Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) isn’t a member of the “Magnificent Seven” group of technology stocks. Yet, ORCL stock may still deserve a place in your portfolio in 2023.

Even if Oracle isn’t as talked-about as some other companies, it’s a dividend payer and a cloud king that deserves your attention.

All that matters in the tech market nowadays is artificial intelligence, right? Not really, but sometimes it might feel that way. Oracle certainly has connections to machine learning. However, let’s not dismiss the importance of other technology fields, including cloud computing (which overlaps with AI).

As we’ll discover, public-entity clients certainly recognize Oracle’s stature as a cloud-computing leader. So, let’s dig deeper into Oracle’s value proposition and see if ORCL stock deserves a place in your portfolio.

Oracle’s Strong Earnings Track Record

Oracle has a quarterly earnings report coming up soon. Will it be a beat or a miss? No one knows for sure, but Oracle’s track record should instill confidence in reluctant investors.

During the past few years, Oracle definitely has definitely had more quarterly EPS beats (compared to Wall Street’s estimates) than misses. Oracle delivered per-share earnings beats during the three most recently reported quarters.

For the company’s fiscal fourth quarter of 2023, Oracle reported earnings of $1.67 per share. For the upcoming report (covering the first fiscal quarter of 2024), Wall Street only expects Oracle to have earned $1.15 per share. This seems like a bar that Oracle can clear, so there may be a positive earnings surprise in store.

And by the way, while not every “Magnificent Seven” company pays a decent dividend (or any dividend at all), Oracle offers a forward annual dividend yield of 1.37%. Thus, ORCL stock should appeal to technology-market investors who like to collect passive income.

Get Direct Exposure With ORCL Stock

The “Magnificent Seven” stocks can offer some cloud-computing industry exposure. However, Oracle may be considered a cloud champion as the company has notable government-level clients seeking cloud-computing services.

Don’t get the wrong idea here. Oracle certainly has products that should appeal to private-sector clients. For example, Oracle Compute Cloud@Customer enhances the portability and flexibility of businesses’ cloud applications. It achieves this by enabling clients to deploy Oracle Cloud Infrastructure compute services at any location.

Oracle can also effectively serve government clients, however. The company has top-secret cloud authorization in the U.S., so this could further enhance Oracle’s access to public-domain clients.

Just in the past month, Oracle has provided services to the U.S. Department of Defense as well as the government of Australia.

Going forward, investors should watch for new developments as Oracle inks cloud-focused deals with both public and private customers.

Consider ORCL Stock for Dividends and Growth

Not every technology company pays quarterly dividends, but Oracle does. Investors seeking direct cloud-industry exposure should conduct their due diligence on Oracle.

All in all, this could be a prime opportunity to look outside of the “Magnificent Seven” as Oracle is an ambitious tech business that deserves investors’ attention.

Therefore, ORCL stock gets a solid “B” grade and may be appropriate for a small to medium-sized share position.

On the date of publication, neither Louis Navellier nor the InvestorPlace Research Staff member primarily responsible for this article held (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article.