BUZZ-PREVIEW: Oracle falls with earnings on deck

** Analysts note investors will also eye any progress on the $20 bln at the market equity raise, which "has been the primary overhang on ORCL shares since the F4Q print, surpassing OpenAI concentration concerns," said Guggenheim analyst John DiFucci, who said that "completing most, if not all, of the raise would be positively received near term"

** DiFucci cautions, however, that another equity raise could be on the horizon

** Of the 42 analysts who cover ORCL, breakdown of recommendations is 34 "strong buy" or "buy," 7 "hold" and 1 "sell"

** Median price target of $245 unchanged from a month ago

** ORCL shares down ~20% YTD vs ~22% climb in S&P 500 tech sector .SPLRCT and ~3% decline in S&P 500 software & services index .SPLRCIS

** Oracle ORCL.N shares down 3.5% on Thurs, on pace for biggest daily pct drop since September 1, ahead of fiscal Q1 results after the bell, with focus on cloud biz growth and recent EU regulatory scrutiny

** The database and cloud services co is expected to post a 28% rise in qtrly rev to $19.14 bln and adj EPS of $1.74, per LSEG data, vs yr-ago results of $14.92 bln in revenue and earnings of $1.47/sh

** ORCL has met or beaten EPS estimate in five of past eight qtrs, with most recent miss in Q1 2025

** EU antitrust regulators are scrutinizing the co's licensing practices, according to a recent Reuters report