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Snowflake shares jumped more than 31% on Thursday after third-quarter results beat analysts’ estimates for both revenue and net income. And analysts predict even more gains. The sharp rise puts the cloud-based data stock on track for its best day ever. Snowflake executives on Wednesday raised their forecast for full-year product revenue to $3.43 billion, a growth of 29%, from a previous estimate that called for $3.36 billion. SNOW YTD Mountain Stock Snowflake headed for its best day ever on Thursday. The company added Wednesday that it plans to partner with Anthropic, an artificial intelligence startup backed by Amazon. CEO Sridhar Ramaswamy also noted that Snowflake could expand its business by involving the federal government. Goldman analyst Kash Rangan reiterated a buy rating on Snowflake after its third-quarter results and maintained his price target of $220 per share. Rangan’s forecast implies an upside of more than 70% from Wednesday’s close of $129.12. “Given the company’s strong competitive positioning, we continue to view Snowflake as well-positioned to capitalize on a generational shift in data and analytics to the cloud, with strong long-term tailwinds including adoption cloud, big data, AI/ML. [artificial intelligence/machine learning]and secure data sharing that we hope will drive sustainable growth in the near future,” Rangan said. JPMorgan, others also optimistic. JPMorgan Chase analyst Mark Murphy maintained an overweight on Snowflake stock, but raised its price target to $185 per share. Murphy’s forecast implies an upside of more than 47%. “We expect Snowflake to continue to grow revenue at scale. “We believe in the combination of alignment with secular trends such as data growth and digital transformation, very rapid revenue growth at scale and a strong and efficient business model. “Snowflake an exceptional asset among software companies” Separately, Bank of America analyst Brad Sills was encouraged that demand trends showed marked improvement in the third quarter and said he. is encouraged by the company’s efforts to expand its segments of data engineering and AI. The analyst reiterated his neutral rating on Snowflake stock, but increased his price target from $160 per share to $185, which equates to more than 43%. upwards to move forward. “We are looking for more hardware traction outside of core before concluding that Snowflake has widened the competitive gap for pure play and hyperscaler platforms,” Sills warned. Wells Fargo’s Michael Turrin reiterated an equal weighting on Snowflake after its quarterly results, but raised his price target from $125 to $150 per share. Turin’s outlook is for an increase of around 16%. Turrin remains neutral on the stock largely because Snowflake’s current multiples are at the upper echelon of its peers in the software segment, he noted. He added that he nevertheless remained optimistic that the company would remain a key player in the field. “While SNOW remains a leader in the cloud data space, increased competitive intensity coupled with a nascent AI-driven product cycle raises questions about the future of the platform. [long-term] differentiation and the company’s ability to maintain similar levels of growth in the future,” Turrin said.
https://www.cnbc.com/2024/11/21/forget-nvidia-this-is-the-biggest-tech-earnings-mover-of-the-day-and-goldman-sees-70percent-upside-.html
