NEW YORK, May 26, 2026, 04:11 EDT
Snowflake Inc. heads into its fiscal first-quarter report with Wall Street still leaning positive on the stock, but with less room for error after a run of price-target changes and questions over the cost of its AI push. The company is due to report results after the U.S. market close on Wednesday, May 27.
The report matters because investors are looking for proof that Snowflake’s AI tools are turning into heavier use of its platform, not just product announcements. In February, the company guided for fiscal first-quarter product revenue of $1.262 billion to $1.267 billion, up about 27% from a year earlier; product revenue is the sales line tied most closely to customer use of Snowflake’s platform.
Zacks put the consensus estimate for first-quarter adjusted earnings at 32 cents a share and revenue at $1.32 billion. It also said the stock had fallen 21.5% this year, while Snowflake traded at 9.4 times forward 12-month sales, above the internet software industry’s 3.81 times.
TD Cowen reaffirmed a Buy rating on Snowflake with a $255 price target on May 22, saying partner checks pointed to a strong quarter and better outlooks. The firm cited core cloud data-warehouse consumption, competitive migrations, Snowpark adoption and machine-learning use as growth drivers.
The bullish case was not uniform. Benchmark raised its price target to $200 from $190 and kept a Buy rating, while RBC Capital cut its target to $220 from $245 but maintained an Outperform rating, saying the setup was “tricky but favorable” before results. Insider Monkey
MarketBeat said Snowflake had an average “Moderate Buy” rating from 40 firms, with 33 buy ratings, five holds, one sell and one strong buy. The average 12-month target price stood at $242.19. MarketBeat
Snowflake’s latest reported quarter gave investors some base to work from. The company posted fourth-quarter revenue of $1.28 billion, up 30%, and product revenue of $1.23 billion, also up 30%; CEO Sridhar Ramaswamy said Snowflake had “delivered another strong quarter.” CFO Brian Robins said the company was focused on “stability and operational rigor.” Snowflake Investor Relations
The company ended January with a 125% net revenue retention rate, a measure of how much existing customers spend after churn and expansion, and 733 customers generating more than $1 million in trailing 12-month product revenue. Remaining performance obligations — contracted revenue not yet booked — were $9.77 billion.
The risk is that AI demand may lift usage while also weighing on margins. Zacks flagged lower gross margins from new AI product investments and a 150-basis-point free-cash-flow headwind from Snowflake’s Observe acquisition, while also pointing to competition from Oracle, Amazon and Alphabet as those companies expand AI and cloud offerings.
Snowflake shares last traded at $172.20 before Tuesday’s open, giving the company a market value of about $58.5 billion. The next move will likely depend less on whether Snowflake beats earnings by a few cents and more on whether management can show AI-related consumption is building without a sharper hit to profit and cash flow.
