Oracle—and Other Beaten-Down Tech Stocks—Surge in Latest Market Rally

• Oracle, Advanced Micro Devices, Tesla, and Palantir are some of the biggest winners of this week’s tech rally.

• The recent momentum could point to improving sentiment around AI-related stocks that took a big hit earlier this year.

This week has seen some big tech winners. Many of them were big losers not too long ago.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq rose 1.5% to close at a record high for a third straight day, amid optimism about progress toward the end of war in Iran. Oracle (ORCL) has soared nearly 30% in its best week since the 1990s, making it one of the top-performing stocks in the Nasdaq and S&P 500 over that period. Tesla (TSLA) is up about 15%, while Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), which reached another record high Friday, has added around 14%. Palantir, which has weathered a slump of its own, is also up some 14% from last week.

Many of those stocks were among those most heavily impacted by a broad pullback in the AI trade to start the year amid worries about the sustainability of growth in the sector. Shares of Oracle, which derives more than half of its backlog from OpenAI, were at one point in early February down nearly 60% from September highs driven by demand growth that sent its market value soaring. This week’s gains have helped narrow that to about 46%, with some new deals, AI products, and efforts to trim costs helping ease some of the concerns that have weighed on the stock.

Tesla has benefitted over the last few days from optimism about its progress with AI chips, which has helped offset concerns about the near-term health of its auto business. Palantir, which recently got a vote of confidence from President Donald Trump, is also recovering from a deep slump this year.

Tesla and Palantir, like Oracle, still have quite a way to go before reaching last year’s records, and are in the red this year.

Now a risk-on attitude in markets is acting as a tailwind to a tech sector already seen as delivering strong earnings growth. In a note to clients Friday, analysts at Wedbush wrote they “believe tech stocks could rally another 15% from these levels into year-end,” as AI adoption grows and demand drives strong results.

This article has been updated since it was first published to reflect more recent prices.

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