Barclays’ (BCS) Top Tech Picks

In its recent America’s Top Picks List, Barclays PLC (ADR) (NYSE:BCS) ranked Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL), Cavium Inc (NASDAQ:CAVM), and Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW) as some of its top technology stock picks. In this article we’ll look at these three companies and the latest developments surrounding them, as well as gauge the level of interest in them from the smart money, beginning with Oracle.

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In its report, Barclays PLC (ADR) (NYSE:BCS) mentioned that Oracle, which is one of the biggest software companies in the World, is well-placed to capitalize on the product development and internal changes it has implemented in 2015. The analyst expects investor sentiment to improve in the upcoming months. The shares of the enterprise tech giant were down 1.41% on Monday after dismal fourth quarter fiscal 2015 financial results were released by Oracle Corporation Japan. Oracle Japan reported a 4% decline in its operating margin along with a 35% drop in its hardware product sales, and a 3% drop in its service revenues. It is important to note that Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL)’s most recent quarterly earnings missed market expectations of $0.82 by $0.08. Barclays has a price target of $48 on Oracle indicating an upside of 18.90% from its current share price. The hedge funds tracked at Insider Monkey had a bearish take on Oracle Corporation heading into the second quarter, with 59 hedge fund managers having $8.71 billion invested in the company as of March, against the $9.31 billion in holdings held by 62 hedge fund managers at the end of 2014. Boykin Curry’s Eagle Capital Management is among the largest shareholders of Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL), with his investment position as of March 31 including 44.72 million shares valued at $1.93 billion. Safra Catz, Chief Executive Officer of Oracle Corp, made the biggest insider sale in the past six months, by selling 3.75 million shares on March 27.