** Scotiabank initiates coverage on cloud service provider Oracle ORCL.N with "sector outperform" rating and $300 PT

** New PT represents 24% premium to stock's last close

** Brokerage sees Oracle's cloud-computing platform well-positioned in terms of competitive pricing, performance and security position to capitalize on growing demand for AI training

** "Oracle's access to capital, deep support from NVIDIA and independence (as the firm isn't building foundation models)further create competitive edge in GPU-as-a-service," Scotiabank says

** ORCL shares up 0.5% at $242.38 in early trading

** 30 of 41 brokerages rate stock "buy" or higher, rest rate "hold"; median PT is $240 - data compiled by LSEG

** Including session's moves, ORCL up 47.7% YTD

(Reporting by Kanchana Chakravarty in Bengaluru)

((Kanchana.Chakravarty@thomsonreuters.com))