Snowflake is set to continue its recent outperformance as demand accelerates and artificial intelligence projects come to life this year, according to BTIG. Analyst Gray Powell upgraded the cloud-based data storage company to buy from neutral and set a price target of $220 per share, which implies 17.9% potential upside. “After two-plus years of dealing with cloud optimization headwinds, our recent fieldwork is pointing towards an improving demand backdrop for the broader cloud data analytics market and SNOW in CY2025,” he said in a note to clients. Snowflake shares have been on a tear over the past six months, marking a stark reversal from the past few years as the company has delivered strong earnings results , released a generative AI product portfolio, announced partnerships with tech and AI companies and focused on cost-cutting. The stock is up roughly 41% over the past six months and 20.8% this year, but down more than 15% over the past year. Shares are also in the red over the past three years. Powell anticipates several tailwinds ahead for Snowflake, including that the company’s Snowpark platform will become a more “meaningful growth driver” for the company in fiscal year 2026 and potentially generate $1 billion in revenue from existing customers. Snowpark is a developer framework for processing data directly within Snowflake’s cloud platform using programming languages like Python and Java. He also expects Snowflake to benefit from the broader acceleration in AI workloads, expecting the AI projects will start moving into the production phase by mid-2025, and then into consumption towards the latter half of fiscal year 2026. “At a high level, contacts see customers reengaging on larger cloud migration projects and better consumption trends within their customers … the potential for AI projects to go live at some point in 2025 is viewed as incremental upside catalyst,” the analyst said.
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