Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) is a cloud-computing software specialist that has embedded artificial intelligence functionalities into its products. While Oracle usually isn’t top-of-mind on Wall Street, Oracle stock can be your top-secret portfolio pick for 2024.

I’m actually surprised that Oracle isn’t usually mentioned in conversations about AI stocks. As we’ll discover, Oracle even has a partnership with an AI and cybersecurity superstar. It’s fine if the market currently under-appreciates Oracle, though, since it’s just an opportunity to pick up shares before they fly higher.

Oracle Teams Up With a Market Darling

Let’s face it. It seems as if everybody and his uncle likes Palantir Technologies (NYSE:PLTR) nowadays. After all, in an unstable world, governments and private businesses will demand Palantir’s AI-enhanced data-analytics and cybersecurity products for a long time to come.

Thus, it’s fair to say that Palantir is a darling of the market. Palantir isn’t an 800-pound gorilla like Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) is, but investors like Palantir’s growth prospects.

So, it makes sense that Oracle stock jumped after investors learned that the company is teaming up with Palantir Technologies. Specifically, Palantir’s enterprise-software products will be available through Oracle’s cloud-computing platform.

That announcement came in early April; by the 19th day of that month, the Oracle share price fell back and coughed up all the gains. It seems as if the market doesn’t fully appreciate the significance of the Oracle-Palantir team-up. It’s bound to bring a great deal of attention and exposure to Oracle’s cloud platform.

If some people don’t understand or don’t care about this landmark partnership, their loss can be your gain. That’s what contrarian and value investing is all about: seeing opportunities that other stock traders are overlooking.

Oracle’s Massive Investment in Japan

Sometimes, a company has to invest big money now in order to make bigger money later. Such is the case with Oracle, which recently disclosed its plans to invest more than $8 billion over the next decade in cloud-computing and AI technology in Japan.

This isn’t Oracle’s only recent AI-focused announcement, by the way. The company is also using AI to help banks combat money laundering, and is teaming up with AI research and product startup Reka to develop generative-AI models.

Those are significant news items, but Oracle’s AI investment in Japan could be game changing. Sure, $8 billion is a hefty investment, but it will enable Oracle to “grow Oracle Cloud Infrastructure’s footprint across Japan.” 

Ultimately, Oracle envisions “governments and businesses across Japan” moving their “mission-critical workloads to the Oracle Cloud” and deploying the company’s AI-enhanced solutions. This could be a highly lucrative long-term venture, as Japan is the fourth-largest economy in the world.

Oracle Stock: Put AI and Cloud Power in Your Portfolio

Nvidia stock and Palantir stock are obvious AI picks. However, sometimes the best opportunities aren’t the most obvious ones. That’s why savvy investors should conduct their due diligence on Oracle, which is often left out of the conversation.

Notably, Oracle is immersed in the cloud-computing and AI fields. Furthermore, the company has a deal with Palantir Technologies and is preparing to expand its market footprint in Japan.

With all of that in mind, today is the right day to pick up some Oracle stock shares for a long-term buy-and-hold position.

On the date of publication, David Moadel did not have (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.