Key Highlights
- Snowflake delivered a 98%-plus gain in May, with the majority of momentum building after its fiscal Q1 2027 earnings release on May 28.
- The company reported $1.39 billion in revenue, surpassing the $1.32 billion forecast; earnings per share of $0.39 beat the $0.32 consensus estimate.
- Needham lifted its price target to $330 from $300, maintaining a Buy rating following the company’s annual user conference.
- Major institutional holders such as Vanguard, Jennison Associates, and TD Asset Management expanded their stakes in SNOW.
- Insider transactions showed significant selling activity, with directors Frank Slootman and Mark Garrett collectively unloading $68 million worth of shares.
Snowflake shares kicked off Friday’s trading session at $238.12, sitting below the 12-month peak of $284.99 but well above the yearly low of $118.30. The stock posted an exceptional 98% gain throughout May, propelled primarily by robust quarterly results and a series of bullish analyst revisions.
The fiscal Q1 2027 performance served as the catalyst for the rally. Revenue registered at $1.39 billion, exceeding analyst expectations of $1.32 billion. Earnings per share reached $0.39, topping the Street consensus of $0.32 by seven cents. The company posted 33.5% revenue growth compared to the prior year period.
CEO Sridhar Ramaswamy characterized the quarter as marking an “AI inflection point,” highlighting 34% growth in product revenue. The platform attracted 616 new customers on a net basis, representing a 38% year-over-year jump, which pushed the total customer count to 13,912. The number of clients generating over $1 million in annual revenue climbed to 779, reflecting 29% year-over-year expansion.
Wall Street Raises Price Targets
The better-than-expected results triggered a wave of upward target revisions from Wall Street firms. Needham boosted its price objective to $330 from $300 following Snowflake’s annual Summit 26 event, highlighting robust traction for AI-powered offerings including Cortex Code (CoCo) and Snowflake Intelligence. Stifel increased its target from $205 to $300. Truist established a $300 price target. Jefferies reaffirmed its Buy recommendation with a $300 target.
Barclays took a more measured approach, adjusting its target modestly from $272 to $285 while maintaining an equal weight stance. The Street consensus now reflects a “Moderate Buy” rating with an average price target of $290.87, based on MarketBeat tracking.
Snowflake Intelligence usage more than doubled on a sequential basis. Cortex Code has already been deployed by over 7,100 customer accounts. Company leadership emphasized that these two solutions are experiencing the most rapid adoption rates in Snowflake’s history.
The cloud data platform also announced a fresh $6 billion multiyear contract with Amazon Web Services, adding to more than $7 billion in cumulative AWS Marketplace transactions. Additionally, Snowflake deepened its collaboration with Anthropic, embedding Claude language models into its Cortex AI infrastructure.
Institutions Buy While Company Insiders Exit
Institutional investment activity showed widespread accumulation. TD Asset Management increased its holdings by 6.1% during Q4, finishing the period with 145,863 shares valued at approximately $32 million. Jennison Associates expanded its position by 27.7%, accumulating over 11.6 million shares worth $2.5 billion. Vanguard purchased an additional 1.45 million shares, elevating its total holdings to more than 30 million units. Norges Bank initiated a new position valued at approximately $974 million. Institutional shareholders now control 65.10% of outstanding shares.
Insider transactions painted a contrasting picture. Director Mark Garrett disposed of 100,000 shares at $250.00 per share on May 29, reducing his holdings by 91.9%. Director Frank Slootman sold 162,924 shares at $263.70 on June 1, trimming his stake by 81.07%. The Slootman transaction was conducted through a predetermined Rule 10b5-1 trading arrangement. Aggregate insider sales over the most recent quarter totaled $346.8 million.
Analysts have identified several risk factors, including potential margin compression from lower-margin AI product lines, elevated valuation metrics — SNOW currently trades at a forward Price/Sales ratio of 12.97x compared to the sector average of 3.96x — and intensifying competitive pressures. Zacks Research currently assigns SNOW a Hold rating.
For the second quarter of fiscal 2027, Snowflake provided guidance calling for product revenue between $1.415 billion and $1.420 billion, suggesting approximately 30% year-over-year growth.
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