Snowflake (SNOW) reported third-quarter earnings that met expectations while revenue topped Wall Street targets. The enterprise software maker’s product revenue guidance came in below expectations. SNOW stock initially tumbled, then reversed up.

The company reported third quarter earnings after the market close on Wednesday. For full-year fiscal 2024, which starts with the April 2023 quarter, Snowflake said it expects product revenue growth of 47%, below consensus estimates of 52%.

Because Snowflake’s business model is consumption-based rather than subscription-based, bearish investors have raised concerns over a possible U.S. recession curbing demand. Snowflake revenue is tied to how much data its customers crunch and store on cloud computing platforms.

For the quarter ending Oct. 31, Snowflake said it lost 63 cents per share versus a 51-cent loss a year earlier. Analysts polled by FactSet expected Snowflake to report a loss of 63 cents a share.

The company reports results using generally accepted accounting principles, or GAAP. Snowflake does not break out adjusted earnings in its releases.

Third-quarter revenue climbed 67% to $557 million, the software maker said. Analysts had predicted revenue of $539.4 million.

SNOW Stock: Revenue Outlook Misses

The Snowflake earnings report also said product revenue rose 67% to $522.8 million vs. estimates of $505.2 million.

At UBS, analyst Karl Keirstead said in a report: ”  To be clear, 67% revenue growth in Q3 and the guide for 47% growth in fiscal 2024 is very impressive in this macro (economy) and certainly doesn’t speak to anything ‘broken’ with Snowflake. That said, investor expectations were running high into this print.”

For the current quarter ending in January, Snowflake expects product revenue of $537.5 million at the midpoint of its outlook. Analysts had expected $549.2 million.

SNOW stock initially fell on the earnings release. But Snowflake stock reversed up 2.1% to near 146 in morning trading on the stock market today.

Snowflake stock was down 57% for 2022 heading into the earnings report.

Snowflake sells data analytics and management tools that run on cloud-computing platforms such as Amazon Web Services, part of Amazon.com (AMZN).

Amid the bear market in software growth stocks, the software stock has a Relative Strength Rating of 17 out of a best-possible 99, according to IBD Stock Checkup.

Odyssey News

Odyssey has been the lead content writer and content marketer. He has vast experience in the field of writing. His SEO strategies help businesses to gain maximum traffic and success.

As Russian forces have retreated in Ukraine’s south, the Biden administration has announced a slew of new military aid packages for Ukraine, but all were missing a piece of weaponry that Ukraine’s military has long sought: the multi-use Gray Eagle drone, armed with Hellfire missiles.

According to two officials, the US has been looking into modifications that can be made to the deadly drone. Changes that would make the potential of losing any – with their sensitive onboard technology – less of a danger and possibly increase the likelihood of Ukraine receiving them.

“There are specific and very technical tweaks and neutering that can be done to these that may make it possible in the nearer term,” a congressional official said. “But those things take time and are fairly complex.”

A US official confirmed that the Army is leading the efforts to study what changes are possible to the drone, which is made by General Atomics and referred to in the Army as the MQ-1C.

“When you’re talking drones, this is about as good as you can get,” says Seth Jones, the director of the International Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “These are really sophisticated drones.”

“There’s still real interest in providing this particular system, provided we can make the necessary modifications and they are still useful to Ukraine on the battlefield,” the US official said.

Discussions over the Gray Eagle are ongoing and it has not been ruled out or officially denied to Ukraine, the US official and a Ukrainian official said. The Wall Street Journal previously reported that the Pentagon had declined Ukraine’s request.

Ukraine is ‘pushing back’

“We are pushing back, we didn’t give up,” the Ukrainian official said. “This is about survivability [for Ukraine].”

Pentagon spokesman Colonel Roger Cabiness would not comment specifically on the Gray Eagle, saying only that the Department of Defense continues to consult with Ukraine on security assistance.

The White House declined to comment and General Atomics did not respond to a request for comment.

On top of the lethal capability of the missiles it carries, the Gray Eagle would allow Ukrainian forces greater ability to gather intelligence and carry out reconnaissance from farther away, expand the assistance of targeting by artillery on the ground and combat the drones flown by Russia.

Throughout the war, the US has been slow and reluctant to provide Ukraine with dramatically more advanced and longer-range capabilities, like missiles that would allow Ukraine to strike inside Russia and therefore potentially be seen by Moscow as a significant escalation in the conflict.

In the case of the Gray Eagle, a US official argued, the concern is less about escalation than technological security: the potential for the pricey drones to go down in Ukraine and be recovered by the Russians.

“These are very expensive systems and there are concerns that they could be shot down,” said the official, declining to say what parts of the drone would be most dangerous if they end up in Russian hands.

It’s a scenario that the US has recently been on the receiving end of. After Iranian drones were shot down in Ukraine, the US was able to examine the wreckage, the Washington Post reported.

The US official declined to elaborate on what technology on the Gray Eagle is the most sensitive but said they wouldn’t be considered escalatory since similar capabilities are being provided.

The technology in question likely centers on the imaging and intelligence-gathering capabilities and sensors, Jones from CSIS said, adding that he believes US fears are really rooted more in escalating the conflict with Russia.’

“You’re really going to fly those pretty far back from the frontlines,” he said. “I don’t think you’d risk them up close and you wouldn’t need them up close because they can fire from a distance and they can collect [intelligence] from a distance.”

US has modified weapon systems before

This wouldn’t be the first time modifications have been made to US systems to get them to Ukraine. The Wall Street Journal reported in March that classified components were removed from Stinger antiaircraft missiles by simply taking out several screws. That was enough for the US to be able to ship them out.

Like the Gray Eagle, the US has also so far pushed back on requests for the long-range ATAMCS missiles, with a range of around 200 miles (300 kilometers). Ukraine is so keen to get them that they have offered a remarkable level of transparency with the US, sharing their targets, sources told CNN.

“We need ATACMS,” the Ukrainian official reiterated when asked what else, along with the Gray Eagle, is at the top of their wish list.

A $400 million US package for Ukraine announced earlier this month included another commitment of more than 1,000 unmanned Phoenix Ghost drones. Unlike the Gray Eagle, those are smaller, single-use suicide drones.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine in late March, the Biden administration has supported Ukraine with increasingly advanced weapons. Pushing, while trying not to cross, a line that they believe Russia would see as overly escalatory.

Last week, President Joe Biden reiterated his team’s concerns, telling reporters at a news conference: “I’m not looking for [Ukraine] to start bombing Russian territory.”

Biden highlighted the fact that while the US has given Ukraine the highly-effective HIMARS mobile rocket systems, they have not been offered the longer-range munitions that go with those systems, which includes ATACMS.

Nor have fighter jets been sent to Ukraine by any NATO country, perhaps the most hotly debated part of any discussion over what weapons should be given to Ukraine.

They are still being considered, three people familiar with the discussions say. Whether that means US warplanes or Soviet-origin fighters like the Mig-29 is a key part of the conversation. The US could ask a country like Poland to give Ukraine Mig-29s and backfill Poland with American jets.

Sending American warplanes directly to Ukraine makes little sense, the congressional official said, since there is little air-to-air combat, Ukrainian pilots aren’t trained on them and they require significant maintenance.

Then there’s the question of how that would affect Russian President Vladimir Putin’s calculus amid fears he could use a nuclear weapon.

“Are we pouring escalatory measures that might be tolerated by Putin into a bucket that at some point overflows?” another person familiar with the discussions asked. “What level is in that bucket right now? And how much volume are you proposing adding to it? Those are things US intelligence and defense officials are trying constantly to figure out.”

Ukrainian officials are increasingly frustrated with the administration’s general fears of escalation, pointing out that they could already have used the HIMARS – the most advanced US system in Ukraine to date – to hit Russian territory, but haven’t.

“This is bullshit frankly, what kind of escalation?” the Ukrainian official asked. “They drop a nuclear bomb, or what we are afraid of? This I don’t understand.”

Madison Franz

I am an experienced financial analyst & writer who is well known for his ability to foretell market trends as well.

Artificial intelligence is a global phenomenon and has continued to be talked about in many industries, including marketing, eCommerce, manufacturing, healthcare, retail, and even the world of gaming.

AI entails the computer programs that carry out tasks and data analysis at the levels of human intelligence. The process entails training machine learning models and AI with the use of algorithms to collect and analyze different sets of data and then carry out responding actions.

While AI has taken over, many people are still short on knowledge of how to use it, which is why AI consulting became necessary.

The function of AI consulting is to offer a detailed blueprint of all the opportunities AI has to offer for business optimization.

Why is AI Consulting Gaining Importance?

AI consultation offers a lot of benefits, including helping you to define a business objective, find out the most suitable AI solution for your business, as well as create and deploy the right AI to support and improve your business processes.

AI consultation also supports the transfer of knowledge through AI training.

What is the duty of an AI Consultant?

AI consultants help you to create a general system for your business following all the necessary prerequisites for successful implementation.

It is the responsibility of an AI consultant to manage projects and make sure all internal resources are in compatibility with AI infrastructure and code.

AI consulting will help you to leverage machine algorithms in solving your business problems. With AI consulting, you can build optimized models with the use of statistical optimization and modeling.

You can also complete your projects through structures and decisions based on insight, and you can optimize and manage all your projects.

How to choose your AI consultant

Before choosing your AI consulting company, ask a few questions:

How important is It? 

Do you need to implement extensive AI consulting or a short-run technology? What do you stand to gain from the AI implementation?

How experienced is the Consultant? 

You need to ensure that the consultant has the technical expertise that you need, which happens by checking their certificates, profiles, and previous works.

Artificial Intelligence Consulting Helps in Strategy Development 

• Consultants help to configure your AI solution to fit your business needs.
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• Consultants help make accurate projections about the value of your project
• They help you outline the way AI can help solve your business problems.

AI is solving Business Problems like:

1. Digital Fraud and cyber attacks. It ensures that user verification and real-time checks are in place.
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4. Data analysis is made possible in large amounts using AI.

What Are The Important AI Consulting Activities?

• Formation of strategies and crucial AI initiatives for businesses.
• Due diligence Comprehensive strategy project
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• Training AI talents, staff, and users

Conclusion 

The benefits delivered by AI consultants go a long way to help businesses and organizations improve their processes and operations across different industries.

Odyssey News

Odyssey has been the lead content writer and content marketer. He has vast experience in the field of writing. His SEO strategies help businesses to gain maximum traffic and success.