Is Oracle a buy?

Earlier in the week, there was an item on a blog at Barrons.com concerning Oracle (NASDAQ: ORCL). It was reported that two analysts revised their earnings estimates for the tech company in the downward direction (shareholders hate that!). Ross MacMillan of Jefferies & Co. took two pennies off his fiscal '09 estimate, reducing it to $1.43 per share. Tim Klasell of Thomas Weisel Partners thinks Oracle will do $1.44 per share; this was likewise a reduction of two pennies. I guess there's something about two pennies and Oracle this week. Both analysts have good ratings on Oracle and think the stock will trade higher from here.

And now, for my own two cents. As far as I'm concerned, I think Oracle is not necessarily a stock to jump into at the moment. The shares have been weak this year (of course, what hasn't been weak this year, I suppose), and at Friday's close of $16.32, they were sitting rather close to their 52-week low of $15.00. I would rather see Oracle pull further away from its low of the year before buying. I've been generally bearish on most stocks in the market, and I have to tell you, the recent rallying mood on Wall Street isn't something I have a lot of belief in. I believe Oracle may end up going lower from here once we get additional negative headlines on the macro environment. If I don't see strength, then I won't buy with any sort of conviction. If I wanted to take on some shares of a tech stock, I'd probably go with stronger brands, like a Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), or perhaps even an IBM (NYSE: IBM). Yes, Oracle is a big brand name as well, but I am not too partial to its stock, quite honestly (I do respect the company, though). However, even if I bought some Microsoft, my inclination right now would be to sell it the next time it makes a small move higher. In fact, I was trying to get hold of some Microsoft this week for a quick trade, but it just didn't happen.