C3.ai stock fell after the company pulled its earnings forecast
Shares of C3.ai fell in late trading Wednesday after the artificial intelligence software company reported strong results for the fourth quarter, while forecasting a bigger loss for the full year than previously expected.
The company has also withdrawn its previous forecast that it will reach non-GAAP profitability by the end of fiscal year 2024.
“After careful consideration with our leadership and marketing partners, we have made the decision to invest in lead generation, branding, market awareness and customer success for our generative AI solutions,” CEO Thomas Seibel said in a statement. “The market opportunity is immediate, and we are determined to seize it.” While we still expect to be cash positive in Q4 FY24 and in FY25, we will be investing in our generative AI solutions and at this time we don’t expect to be profitable unprincipled Generally Accepted Accounting for the fourth quarter of fiscal year ’24.”
For the first fiscal quarter ended July 31, C3.ai (Ticker: AI) reported revenue of $72.4 million, up 11% from the same quarter a year earlier, towards the high end of the company’s guidance range of $70 million to $72.5 million. Dollars, slightly ahead of Wall Street expectations of $71.6 million.
On an adjusted basis, the company lost 9 cents a share, lower than the Street estimate of a loss of 17 cents. Under generally accepted accounting principles, the company lost 56 cents per share.
Announcement – scroll to continue
For the October quarter, C3.ai expects revenue of $72.5 million to $76.5 million, with a non-GAAP loss from operations of between $27 million and $40 million. Wall Street estimates put revenue of $73.8 million and an operating loss of $26.6 million.
For the fiscal year in April 2024, C3.ai still sees revenue of $295 million to $320 million, but is now seeing a non-GAAP loss from operations of between $70 million and $100 million, compared to a previously expected loss of $50 million. dollars to 75 million dollars. Wall Street estimates indicated a loss of $64 million.
“It’s hard to describe the growing interest we’re seeing globally in the adoption of AI for enterprises,” CEO Thomas Seibel said in a statement. “We are seeing strong traction for our enterprise AI applications especially C3 Geneative AI.”
Announcement – scroll to continue
In a separate announcement, the company also unveiled a set of 28 industry-specific AI software suites for areas such as aerospace, financial services and healthcare.
Shares of C3.ai fell 5.8% in after-hours trading.
Write to Eric J. Savitz at eric.savitz@barrons.com
(tags for translation) Artificial Intelligence Technologies
