Oracle Stock Jumps Over 30% Based On This One Metric | SaaS Metrics School

Original Description

Oracle stock just shocked the market—up more than 30%—and it all traces back to ONE SaaS metric that doesn’t get nearly enough attention.

In today’s edition of SaaS Metrics School, Ben Murray, The SaaS CFO, breaks down why Oracle’s stock surged and how Remaining Performance Obligations (RPO) became the headline metric investors couldn’t ignore.

Oracle is one of the original legacy software giants, so when its stock jumped roughly 37%, it caught a lot of people off guard. While there are always multiple factors behind public market moves, one earnings headline stood out: Oracle’s RPO grew an eye-popping 359% year over year, reaching $455 billion in remaining performance obligations.

That’s not a typo.

So what exactly is RPO—and why did the market reward it so aggressively?

In this episode, we walk step-by-step through:

◆ What Remaining Performance Obligations (RPO) actually measure

◆ Why public SaaS companies are required to disclose RPO

◆ How RPO differs from deferred revenue

◆ Why multi-year SaaS contracts dramatically change how investors view future revenue

◆ How Oracle’s RPO growth signaled massive revenue visibility and backlog strength

◆ Why RPO is a powerful complement to retention metrics like NRR and GRR

◆ What private SaaS companies can learn from Oracle’s RPO-driven stock move

RPO represents the total value of contracted products and services that have not yet been recognized as revenue. That includes:

◆ Deferred revenue already sitting on the balance sheet

◆ Plus non-cancelable contracted amounts that will be invoiced and recognized in future periods

To make this crystal clear, Ben uses Snowflake’s RPO definition as a real-world example—showing exactly how deferred revenue and contracted backlog come together into one forward-looking metric.

Oracle’s massive jump in RPO tells the market one thing very clearly:

✔ Customers are signing large, long-term contracts

✔ Revenue visibility is extremely strong

✔ Future growth is already locked in

That level of certainty is something investors love.

While RPO isn’t commonly tracked yet in private SaaS companies, this episode explains why that may change. If your business sells multi-year contracts or has meaningful deferred revenue, RPO can become one of the most powerful indicators of future performance, operational health, and investor confidence.

This metric doesn’t replace retention—it reinforces it. Strong retention plus growing RPO tells a compelling story about stickiness, scalability, and long-term value creation in SaaS.

Ben also shares:

◆ Why RPO is gaining importance in SaaS valuations

◆ How founders and operators should think about revenue backlog

◆ When it makes sense to start tracking RPO internally

◆ How this metric fits into a broader SaaS metrics framework

This episode is not investment advice and is not an endorsement of Oracle stock—but it is a masterclass in understanding how one SaaS metric can move markets.

If you want to go deeper, Ben links his full RPO blog post and downloadable template in the show notes, along with details on upcoming SaaS Metrics courses designed to help operators level up their careers and improve SaaS valuations.

Whether you’re a SaaS founder, CFO, operator, or investor, this episode will change how you think about revenue visibility and backlog metrics.

📌 More Resources from Ben Murray – The SaaS CFO:

🚀 Subscribe to my daily SaaS metrics newsletter: https://saasmetricsschool.beehiiv.com/subscribe

📊 Get my SaaS Metrics newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/df1db6bf8bca/the-saas-cfo-sign-up-landing-page

📈 Join my SaaS Metrics courses: https://www.thesaasacademy.com/

💡 Become part of my SaaS community: https://www.thesaasacademy.com/offers/ivNjwYDx/checkout

🔗 Follow me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benrmurray