What Wall Street Is Saying Ahead Of Oracle's Earnings Call

• Oracle Corporation (NYSE: ORCL) is scheduled to announce its second quarter fiscal 2016 financial results after the market closes on Wednesday.
• Ahead of the report, a few major Wall Street research firms shared their previews of the results.

According to Estimize, the Street is modeling consensus earnings of $0.61 per share on revenue of $9.086 billion, down more than 10 percent and 4 percent year-over-year, respectively.

Morgan Stanley

Around mid-November, analysts at Morgan Stanley issued an Equal-Weight rating and $45 price target on Oracle. "Strong Cloud bookings alone failed to prove the catalyst we hoped, and indicators in the database business have been mixed," the analysts pointed out.

For the second quarter of 2016, the firm is projecting below-consensus earnings of $0.60 per share on revenue of $9.016 billion.

FBR & Co.

Earlier last month, FBR analysts downgraded Oracle to Market Perform, issuing a $44 price target, arguing that upside potential for the near term seems quite limited "as growth headwinds and secular challenges to Oracle's 'bread-and-butter' database business remain a dark cloud over the company until it can prove otherwise."

"Although we have patiently awaited a turnaround story at Oracle, and the company has talked a great talk, the lack of consistent results, an empty M&A strategy, mixed checks in the November quarter so far, and major secular challenges from the likes of Amazon Web Services are hard to ignore, and thus make it tough to be bullish on the name at current levels," the report added.

For the second quarter, the experts anticipate earnings of $0.60 per share on sales of $9.09 billion.

Goldman Sachs

On Wednesday, analysts at Goldman Sachs added Oracle to their Conviction List, issuing a Buy rating and $47 price target, which implies an upside potential of more than 25 percent. According to the report, the firm's "field checks with partners indicate that ORCL's cloud revenue growth will accelerate in F2H16." The experts believe this will lead to multiple expansion as investors' conviction in the company’s ability to execute on the transition increases.

Disclosure: Javier Hasse holds no positions in any of the securities mentioned above.