Snowflake stock slides after earnings as company says macro issues are impacting some customer activity – MarketWatch

Shares of Snowflake Inc. tumbled in after-hours trading Wednesday after the software company delivered a forecast for the current quarter that came in below expectations at the midpoint and acknowledged that some customers have consumed less than expected due to macroeconomic factors.

The company posted a fiscal first-quarter net loss of $166 million, or 53 cents a share, whereas it recorded a net loss of $203 million, or 70 cents a share, in the year-prior quarter. Analysts tracked by FactSet had been expecting the company to lose 52 cents a share on a GAAP basis.

Revenue climbed to $422 million from $229 million a year before, while analysts had been expecting $414 million. The company reported $394 million in product revenue, whereas analysts were modeling $389 million.

The company noted that while some customers showed greater consumption than expected in the latest quarter, others, such as consumer-facing cloud businesses, faced macroeconomic challenges that affected their consumption.

“Although these customers are still growing, we believe as long as they are impacted by macroeconomic headwinds, their consumption will be impacted,” Chief Financial Officer Michael Scarpelli said on the earnings call.

For the fiscal second quarter, Snowflake
SNOW,
+2.42%

anticipates $435 million to $440 million in product revenue, which would constitute 71% to 73% year-over-year growth. Analysts tracked by FactSet were modeling $440 million.

The company is also calling for an adjusted operating-loss margin of 2% in the fiscal second quarter.

Scarpelli said that the company’s forecast reflects the trends seen among the large customers who’ve seen macro-driven consumption impacts, though other customers are “offsetting partially some of that.” He added that the first two weeks of May were “very strong” but said “given everything in the macro headwinds we’re hearing, we’re going to be a little bit more cautious going into the full year.”

For the full fiscal year, Snowflake expects product revenue of $1.885 billion to $1.900 billion.

Snowflake shares fell 14% in extended trading Wednesday. They’ve fallen 51% over the past three months as the S&P 500
SPX,
+0.95%

has lost 9%.

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *