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Mike, Article from Briefing com.: ORACLE CORP (ORCL) 37 -1 9/16. Shares of the leading developer of database management software were rescued this morning by an initial "buy" rating issued by Lehman, helping stock bounce off its session low of $36.25 a share. However, some investors used the recovery of the stock to reduce their position after the Nasdaq (-12) began to retreat again. Investors have been on their toes all morning as a result of an Informix (IFMX 10 1/16 -5 1/16) earnings warning, as well as other bearish comments on the sector. Using the stock's early retreat as an entry point, Lehman initiated coverage of Oracle shares with a "buy" recommendation, seeing the stock's recent decline as a very compelling reason to re-enter the issue. That is not to say that in the near-term the firm is confident the overall sector is as strong fundamentally as one would like to see, only that potential investors in Oracle will benefit from a dramatically oversold situation. Thus, analyst Brian Skiba views the stock as an excellent trading opportunity, believing that the shares will garner super gains over the next 12 months. Skiba's price target of $50 a share, indicates upside potential of 35% from the stock's current price, a level the stock has not seen since late 1996 when the issue reached its 52-week high of $51 a share. Before today's warning by Informix, these shares had been on an upswing, coming off their recent low of $34 a share. And given that the bearish comments made by Informix (e.g. weak demand in Europe) are nothing new and have already been largely priced into Oracle shares, the Lehman analyst wants to know what's the problem. |
