Important points
- C3.ai stock soared more than 24% on Thursday after the Google and Amazon partner announced better-than-expected results and guidance as demand for AI products soars.
- The AI software maker’s losses were narrower than expected, with sales up about 18% from a year ago.
- Wedbush analysts say C3.ai is capitalizing on the excitement around generative AI and raised their price target on the stock.
C3.ai (AI) on Thursday after the Alphabet (GOOGL) Google and Amazon (AMZN) partner announced better-than-expected results and guidance as demand for artificial intelligence (AI) software soars. The stock soared more than 24%.
The company’s third quarter fiscal 2024 results were a loss of $0.13 per share, which was smaller than expected. Sales increased 17.6% year over year to $78.4 million, also exceeding expectations.
CEO Thomas Siebel said customer engagement has increased by 80% and the company’s “first-mover advantage in enterprise AI is significant, creating tailwinds as market interest in AI adoption accelerates.”
C3.ai beat expectations with current quarter revenue guidance of $82 million to $86 million.
Wedbush raised its price target to $40 from $35, reflecting its “increasing confidence in C3’s story.” Analysts said, “This result is the right direction for C3 as the company’s entire product portfolio continues to generate unprecedented demand for AI platforms aimed at improving operations, optimizing processes, and transforming businesses. “This is a step towards achieving this goal,” he said.
Wedbush added that the company is capitalizing on “the generative AI opportunities that are happening in the field” even as it invests aggressively to further expand its market share.
Separately, C3.ai announced that CFO Juho Parkkinen will step down and become vice president of finance. He will be succeeded by Chief Accounting Officer Hitesh Rath, effective March 1.
On the news, C3.ai stock rose 24.5% to close at $36.97 on Thursday, its highest price since August.
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