C3.ai, Inc. (NYSE:AI) is one of the AI Stocks in the Spotlight for Investors. On September 12, UBS analyst Radi Sultan raised the price target on the stock to $17.00 (from $16.00) while maintaining a Neutral rating.
The firm said that it “remains on the sidelines” on the AI software provider due to limited visibility into the range of outcomes for FY27 growth. The firm projects an estimated 16.5% growth while investor estimates range from no growth to mid-20s growth.
Discussing the company’s Q1 weakness, the firm noted that it was largely due to execution failures around several large deals instead of broad-based customer weakness.
It further noted that even though the FY26 revs framework of $290-300m incorporates conservatism, it is keeping its estimate unchanged due to uncertainties such as a big Q1 miss, a new CEO, and GTM changes.
The firm’s key concern remains that the new CFO is yet to finalize his overhaul plan which may create disruption over the next few quarters.
“We remain on the sidelines following our conversation as we still don’t have great visibility into the range of outcomes for FY27 growth (we’re at ~16.5% but we’ve heard investors suggesting anywhere from no growth to mid-20s growth). The company acknowledged Q1 weakness but did characterize the significant miss as more a lack of execution around a few large deals vs broad-based weakness across the customer base (with a good mix of deals slipping vs deals that were lost). While the FY26 revs framework of $290-300m does seem to be baking in conservatism, there are enough moving pieces (big Q1 miss, new CEO, GTM changes and new CCO) that we aren’t yet ready to underwrite upside and leave our FY26 revs estimate of $299m unchanged. Our biggest takeaway was that the new CEO hasn’t yet finalized his overhaul plan which could potentially cause significant disruption and last several quarters. In our view this is key in determining where 2H26 and FY27 will ultimately land and even with investor positioning already negative we remain on the sidelines pending additional visibility.”
C3.ai, Inc. (NYSE:AI) is an enterprise artificial intelligence (AI) software company involved in building and operating enterprise-scale AI applications and accelerating digital transformation.
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