By James Rogers
Shares of the enterprise-software company are down more than 5% in extended trading
This story has been corrected to reflect C3.ai’s outlook. An earlier version incorrectly described the company’s net loss from operations as an adjusted loss per share.
C3.ai Inc. shares tumbled more than 5% in extended trading Wednesday, as the company posted a narrower-than-expected loss for the latest quarter but saw revenue growth slow.
The enterprise-software company (AI) posted a fiscal third-quarter loss of 62 cents a share, after a loss of 60 cents a share in the prior year’s quarter. C3.ai’s adjusted third-quarter loss was 12 cents a share, beating the FactSet analyst consensus of a loss of 25 cents a share.
The results continued the company’s run of quarterly losses. C3.ai has reported a net loss for every quarter since its initial public offering in December 2020. However, C3.ai has never missed bottom-line expectations.
Revenue rose to $98.8 million from $78.4 million in the prior year’s quarter, a 26% increase that beat the analyst estimate of $98.1 million. That growth rate slowed, however, from the 29% rate seen in the second quarter.
Related: C3.ai gets downgrade, as analyst cites concerns about subscription revenue growth
C3.ai’s third-quarter subscription revenue was $85.7 million, up 22% from $77.5 million in the same period a year ago. Analysts surveyed by FactSet were looking for subscription revenue of $85.5 million.
During the quarter, C3.ai closed 47 agreements with and through its partner network, an increase of 74% year over year, the company said in a statement.
In November, C3.ai expanded its partnership with Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) when the companies announced a strategic alliance to accelerate the adoption of Enterprise AI on the software giant’s Azure platform. During the quarter, Microsoft and C3.ai closed 28 agreements across nine different industries, a 460% quarter-over-quarter increase, C3.ai said.
“In the third quarter, C3.ai achieved significant milestones – expanding our global distribution network, advancing our leadership in agentic and generative AI, and delivering total revenue reaching $98.8 million, up 26% year over year,” C3.ai Chief Executive Thomas Siebel said in a statement.
Related: C3.ai is still ‘extremely unprofitable’ so don’t buy the stock, analyst says
Agentic AI technology can perform tasks autonomously, while generative AI can be trained to harness vast quantities of data and generate carefully tailored content.
For the fourth quarter, C3.ai expects revenue between $103.6 million and $113.6 million and an adjusted loss from operations between $30 million and $40 million. Analysts surveyed by FactSet are looking for revenue of $108.6 million.
For the full year, the company expects revenue between $383.9 million and $393.9 million and an adjusted loss from operations between $87 million and $97 million. Analysts are looking for full-year revenue of $388.3 million.
C3.ai shares are down 11% in the past 12 months, compared with the S&P 500 index’s SPX gain of 17.5%.
-James Rogers
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02-26-25 1914ET
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