C3.ai (NYSE:AI) Shares Gap Up - Should You Buy?

C3.ai, Inc. (NYSE:AI) saw its stock price increase significantly before trading commenced on Friday. The shares had previously closed at $36.39, but opened at a higher price of $37.78. At the latest trading session, the stock was priced at $38.94, with a trading volume of 1,826,284 shares.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

• C3.ai Advances AI Leadership, Boosting Stock Performance

The company has been analyzed in various research reports recently. Wedbush adjusted their price target on C3.ai shares, lowering it from $40.00 to $30.00, while maintaining an "outperform" rating in their report dated September 5th. Similarly, Morgan Stanley cut its price target from $23.00 to $21.00 and classified the stock as "underweight" in their note issued on the same day. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating for the stock. DA Davidson also reduced its price target from $30.00 to $20.00, categorizing it as "neutral". In another development, StockNews.com downgraded the shares to a "sell" rating in a Tuesday research note. Currently, three analysts have rated the stock as a sell, five as hold, four as buy, and one as a strong buy, resulting in an average rating of "Hold" with a price target of $27.70 based on MarketBeat data.

C3.ai Stock Performance

• Is CoStar Group Stock a Buy Before Earnings? Analysts Think So

The company’s market capitalization stands at $4.86 billion, with a price-to-earnings ratio of -17.08 and a beta of 1.80. The stock is trading above its 50-day moving average of $27.08 and its 200-day moving average of $26.64.

C3.ai recently shared its quarterly earnings on September 4th, reporting an earnings per share (EPS) of ($0.05). This exceeded analysts' expectations, which were set at ($0.13) by $0.08. The company recorded a revenue of $87.21 million for the quarter, slightly above the consensus estimate of $86.94 million. However, C3.ai continues to struggle with a negative return on equity of 31.28% and a negative net margin of 85.47%. In comparison to the previous year, the company's quarterly revenue increased by 20.5%. Analysts predict that C3.ai will report -2.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On C3.ai

• 3 Stocks That Make Good Short-Squeeze Candidates

Recent changes in hedge fund positions show a more active interest in C3.ai. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in C3.ai by 8.8% during the third quarter, holding 2,216,925 shares valued at about $53.73 million after acquiring an additional 178,870 shares. Also, Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC entered a new investment in C3.ai during the second quarter, amounting to approximately $3.47 million. Meanwhile, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its ownership by 12.3% in the third quarter, accumulating 844,389 shares worth $20.46 million after adding 92,280 more shares. Hodges Capital Management Inc. also acquired new shares in C3.ai worth about $1.95 million. Last but not least, Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its stake significantly by 679.8% during the second quarter, now owning 87,092 shares valued at $2.5 million after purchasing an additional 75,923 shares. Overall, hedge funds and institutional investors control around 38.96% of the company's stock.

C3.ai Company Profile

C3.ai, Inc operates as an enterprise artificial intelligence (AI) software company, not only in North America but also in regions such as Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific. The firm provides various products, including the C3 AI platform, which facilitates application development and runtime for enterprise AI applications; C3 AI Ex Machina for data analysis; industry-specific C3 AI CRM for customer relationship management; and the C3 Generative AI Product Suite for information retrieval and presentation.

Should You Invest?

Before considering an investment in C3.ai, it is essential to note that while it currently carries a "Hold" rating among analysts, several highly regarded analysts have identified other stocks they recommend for investment. They believe these alternatives present better opportunities compared to C3.ai. Therefore, it may be wise to explore these options further.

C3.ai, Stocks, Analysis