Artificial intelligence is driving Snowflake Inc.‘s (NYSE:SNOW) next phase of growth, prompting Wells Fargo to raise its outlook on the cloud data company’s stock.
The bank maintained its Overweight rating on the software company’s stock and raised its price target from $320 to $500 in a Wednesday note, reported CNBC. This implies nearly an 85% upside from its Tuesday closing price of $270.36.
Analyst Ryan MacWilliams believes Snowflake will benefit from AI rather than be disrupted by it, arguing that AI agents are driving higher spending on the platform and that investors are underestimating AI’s potential to become the company’s primary growth engine. "The game has changed,” he wrote in the note.
"SNOW is a near-term AI beneficiary without capex requirements or model dependence," he added.
MacWilliams said customer concerns about Snowflake’s SaaS future eased in the second quarter as its AI coding tools and agents gained traction. A customer survey by Wells Fargo found that AI is increasing spending on Snowflake, driving higher product usage, and encouraging businesses to upload more data to its platform for AI integration.
He said the company deserves a valuation more in line with Cloudflare Inc. (NYSE:NET) and Crowdstrike Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:CRWD), which trade at 204x and 139x earnings multiples, respectively.
AI Fears, Databricks Pressure Eases
Earlier this year, concerns that AI could disrupt the SaaS business model, popularly known as the SaaSocalypse fear, sent Snowflake shares down more than 44% at one point. Market sentiment weakened after Anthropic launched Managed Agents, raising concerns that autonomous AI could disrupt seat-based software models used by companies like Snowflake and Workday Inc. (NASDAQ:WDAY).
In June, BNP Paribas analyst Stefan Slowinski said Databricks‘ rapid growth and gains in Snowflake’s core SQL market continue to pressure Snowflake’s valuation. However, he argued Snowflake remains attractive due to its lower valuation, stronger cash generation, 23% free cash flow margin target, and expected path to positive GAAP earnings, despite Databricks’ significantly higher private-market valuation.
Benzinga Edge Stock Rankings show that SNOW had a stronger price trend over the short, medium and long term. Its momentum ranking was strong at the 93rd percentile. Benzinga’s screener allows you to compare SNOW’s performance with its peers.
SNOW Price Action: On a year-to-date basis, Snowflake stock climbed 24.76%, as per Benzinga Pro. The stock opened up 6.5% at $$287.96 on Wednesday.
Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
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