Shares of Oracle Corp. ORCL, +15.15% blasted 13.6% higher in premarket trading Friday, enough to propel them into record territory, in the wake of the database giant’s better-than-expected fiscal second-quarter results and announced a $10 billion stock repurchase program. If the stock’s gain could hold through the close, it would be the biggest one-day rally since it shot up 16.4% on Sept. 24, 2001. No less than 11 of the 30 analysts surveyed by FactSet who cover Oracle have raised their stock price targets so far, boosting the average target to $101.55 from $93.07 at the end of November. Deutsche Bank analyst Brad Zelnick upgraded the stock to buy from hold, saying the earnings report and buyback announcement was “confirmatory” of further acceleration ahead. The stock, which is on track to open above its Oct. 22 record close of $98.25, has run up 37.2% year to date through Thursday, while the SPDR Technology Select Sector ETF XLK, +1.10% has rallied 31.9% and the S&P 500 SPX, +0.57% has advanced 24.3%.
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