, compared to $3.32 billion, or $1.19 per share, in the same quarter last year.
In the latest quarter, the company generated $10.23 billion in revenue from cloud services and licensing support, up 9% from the previous year.
Oracle reported total revenue growth of 6% for fiscal 2024. Analysts expect 9% growth for FY25.
The company expects first-quarter revenue to increase between 5% and 7%, while analysts are forecasting a 7.6% increase.
Apple shares closed 7% higher, reaching a new high in Tuesday’s session, but were in the red in premarket trading as AI announcements continued to divide analysts.
At its worldwide developers conference, the iPhone maker jumped back into the AI race with the announcement of Apple Intelligence. He also said that users will soon be able to leverage OpenAi’s ChatGPT when using Siri.
At least 13 analysts raised their price targets on Apple shares following the developer event, saying the latest features could boost sales as the company prepares to announce a new iPhone lineup in the fall.
“This was a historic day for Apple and Cook & Co, and it did not disappoint in our view,” Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives said in a research note to investors.
Maintaining his outperform score and $275 price target, Ives said “the entire technology landscape is focused on the highly anticipated AI strategy and further updates to both hardware and software ecosystems that will drive the next cycle of growth in the coming years.”
“Apple is demonstrating that it is investing in improving its platform and devices to enable the next era of computing, interfaces and experiences,” said Gartner analyst Tuong Nguyen.
Elon Musk threatened to ban Apple devices from his companies, claiming they have security concerns.
Superior (MONEY)
The company’s shares fell and continue to dive deeper in premarket hours after the media mogul behind Paramount Pictures canceled its proposed multibillion-dollar merger offer after months of talks.
Shari Redstone has ended talks with Skydance Media over a merger that would transfer control of Paramount from her family to billionaire David Ellison.
Skydance had offered nearly $2 billion to acquire Redstone’s National Amusements (NAI) and would then merge Paramount with Ellison’s company through a stock deal.
Read more: UK economy remains flat in April as bad weather hits spending
Skydance was also prepared to buy out about half of Paramount’s common shareholders for $15 per share and inject about $1.5 billion to help pay off the company’s debt.
A statement from National Amusements said only that the two parties “failed to reach mutually acceptable terms” for the deal.
Paramount has struggled in the evolving media landscape, particularly due to the decline of its traditional cable business.
Legal and General (LGEN.L)
Shares in the insurance, pension and investment services group fell after CEO António Simões announced changes to deliver a “simpler, better-connected L&G”.
The changes include the creation of a single asset management division, which will bring together Legal and General Investment Management and the wider group’s own investment unit, as well as the sale of certain assets, notably construction company Cala.
The group’s strong corporate pension business, which buys legacy pension schemes, and its main insurance retail arm, which has 14 million customers, will remain.
However, the company plans to aggressively pursue corporate pension deals, targeting £65bn in the UK by 2028, after completing £13.7bn globally last year.
The company said it plans to deliver further returns to shareholders from 2024 to 2027, in addition to a £200 million share buyback, with a 5% dividend increase in 2024 followed by 2% annual growth thereafter.
Watch: Apple will no longer ‘miss out’ on new artificial intelligence initiative
Download the Yahoo Finance app you can use. Apple And Android.