C3.ai Crashes After Pushing Out Profitability

Automation company C3.ai (AI:US) reported solid fiscal first-quarter results, but its shares still fell more than 15% after the company said it wouldn’t be profitable in the fourth quarter of this fiscal year, as it was previously expected.

C3.ai reported an adjusted loss per share of $0.09, which was better than the estimated loss per share of $0.17. C3.ai's total revenue for the first quarter was $72.4 million, marking an 11% year-over-year increase. This also exceeded the estimated total revenue of $71.6 million.

“It is difficult to describe the scale of the increasing interest that we are seeing globally in enterprise AI adoption,” said Thomas M. Siebel, C3 AI CEO. “We are experiencing strong traction with our enterprise AI applications and especially C3 Generative AI.”

The company’s subscription revenue for the first quarter was $61.4 million, which represents a 7.6% year-over-year growth. This exceeded the average analyst estimate of $60.6 million. The company generated an additional $11.0 million in professional services revenue, meeting the analyst target.

"While we still expect to be cash positive in Q4 FY 24 and in FY 25, we will be investing in our Generative AI solutions and at this time do not expect to be non-GAAP profitable in Q4 FY 24," the company said in the earnings press release.

For this quarter, the company guided for revenue of $72 million to $76.5 million, while full-year revenue is now seen at $295 million - $320 million.

Analysts were looking for $77.9 million and $308.2 million, respectively.

Recently, congressman Pete Sessions sold his stakes in AI on September 5, 2023.