Silicon Investor - C3ai

[Julius Wong] C3 AI acquisition odds jump with CEO news - analyst By: Joshua Fineman, SA New...

Julius Wong — 7/24/2025 8:02:02 PM

C3 AI acquisition odds jump with CEO news - analyst

By: Joshua Fineman, SA News Editor

The chance that C3 AI (NYSE: AI) may be acquired has significantly increased after the company announced that it has started a search to replace CEO Tom Siebel amid health issues with the company's leader.

"We believe that coming off the news that Siebel is stepping down as CEO significantly increases the chances of C3 being an M&A over the next 3-12 months," Wedbush analyst Dan Ives, who has an outperform and $35 price target on C3 AI, wrote in a note on Thursday.

Ives views C3 AI (NYSE: AI) "as one of the most attractive M&A targets with the company's laser focus on the convergence of AI, big data, and cloud computing," Ives added.

"After being diagnosed with an autoimmune disease in early 2025, I have experienced significant visual impairment,” Siebel. Chairman and CEO of C3 AI said in a statement. "For C3 AI to reach its full potential – which I believe is spectacular – the board and I have initiated a search for a new CEO who can take the company to the next level of growth and success."

Shares of C3 AI (NYSE: AI) dropped 9.5% amid the news about the CEO's pending departure.

[Julius Wong] C3.ai targets up to $484.5M fiscal 2026 revenue as partner ecosystem and AI appl...

Julius Wong — 5/28/2025 10:31:48 PM

C3.ai targets up to $484.5M fiscal 2026 revenue as partner ecosystem and AI application demand accelerate

May 28, 2025 8:58 PM ET
AI-Generated Earnings Calls Insights

Earnings Call Insights: C3.ai (AI) Q4 2025

Management View

Tom Siebel, Chairman and CEO, opened by stating, "I'm very pleased to announce that we had a spectacular fiscal year '25 that we wrapped up in a spectacular fourth quarter." He highlighted a return to rapid growth, with 26% top line growth in the fourth quarter and a three-year progression from 6% to 16% to 25% annual growth rates.
Siebel emphasized C3.ai's unique position as "an enterprise AI application pure play," noting the company's billions of dollars invested in the C3 AI Agentic platform, and more than 130 turnkey enterprise AI applications now in production.
Siebel announced the renewal and extension of the Baker Hughes partnership through 2028, calling it "a substantial tailwind" and referencing over $0.5 billion in revenue from this relationship.
Strategic partnerships with Azure, AWS, GCP, Booz Allen, and Arcfield were highlighted as drivers for market expansion, with a particular focus on enabling a vast partner ecosystem, including tens of thousands of sales reps at major hyperscalers.
Siebel described demonstration licenses as "almost 30% of our revenue for the quarter," positioning them as investments for future growth.
The CEO stressed non-oil and gas vertical expansion, citing manufacturing, life sciences, and state/local government as significant growth contributors.
Regarding cash, Siebel said, “every time I look at the checking account, there's $0.75 billion cash,” attributing this to strong expense management and forecasting consistent cash levels going forward.
Hitesh Lath, CFO, stated, “Total revenue for the quarter increased 26% year-over-year to $108.7 million. Subscription revenue increased 9% year-over-year to $87.3 million, representing 80% of total revenue.” Lath also highlighted $33.8 million in demonstration license revenue, $135.4 million in bookings, and free cash flow of $10.3 million for the quarter.

Outlook

Lath provided guidance for Q1 fiscal 2026: “Our revenue guidance for Q1 of fiscal '26 is $100 million to $109 million. For the full fiscal 2016, we are anticipating revenue in the range of $447.5 million to $484.5 million.”
Lath added, “Our guidance for non-GAAP loss from operations for the first quarter is $23.5 million to $33.5 million. And our non-GAAP loss from operations for the year, the guidance is $65 million to $100 million.”
The guidance assumes geopolitical stability, with management explicitly noting risks related to government shutdowns or global trade friction.
Lath stated, “profitability remains simply a matter of scale. Our expectation is that we will cross into non-GAAP profitability during the second half of fiscal 2017, and we expect to be free cash flow positive in the fourth quarter of fiscal '26 and in successive years thereafter.”

Financial Results

Total revenue for Q4 was $108.7 million, with subscription revenue at $87.3 million.
Non-GAAP gross profit was $75.2 million, for a gross margin of 69%.
Non-GAAP operating loss was $31.2 million, and non-GAAP net loss per share was $0.16.
Free cash flow for the quarter was $10.3 million; cash and equivalents stood at $742.7 million.
Non-oil and gas revenue grew 48% year-over-year in fiscal 2025; partner-supported bookings in Q4 grew by 419%, with 59 agreements closed through collaborations.
Federal business saw a new $450 million contract ceiling from the US Air Force Rapid Sustainment Office.

Q&A

Patrick Walravens, Citizens: Questioned the activation of Azure sales reps and the CEO’s health. Siebel explained the strategy of pairing C3 salespeople with Azure reps to multiply reach, and confirmed his return to travel, saying, “just when you thought it was safe, Pat, I'm back.”
Matt Calitri, Needham & Company: Asked about the new Baker Hughes deal economics and the wider fiscal 2026 guidance range. Siebel declined specifics under NDA, but confirmed the partnership’s expansion and described close ties with Baker Hughes leadership. On guidance, Siebel cited broader market and geopolitical risks as justification for the wider range.

Sentiment Analysis

Analysts showed a positive-to-neutral tone, focusing on partnership execution and leadership stability, and congratulating management on contract renewals and health improvements.
Management’s tone was confident during prepared remarks, with Siebel making assertive statements such as “business is good guys” and “the future is very bright,” while also directly addressing risks and uncertainties. During Q&A, Siebel remained candid and upbeat, especially regarding his health and partnership strategies.
Compared to the previous quarter, both analysts and management maintained a similarly constructive and optimistic tone, with slightly more focus on risk factors in the current quarter.

Quarter-over-Quarter Comparison

Revenue grew from $98.8 million in Q3 to $108.7 million in Q4.
Subscription revenue increased, but at a slower rate (9% year-over-year in Q4 vs. 22% in Q3).
Demonstration license revenue rose from $28.6 million in Q3 to $33.8 million in Q4.
Non-Baker Hughes revenue growth rate and total bookings both accelerated, and partner-supported bookings showed a significant jump.
Management’s tone remained confident, with increased emphasis on execution and partnerships. The analyst focus shifted slightly toward clarifying partnership economics, revenue mix, and guidance range, reflecting heightened attention to execution and risk management.

Risks and Concerns

Management repeatedly referenced geopolitical risks, including US government shutdown and global trade friction.
Lath stated, “Our guidance is predicated on the assumption of geopolitical stability.”
Analysts sought clarity on partnership activation, Baker Hughes contract stability, and guidance construction, highlighting external uncertainties and the importance of execution.

Final Takeaway

C3.ai management highlighted a year of strong revenue growth, renewed and expanded key partnerships, and significant advances in both federal and commercial verticals. Strategic alliances with hyperscalers, a growing demonstration license business, and a robust cash position underpin expectations for continued expansion. Management projects fiscal 2026 revenue between $447.5 million and $484.5 million, with profitability dependent on scaling. The company remains focused on partner ecosystem leverage and innovation across agentic and generative AI, while remaining attentive to geopolitical and market risks that could impact the trajectory in the coming year.

Read the full Earnings Call Transcript

[Julius Wong] AI Stock Rebounds From Key Level Amid 'Phase 3' AI Shift In 2025; Is C3.ai A Buy...

Julius Wong — 1/6/2025 9:45:32 PM

AI Stock Rebounds From Key Level Amid 'Phase 3' AI Shift In 2025; Is C3.ai A Buy?

investors.com

[Julius Wong] Cerence AI shares double in one day on collab with Nvidia to advance LLMs seeki...

Julius Wong — 1/4/2025 7:54:12 AM

Cerence AI shares double in one day on collab with Nvidia to advance LLMs

seekingalpha.com

[Julius Wong] C3.ai jumps as it boosts full-year guidance after strong Q2 results on AI moment...

Julius Wong — 12/9/2024 8:07:24 PM

C3.ai jumps as it boosts full-year guidance after strong Q2 results on AI momentum

Dec. 09, 2024 4:22 PM ET
By: Chris Ciaccia, SA News Editor

BlackJack3D

C3.ai (NYSE: AI) shares rose more than 14% in late trading on Monday after the enterprise software company upped its full-year guidance after the company reported fiscal second-quarter results that topped expectations, led by continued strength in artificial intelligence-related spending.

The company now expects fiscal 2025 revenue to be between $378M to $398M, up from a previous range of $370M to $395M. Analysts had been expecting the company to generate $382.6M in annual revenue.

Looking to the third-quarter, C3.ai expects revenue to be between $95.5M and $100.5M, with the midpoint of $98M slightly above the $97.5 estimate.

Quarterly results

For the period ending October 31, the Thomas Siebel-led company lost an adjusted $0.06 per share as revenue rose 28.8% year-over-year to come in at $94.3M. Included in that was a 22% rise in subscription revenue to $81.2M, while professional services revenue surged 94% year-over-year to $13.2M.

Analysts expected the company to lose an adjusted $0.16 per share on $91M in revenue.

“We had an outstanding quarter with strong top- and bottom-line performance to mark our seventh consecutive quarter of accelerating revenue growth,” Siebel said in a statement. “It is difficult to overstate the potential of the Microsoft–C3 AI strategic alliance. By establishing C3 AI as a preferred AI application provider on Azure and creating a Microsoft-scale go-to-market engine, we’re making it easy for businesses to adopt and deploy C3 AI applications. This is an inflection point for Enterprise AI, driving growth.”

The company will hold a conference call at 5 p.m. EST to discuss the results.

[Julius Wong] C3.ai shares surge following new alliance with Microsoft Azure Nov. 19, 2024 11...

Julius Wong — 11/19/2024 4:25:49 PM

C3.ai shares surge following new alliance with Microsoft Azure

Nov. 19, 2024 11:10 AM ET
By: Brandon Evans, SA News Editor

David Ramos/Getty Images News

Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) revealed a new strategic alliance with C3.ai (NYSE: AI) today at its Ignite conference to help bolster Enterprise AI adoption on Azure.
C3.ai shares spiked 18% by late morning trading on Tuesday.
The partnership combines C3.ai's Enterprise AI-native application software, including C3 Generative AI, within Microsoft Azure's ecosystem.
"This strategic alliance accelerates the adoption of Enterprise AI, benefiting customers with broadly available enterprise AI application software to achieve rapid time-to-value in supply chain optimization, production optimization, predictive maintenance, government efficiency, ESG goal attainment, and energy management," said C3.ai CEO Thomas Siebel.
The alliance also positions Microsoft as the preferred cloud provider for C3.ai offerings.

[Julius Wong] White House orders Pentagon and intel agencies to increase use of AI msn.com

Julius Wong — 10/24/2024 2:30:03 PM

[Julius Wong] C3.ai: Value And AI In The Same Package (Rating Upgrade) SummaryI'm upgrading C...

Julius Wong — 10/6/2024 8:05:10 AM

C3.ai: Value And AI In The Same Package (Rating Upgrade)

Summary

I'm upgrading C3.ai to a strong buy with its most recent fall, with a price target of $34 (40% upside from current levels).
The company's YTD losses stretched to ~20% in September, as investors criticized the company maintaining its full-year outlook.
C3.ai's expected 19-27% y/y growth this year, however, represents meaningful acceleration from just 16% growth in FY24, a strong indicator of AI tailwinds.
The company is also enjoying tremendous government momentum as well as quick sales cycles, especially with a new-gen AI product intended specifically for the public sector.
Trading at just ~6x current-year revenue, C3.ai's valuation sits well below AI peers and is a rare combination of AI-driven growth and value.

seekingalpha.com

[Julius Wong] The major AI stocks have on average lower EPS growth rate than the S&P 500 seek...

Julius Wong — 9/20/2024 8:42:20 AM

The major AI stocks have on average lower EPS growth rate than the S&P 500

seekingalpha.com

[Julius Wong] The Godmother of AI Wants Everyone to Be a World Builder wired.com

Julius Wong — 9/14/2024 7:12:25 AM

[Julius Wong] C3.ai plummets as guidance miss expectations Sep. 04, 2024 4:19 PM ET By: Chr...

Julius Wong — 9/4/2024 9:45:27 PM

C3.ai plummets as guidance miss expectations

Sep. 04, 2024 4:19 PM ET
By: Chris Ciaccia, SA News Editor

hapabapa

C3.ai (NYSE: AI) shares plunged nearly 15% in late trading on Wednesday after the enterprise software maker offered up guidance for the coming quarter that were worse than expected.

For the period ending July 31, the Thomas Siebel-led company lost an adjusted $0.05 per share as revenue rose 20.5% to come in at $87.2M. Subscription revenue for the quarter came in at $73.5M, below the $79.1M estimate.

Analysts had been expecting a loss of $0.13 per share on sales of $86.94M.

Turning to the company's guidance, C3.ai sees its fiscal second-quarter sales between $88.6M and $93.6M, with the midpoint of $91.1M below the $91.3M estimate.

C3.ai also kept its full-year sales guidance, as it expects revenue to be between $370M and $395M, with the mid-point of $382.5M below the $383.9M estimate.

C3.ai is scheduled to host a conference call at 5 p.m. EST to discuss the results.

[Julius Wong] Cloud providers in AI, data named 'top picks' as earnings approach: Oppenheimer ...

Julius Wong — 7/21/2024 8:58:08 AM

Cloud providers in AI, data named 'top picks' as earnings approach: Oppenheimer

Jul. 21, 2024 8:00 AM ET
By: Brandon Evans, SA News Editor

Gary Yeowell

Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), Cloudflare (NYSE: NET) and C3.ai (NYSE: AI) stand as "Top Picks" heading into earnings season according to Oppenheimer in the investment bank's cloud preview.

"All three enable AI infrastructure/data where enterprises are increasing spending and accelerating cloud migration," said Oppenheimer analyst Timothy Horan, in a detailed investor note. "Separately, hyperscalers are in a battle to create the best AI models. In turn, this drives shortages of AI infrastructure and high CapEx spending and solid cloud growth."

To fund this, companies are cutting back on legacy IT and application spending. Enterprises are also purchasing more hyperscaler bundles, which include features such as cybersecurity, communication and networking.

"MSFT is becoming the dominant AI enterprise platform, the key number is Azure growth, we are at 31% and expect a 31% guide," Horan noted. "NET is setting up to be the dominant edge platform, and will likely beat by 100bps and guide up by 200bps for the year. C3.ai is enabling enterprise AI monetization. All three have great tools to help enterprises with security and to store and manage data, all with recent major product improvements."

Investors will also focus on Google ( GOOG)( GOOGL) Cloud and AWS ( AMZN).

"Success with their AI endeavors versus MSFT will be the focus," Horan said. "We are also looking for ancillary AI impacts on cloud adoption, data management, bundling, security sales, and any signs of increased optimizations."

"Both Google and Amazon made aggressive moves to poach talent and customers as they play catchup to Microsoft and OpenAI in generative-AI," he added.

Google's quarterly results are slated for July 23 after markets close. Estimates call for earnings per share of $1.84 on revenue of $84.29B.

Microsoft plans to release it quarterly financial results on July 30, after markets close. Analysts expect earnings per share of $2.93 on revenue of $64.37B.

Amazon's results are scheduled for post-market on Aug. 1. Analysts' estimates call for earnings per share of $1.01 on earnings of $148.53B.

Cloudflare's results are slated for release after markets close on Aug. 1. Estimates call for earnings per share of $0.14 on revenue of $394.49M.

Meanwhile, C3.ai's quarterly report is not expected until Aug. 30. Estimates anticipate a loss per share of $0.13 on revenue of $86.94M.

[Julius Wong] 3 Short-Squeeze Stocks Outwitting the Pessimistic Predictions investorplace.com

Julius Wong — 6/20/2024 10:31:43 AM

[Savant] dog that hunts, vs dogs that don't hunt.>> In the middle of a rough...

Savant — 5/31/2024 2:11:13 PM

*dog that hunts, vs dogs that don't hunt*.>>

In the middle of a rough stretch for enterprise software companies, C3.ai on Wednesday managed to post better-than-expected results for its April quarter. The company has shown accelerating top-line growth for five straight quarters, returning to 20% growth in the latest period for the first time since 2022. And that has the stock up 17% on Thursday,

That stands in contrast to Wednesday's disappointing results from Salesforce.com, which is down 20% on Thursday, and UiPath, off 34%. Workday recently reported a similarly poor quarter.

There is a growing view that enterprise IT budgets are tightening, and the trend is rippling across the sector. That raises an obvious question: What makes C3.ai so special?

C3.ai CEO Tom Siebel thinks the answer is straightforward. While budgets are tightening for conventional enterprise software, he says, companies are spending without any real budgetary constraints on AI applications. Siebel thinks many of the established AI companies are struggling to adapt their legacy applications to an AI world.

"These guys have technology stacks that they built literally in the last century," Siebel said in an interview with Barron's. "What they do is they've taken an AI sticker and put it on the front of their box -- ServiceNow, Salesforce, Workday, Oracle, SAP. I'm not really sure that dog hunts. The difference between us and them is that we're native enterprise AI. I started building this AI software stack 15 years ago, and today we have 90 turnkey enterprise applications. We're in a different place than they are."

Siebel says AI could actually be a headwind, rather than an accelerant, for some enterprise software companies as spending priorities shift.

"It's definitely not a headwind for us," he says. "Where we are, I'm not really sure there are any budgets. These guys just make the budgets up. This is happening at the CEO level, or the person who runs manufacturing level, and they don't need a budget. Managers write a check and go."

Siebel points out that all of the chips that Nvidia is selling are being used to build out AI infrastructure to run AI applications. "These guys are building hardware for us. They're out there laying pavement 100 miles ahead of us so we can roll into it."

The C3.ai chief, who was also the founder of the customer relationship management software company Siebel Systems, which was acquired by Oracle in 2006, adds that enterprise software companies are suffering in part from a lack of innovation beyond AI.

"I mean, who doesn't have CRM installed?" he asks. "Who doesn't have an enterprise CRM license? Everybody's got it. They've got to have something new."

Meanwhile, Siebel also makes the case that more of the value in the AI food chain will eventually go to AI software companies.

"Let's look at the AI stack," he says. "At the bottom we have silicon, and above that we have infrastructure. Above that we have foundational models, and on top of that we have applications. The bulk of the value in the market today is being attributed to silicon and infrastructure. It was the same thing in the PC market in 1990. But as we saw in PCs, in the long run, the value is in the application layer, and that's where we play. In the long run, silicon gets commoditized, because it always does, and the infrastructure gets commoditized, because it always does. We've seen this movie before."

[Julius Wong] C3.ai soars after Q4 results, forecast top estimates May 29, 2024 4:19 PM ET By...

Julius Wong — 5/29/2024 5:19:59 PM

C3.ai soars after Q4 results, forecast top estimates

May 29, 2024 4:19 PM ET
By: Chris Ciaccia, SA News Editor

hapabapa

C3.ai (NYSE: AI) shares jumped nearly 13% in extended-hours trading on Wednesday after the enterprise software company reported fiscal fourth-quarter results and guidance for the next year that topped expectations.

Looking to fiscal 2025, C3.ai expects to generate between revenue between $370M and $395M, above the $367.7M estimate.

The company also offered guidance for the coming fiscal first-quarter, as it expects sales to be between $84M and $89M, with the mid-point above the $85.9M estimate.

“Demand for Enterprise AI is intensifying, and our first to market advantage in Enterprise AI positions us well to capitalize on it,” said C3 AI CEO and Chairman Thomas Siebel. “Our Enterprise AI applications have been adopted across 19 industries, underscoring increasing market diversity. Our federal revenue grew by more than 100% for the year. The interest we are seeing in our generative AI applications is staggering.”

The strong view for the next year comes after the Siebel-led company reported fiscal fourth-quarter results that topped estimates. Sales for the period ending April 30 rose 19.6% year-over-year to $86.59M, above the $84.39M estimate.

The Redwood City, Calif.-based firm reported an adjusted loss per share of $0.11 per share, above the $0.30 loss that analysts had been expecting.

The company closed several agreements in the quarter, entering into new deals with organizations like ExxonMobil, A.P. Moller-Maersk, General Mills, the U.S. Navy and others.

Moreover, C3.ai's federal contracts continued to show significant strength, with revenue from federal services up more than 100% year-over-year.

Subscription revenue during the period rose 40.4% year-over-year to $79.9M, comprising 92% of total revenue.

The company will hold a conference call at 5 p.m. EST to discuss the results.

[Julius Wong] C3.ai Non-GAAP EPS of -$0.11 beats by $0.19, revenue of $86.6M beats by $2.2M M...

Julius Wong — 5/29/2024 4:21:05 PM

C3.ai Non-GAAP EPS of -$0.11 beats by $0.19, revenue of $86.6M beats by $2.2M

May 29, 2024 4:09 PM ET
By: Mary Christine Joy, SA News Editor

C3.ai press release (NYSE: AI): Q4 Non-GAAP EPS of -$0.11 beats by $0.19.
Revenue of $86.6M (+19.6% Y/Y) beats by $2.2M.

Subscription Revenue: Subscription revenue for the quarter was $79.9 million, constituting 92% of total revenue, an increase of 41% compared to $56.9 million one year ago.

Gross Profit: GAAP gross profit for the quarter was $51.6 million, representing a 60% gross margin. Non-GAAP gross profit for the quarter was $60.9 million, representing a 70% non-GAAP gross margin.

Net Loss per Share: GAAP net loss per share was $(0.59)
Cash Reserves: $750.4 million in cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities.
- Free Cash Flow: Positive free cash flow of $18.8 million.

The following table summarizes C3 AI’s guidance for the first quarter of fiscal 2025 and full-year fiscal 2025:

(in millions)	First Quarter Fiscal 2025 Guidance	Full Year Fiscal 2025 Guidance
Total revenue	$84.0 - $89.0, vs. $85.89M consensus	$370.0 - $395.0, vs. $367.53M consensus
Non-GAAP loss from operations	$(22.0) - $(30.0)	$(95.0) - $(125.0)

[Savant] The expanded partnership builds on a track record of success in AI integra...

Savant — 3/27/2024 11:31:11 AM

The expanded partnership builds on a track record of success in AI integration across the U.S. government

REDWOOD CITY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 27, 2024--

C3 AI (NYSE: AI), the Enterprise AI application software company, today announced an enhanced partnership agreement with Paradyme, a technology solutions company that works with the U.S. government to improve operational efficiency and business agility. Since 2021, the two companies have partnered to provide AI-powered applications that deliver predictive insights to federal agencies.

Under the new agreement, Paradyme will significantly grow its number of dedicated staff to accelerate joint selling and delivery efforts. In addition to the C3 AI Defense and Intelligence Suite, Paradyme will also be trained on and sell C3 Generative AI for Defense and C3 AI Law Enforcement.

"C3 AI's federal business remains extremely strong and this collaboration with Paradyme signals the growing adoption of secure, powerful AI products within the defense and intelligence sector," said Thomas M. Siebel, Chairman and CEO, C3 AI. "This expanded partnership exemplifies our dedication to supporting this community and their critical mission of robust national security."

With a significant domain expertise and a C3 AI dedicated workforce, Paradyme works with C3 AI to accelerate the transition and deployment process from pilot to hardened AI application.

"At Paradyme, our mission is to help the U.S. government solve critical needs with technology solutions, and this collaboration with C3 AI completely aligns with that goal," said Sang Na, Chief Growth Officer and Principal, Paradyme. "Our deep technical work and commitment to the defense and intelligence community paired with C3 AI's solutions designed for this industry support our shared goal of advancing the U.S.'s strategic position."

About C3.ai, Inc.

C3 AI is the Enterprise AI application software company. C3 AI delivers a family of fully integrated products including the C3 AI Platform, an end-to-end platform for developing, deploying, and operating enterprise AI applications, C3 AI applications, a portfolio of industry-specific SaaS enterprise AI applications that enable the digital transformation of organizations globally, and C3 Generative AI, a suite of domain-specific generative AI offerings for the enterprise.

View source version on businesswire.com: businesswire.com

CONTACT: C3 AI Public Relations

Edelman

Lisa Kennedy

415-914-8336

pr@c3.ai

Investor Relations

ir@c3.ai

SOURCE: C3.ai Copyright Business Wire 2024

[Julius Wong] Analysts revamp C3.ai stock price targets after earnings thestreet.com

Julius Wong — 2/29/2024 5:28:28 PM

[Julius Wong] Posted on 2/6/23 Message 34180951 The charts are updated.

Julius Wong — 2/29/2024 7:08:28 AM

[Julius Wong] C3.ai bumps up annual sales guidance on higher customer engagement, stock +15% a...

Julius Wong — 2/28/2024 8:57:53 PM

C3.ai bumps up annual sales guidance on higher customer engagement, stock +15% after hours

Feb. 28, 2024 4:36 PM ET
By: Anuron Mitra, SA News Editor

da-kuk

Class A shares of C3.ai (NYSE: AI) on Wednesday jumped more than 15% in extended trading, after the enterprise software company bumped up its annual revenue guidance as more customers signed up to use its products and solutions.

C3.ai ( AI) stock was last up 15.3% to $34.25 after hours.

The Redwood City, Calif.-based firm reported an adjusted loss per share of 13 cents for FQ3 2024 on revenue of $78.4M. Analysts had been expecting a loss of 28 cents per share on sales of $76.14M.

C3.ai ( AI) provides software that uses enterprise artificial intelligence (AI), or solutions that apply AI and machine learning to digitally solve problems faced by organizations.

"Customer engagement grew 80% year-over-year. Our significant first mover advantage in Enterprise AI is generating tailwinds as market interest in adopting AI accelerates,” C3.ai ( AI) top boss Thomas Siebel said in a statement.

The company closed 50 agreements in the quarter, entering into new deals with names such as medical device company Boston Scientific ( BSX), drugmaker AbbVie ( ABBV) and telecom firm T-Mobile US ( TMUS).

Moreover, C3.ai's ( AI) federal contracts continued to show significant strength, with revenue and bookings from federal services up 100% and 85% Y/Y, respectively. The company entered into and expanded upon agreements with agencies such as the U.S. Department of Defense and the U.S. Air Force.

C3.ai's ( AI) overall FQ3 subscription revenue rose 23% Y/Y to $70.4M, comprising 90% of total revenue.

Turning to the company's guidance, C3.ai ( AI) now sees full year fiscal 2024 revenue of $306M to $310M, up from a prior forecast of $295M to $320M. The consensus estimate is $305.53M. FQ4 revenue is anticipated to be $82M to $86M, versus a consensus of $83.91M.

[Julius Wong] Why C3.ai Stock Was Gaining Today finance.yahoo.com

Julius Wong — 12/19/2023 8:50:45 PM

[Julius Wong] C3.ai, Inc. (AI) Q2 2024 Earnings Call Transcript seekingalpha.com

Julius Wong — 12/7/2023 8:39:15 AM

[Julius Wong] C3.ai Non-GAAP EPS of -$0.13 beats by $0.05, revenue of $73.23M misses by $1.1M ...

Julius Wong — 12/6/2023 5:39:36 PM

C3.ai Non-GAAP EPS of -$0.13 beats by $0.05, revenue of $73.23M misses by $1.1M

Dec. 06, 2023 5:00 PM ET
By: Pranav Ghumatkar, SA News Editor
5 Comments

C3.ai press release (NYSE: AI): Q2 Non-GAAP EPS of -$0.13 beats by $0.05.
Revenue of $73.23M (+17.3% Y/Y) misses by $1.1M.
Subscription revenue for the quarter was $66.4 million, constituting 91% of total revenue, an increase of 12% compared to $59.5 million one year ago.
Cash Reserves: $762.3 million in cash, cash equivalents, and investments.
Customer Engagement: Customer Engagement for the quarter was 404, an increase of 81% compared to 223 one year ago.
Q3 Outlook: Total revenue $74.0 - $78.0M vs. consensus of $74.33M; Non-GAAP loss from operations $(40.0) - $(46.0)M.
2024 Outlook: Total revenue $295.0 - $320.0M vs. consensus of $307.88M; Non-GAAP loss from operations $(115.0) - $(135.0)M

[Julius Wong] AI stocks gain ground as HP Enterprise CEO says tech has reached 'inflection poi...

Julius Wong — 12/2/2023 8:39:28 AM

AI stocks gain ground as HP Enterprise CEO says tech has reached 'inflection point'

Dec. 01, 2023 12:51 PM ET
By: Chris Ciaccia, SA News Editor
10 Comments

da-kuk

Artificial intelligence-linked rose on Friday on back of strong comments from HP Enterprise (NYSE: HPE) Chief Executive Antonio Neri about the technology's future.

“The technology has achieved an inflection point,” Neri said of high-powered servers used for AI, according to Bloomberg. Neri made the comments a company conference in Barcelona.

HP Enterprise ( HPE) shares rose 1% in mid-day trading, while other AI-related stocks, such as C3.ai (NYSE: AI), Palantir (NYSE: PLTR), BigBear.ai Holdings ( BBAI) and SoundHound AI ( SOUN) also saw strong gains.

C3.ai ( AI), led by CEO Thomas Siebel, is slated to report fiscal first-quarter earnings next week. Seeking Alpha Investing Group Leader Jonathan Weber said investors should pay attention to the ratio of subscription revenue, new contract wins, guidance and share dilution.

Neri's comments about AI, which has been one of the top themes of the year, come after his company reported its own quarterly results this week, aided in part by artificial intelligence.

HP Enterprise ( HPE) reported of non-GAAP diluted net earnings per share of 52 cents compared to the average analyst estimate of 50 cents. Sales of $7.4B compared to the estimate of $7.37B.

High Performance Computing & Artificial Intelligence revenue was $1.2 billion, up 37% from the prior-year period in actual dollars and 38% in constant currency.

Following the results, several analysts on Wall Street weighed in on the results, including Morgan Stanley, which upgraded the stock based on valuation as well as its exposure to AI.

Separately this week, HP Enterprise ( HPE) announced it was expanding its partnership with Nvidia ( NVDA) to build an enterprise computing solution for generative artificial intelligence.

[Julius Wong] C3.ai gains as Oppenheimer upgrades on 'accelerating growth,' margin expansion ...

Julius Wong — 11/21/2023 10:31:40 PM

C3.ai gains as Oppenheimer upgrades on 'accelerating growth,' margin expansion

Nov. 21, 2023 9:02 AM ET
By: Chris Ciaccia, SA News Editor
5 Comments

hapabapa

C3.ai (NYSE: AI) shares rose 2.5% in premarket trading on Tuesday as investment firm Oppenheimer upgraded the enterprise software company, citing expectations for "accelerating growth" and margin expansion.

Analyst Timothy Horan raised his rating on C3.ai ( AI) shares to outperform from perform, along with a $40 price target, noting that he expects fiscal 2023 and 2024 revenue to be 1% and 4% above consensus, respectively.

He noted that since initiating coverage on the stock in late June, shares have underperformed, even as revenue growth has accelerated.

"The 'AI' theme is real and durable, with C3.ai well-positioned as one of the few pure plays helping customers drive new revenue sources/major productivity improvements; should accelerate growth into '25E," Horan wrote in an investor note.

Horan added that companies are not willing to be left behind when implementing artificial intelligence and following the developer days from OpenAI and Microsoft ( MSFT), enterprises have seen additional clarity and return on investment, which bodes well for C3.ai ( AI).

He said that C3.ai ( AI) is benefiting from the halo effect of Microsoft ( MSFT) pushing Copilot, as it shows "practical" applications of AI.

"Additionally, Microsoft's extensive data lakes, robust multicloud connectivity, stringent security compliance systems, and effective intellectual property protection have alleviated enterprise concerns, which C3.ai can piggyback, though we are still early in building the tools/foodchain," Horan explained.

Additionally, he said that recent moves by Microsoft ( MSFT) should help AI commercialization, including product upgrades and cutting processing costs. And with the expected release of ChatGPT 5.0 sometime in the next six months or so, along with the drama surrounding Sam Altman's ouster at OpenAI, these should all be "positive triggers" for C3.ai ( AI), Horan said.

The upgrade comes one day after it was reported that C3.ai ( AI) was cutting jobs across multiple departments due in part to employee performance and cost savings.

[Julius Wong] C3.ai tumbles on report of job cuts Nov. 20, 2023 3:22 PM ET By: Chris Ciaccia...

Julius Wong — 11/20/2023 8:20:13 PM

C3.ai tumbles on report of job cuts

Nov. 20, 2023 3:22 PM ET
By: Chris Ciaccia, SA News Editor
20 Comments

hapabapa

C3.ai (NYSE: AI) shares erased earlier gains and fell nearly 6% on Monday amid a report that the enterprise software company is cutting jobs.
The job cuts, which happened across multiple departments, happened due in part to employee performance and cost savings, Bloomberg reported.
At a meeting on Thursday with employees, a C3.ai ( AI) executive said the layoffs were due to the need for cost cuts, the news outlet added, citing one attendee.
C3.ai ( AI) did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Seeking Alpha.

[Julius Wong] C3.ai soars on expansion of AWS deal focused on generative AI Nov. 14, 2023 3:1...

Julius Wong — 11/14/2023 5:47:55 PM

C3.ai soars on expansion of AWS deal focused on generative AI

Nov. 14, 2023 3:12 PM ET
By: Chris Ciaccia, SA News Editor

hapabapa

Enterprise software company C3.ai (NYSE: AI) rose more than 6% on Tuesday after the company announced an expansion of its "strategic collaboration agreement" with Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) and its cloud computing unit, Amazon Web Services.
In a statement, C3.ai ( AI) said it and AWS will continue to focus on offering generative artificial intelligence for customers in multiple sectors, including manufacturing, power and utilities, consumer goods, as well as state and federal governments.
“We’ve seen continued enthusiasm in the C3 Generative AI Suite since its launch, and as interest continues to grow, our collaboration is focused on building a quick and easy onboarding process so our shared customers can start seeing immediate value from generative AI,” said C3 AI CEO Thomas Siebel in a statement. “Our teams are dedicated to creating tightly integrated solutions so organizations can increase efficiency through faster data retrieval and analysis and accelerate value creation by getting many users onboarded quickly.”
C3.ai's ( AI) deal with AWS started in 2016 and its generative AI suite, which was unveiled in February, as well as its platform and applications all run on AWS.

[Savant] C3 AI (NYSE: AI), the Enterprise AI application software company, today an...

Savant — 11/13/2023 11:10:36 AM

C3 AI (NYSE: AI), the Enterprise AI application software company, today announced that C3 AI CEO Thomas M. Siebel will present at a fireside chat at the 5(th) Annual Needham Virtual Infrastructure, Data Analytics Software & Cloud Communications Conference on Wednesday, November 15, 2023, at 10:40 am ET.

Interested parties will be able to watch a replay of the webcast, which will be accessible on the C3 AI Investor Relations website (ir.c3.ai) following the event.

About C3.ai, Inc.

[Julius Wong] AI is starting to be integrated in the retail sector - watch these stocks seeki...

Julius Wong — 9/25/2023 8:38:10 AM

AI is starting to be integrated in the retail sector - watch these stocks

seekingalpha.com

[Julius Wong] AI stocks sink as Nvidia-led euphoria fades Aug. 24, 2023 11:58 AM ET C3.ai, In...

Julius Wong — 8/24/2023 12:50:10 PM

AI stocks sink as Nvidia-led euphoria fades

Aug. 24, 2023 11:58 AM ET
C3.ai, Inc. (AI), NVDA GOOG, AMZN, MSFT, AMD, INTC, MRVL, MU, ADBE, AVGO, GOOGL, BBAI, SOUN
By: Chris Ciaccia, SA News Editor
18 Comments

Vertigo3d

Artificial intelligence stocks sank on Thursday as the euphoria surrounding Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) and its strong second-quarter results and guidance faded.

Enterprise software company C3.ai (NYSE: AI) gave up earlier gains and fell nearly 12% in mid-day trading on Thursday, while SoundHound AI ( SOUN) and BigBear.ai Holdings ( BBAI) each lost more than 6%.

Microsoft ( MSFT) shares slipped around 1.4%, while Adobe ( ADBE), which has recently been praised for its AI offerings, lost around 2.5%.

The other mega-cap tech stocks, Google ( GOOG) ( GOOGL) and Amazon ( AMZN), fell 1.4% and 2%, respectively.

The losses weren't just relegated to software stocks as semiconductor stocks lost ground too. AMD ( AMD) shares reversed earlier gains and fell more than 6%, as did Marvell Technology ( MRVL), which is slated to report its own quarterly results after the close of trading.

Broadcom ( AVGO) shares lost around 1%, while Intel ( INTC) and Micron Technology ( MU) also lost ground.

Nvidia ( NVDA) shares were still higher on the day shortly before 12 p.m. EST, though well off the best levels of the session.

A number of analysts praised the company's results and guidance, with some calling the outlook a "guidance for the ages."

In addition to the strong results and outlook, Nvidia ( NVDA) approved an additional $25B share buy back program, adding that it would continue to repurchase stock this fiscal year.

[Ron] Sure enough. Ai down 10% so far this morning...

Ron — 8/24/2023 10:29:15 AM

[Ron] AI was up pretty nicely today.... am thinking it was traders taking advantage of...

Ron — 8/23/2023 9:40:14 PM

AI was up pretty nicely today.... am thinking it was traders taking advantage of the NVDA beat, and it worked.
For today, at least.

[Julius Wong] AI bubble in 'later innings' using Nvidia, large cap tech as proxy: Morgan Stanl...

Julius Wong — 8/8/2023 7:18:58 AM

AI bubble in 'later innings' using Nvidia, large cap tech as proxy: Morgan Stanley

seekingalpha.com

[Julius Wong] C3.AI CEO Thomas Siebel on future of AI: 'This is not ephemeral, this is a secul...

Julius Wong — 6/24/2023 3:52:37 PM

C3.AI CEO Thomas Siebel on future of AI: 'This is not ephemeral, this is a secular change'

foxbusiness.com

[Julius Wong] AI Stocks: C3.ai, Palantir Pull Back Amid HPE, Cybersecurity, Cloud AI News fin...

Julius Wong — 6/23/2023 5:28:16 PM

AI Stocks: C3.ai, Palantir Pull Back Amid HPE, Cybersecurity, Cloud AI News

finance.yahoo.com

[Julius Wong] C3.ai slumps 8% as Deutsche Bank reiterates sell after investor meeting Jun. 23...

Julius Wong — 6/23/2023 2:10:42 PM

C3.ai slumps 8% as Deutsche Bank reiterates sell after investor meeting

Jun. 23, 2023 10:23 AM ET
C3.ai, Inc. (AI)
By: Chris Ciaccia, SA News Editor
8 Comments

hapabapa

C3.ai (NYSE: AI) shares fell more than 8% on Friday after investment firm Deutsche Bank reiterated its sell rating on the enterprise software company after it held its investor meeting.

Analyst Brad Zelnick said the event "left a lot to be desired" as there were no details on financials, "limited" updates on the company's operations and investors did not really attend the event, despite it being positioned as for them.

"While we appreciate the vast opportunity presented by AI, the event did nothing to ease our skepticism on the true differentiation of the company's platform, its traction with customers or its ability to hit its constantly evolving financial targets," Zelnick wrote in an investor note.

Zelnick also pointed out that C3.ai ( AI) released its 10-K filing on Wednesday, which showed CEO Thomas Seibel has started a 10b5-1 trading plan to sell shares, while also implying "weak" retention metrics and a couple of one-time items that actually boosted the company's operating margins in 2022.

"Until we get more comfort in some of the leading indicators, magnitude of new deals and signs of sustained new business traction we maintain our Sell rating," Zelnick added.

[Savant] Push back against the large short position today

Savant — 6/13/2023 12:10:29 PM

[Glenn Petersen] Billionaire Tom Siebel faces tumult at C3.ai as investor lawsuit, short sellers ...

Glenn Petersen — 6/2/2023 9:25:38 AM

Billionaire Tom Siebel faces tumult at C3.ai as investor lawsuit, short sellers question metrics

PUBLISHED FRI, JUN 2 20238:00 AM EDT
Yasmin Khorram @YASMINKHORRAM
Paige Tortorelli @TORTORELLIPAIGE
CNBC.com

KEY POINTS

-- An investor lawsuit against C3.ai says CEO Tom Siebel and other executives misrepresented a partnership with Baker Hughes ahead of the company’s 2020 IPO.

-- In an exclusive interview with CNBC, Siebel denied the allegations and touted his company’s artificial intelligence technology

--.C3.ai shares are up 210% this year as excitement swells around AI, but the stock is still down 80% from its peak in December 2020.
Tom Siebel has been riding the artificial intelligence wave.

Three years after selling his prior software company, Siebel Systems, to Oracle for nearly $6 billion in 2006, he started C3.ai, a provider of AI solutions to businesses. That company, which went public in 2020, now sports a roughly $4 billion market cap and, in Siebel’s words, is “increasingly recognized as the gold standard in enterprise AI.”

But Siebel has a growing chorus of skeptics.

Thomas M. Siebel, chief executive officer of C3.AI Inc., during a panel session at the Bloomberg Tech Summit in London, UK, on Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2022. /Chris J. Ratcliffe | Bloomberg | Getty Images
----------------------------

Short sellers have been pounding his company of late with a series of allegations: inflating margins, misclassifying revenue, engaging in “aggressive accounting” and for a lack of transparency in how it counts customers. Siebel says it’s not true, and blasts the shorts for driving his stock price down so they can make money, or “cover the short and pocket the profits,” as the company said in an official response.

Siebel has also been criticized for selling hundreds of millions of dollars worth of shares in the months following the company’s 2020 IPO. An investor lawsuit from last year alleges that, ahead of its public market debut, the company made misleading statements about its access to a 12,000-person sales force tied to its partnership with energy company Baker Hughes.

And over two dozen former C3.ai employees, who CNBC contacted in looking into these allegations, described a culture of fear at the company that filtered down from the top. Most of the ex-employees asked not be named because of nondisclosure agreements or concerns over job repercussions for those still in the tech industry.

Wall Street doesn’t know what to make of the story. The stock, which fortuitously trades under the ticker symbol AI, shot past $177 in the heady post-IPO days of late 2020 as the Covid boom led to increased demand for cloud software while near-zero interest rates incentivized investors to pump money into growth. The company’s market cap swelled beyond $17 billion at the time.

Since then C3.ai has been on a stock market roller coaster, featuring mostly steep declines. Shares plunged 77% in 2021, a year that was quite good for software, and then another 64% in 2022, which was the worst year for tech since the financial crisis.

The allure of AI has brought investors back, with C3.ai shares up 210% year to date, by far the best performance in the cloud software group.

At the heart of C3.ai is the 70-year-old Siebel, who has a net worth of close to $4 billion, according to Forbes. One former employee in a leadership position compared him to Logan Roy, the media tycoon from the HBO series “Succession.” The ex-employee described Siebel as charming and charismatic, but a “tyrant” who “humiliates people.”

Siebel started Siebel Systems in 1993, a few years after leaving Oracle, where he worked under founder Larry Ellison as a senior vice president. That company was a pioneer in customer relationship management (CRM) software, or software for salespeople, and it became the core of Oracle’s CRM offering when his former employer acquired it, a deal that launched Siebel into the billionaire class.

Tom Siebel, CEO of C3 AI, left, is interviewed by Yasmin Khorram at C3.ai’s headquarters in Redwood City, CA. / Source: CNBC
--------------

In an exclusive interview with CNBC at C3.ai’s headquarters in Redwood City, California, Siebel sat down to discuss the recent allegations from investors and former employees regarding him and his company. He insisted that demand for C3.ai’s technology is growing rapidly, and he struck a defiant tone in defending the company’s accounting practices as well as the culture that he’s built.

C3.ai says it uses artificial intelligence to predict a host of issues ranging from fraud detection to helping companies optimize their operations. Over the years, it’s attracted prominent customers, including the U.S Department of Defense as well as oil and gas giants like Shell and Baker Hughes.
Lawsuit alleges C3.ai misrepresentation

An investor lawsuit, originally filed in the Northern District of California in March 2022 and amended in February of this year, focuses on C3.ai’s relationship with oilfield-services company Baker Hughes, which accounted for 45% of total revenue in the first quarter of 2023.

In their joint venture agreement, Baker Hughes says it uses C3.ai’s solutions and also sells the product to companies in the oil and gas industry.

The complaint alleges C3.ai misrepresented that it had a 12,000-person sales organization with deep industry expertise in the oil and gas industry as part of its partnership with Baker Hughes.

The lawsuit alleges the defendants “failed to disclose that C3 did not have access to and was not able to utilize the 12,000-person salesforce — but instead set up a separate sales division that relied on salespeople that did not have the industry connections, expertise, support or mandatory sales quotas of Baker Hughes’ typical salesforce.”

The access to the 12,000-person sales organization was first made public in C3.ai’s IPO filing in November 2020. Siebel continued to publicly tout that sizable sales force with Baker Hughes at least 13 times in 2021, according to his public appearances reviewed by CNBC.

When asked about this, Siebel said, “I don’t remember saying it 13 times,” but he reiterated that the size of the Baker Hughes team selling C3.ai was represented to him as “somewhere around 12,000.”

A Baker Hughes spokesperson said he “can’t give a specific figure,” adding the company has “teams across the world that sell C3.ai solutions.” Dan Brennan, a senior vice president at Baker Hughes who oversees the partnership, was at the company’s headquarters the day CNBC interviewed Siebel. He also couldn’t provide an exact number when initially asked.

“We’ve got a large sales force,” Brennan said. “That sales force is empowered to sell a number of solutions including C3.” Brennan later estimated that the 12,000 figure was in the right ballpark.

Two former Baker Hughes employees, who asked not to be identified due to fear of repercussions, told CNBC that while there are 12,000 total sales people at the company, they are not all trained and qualified to sell the C3.ai product.

A 2021 amendment to the joint venture agreement between the two companies shows that C3.ai would train “up to sixty (60) Baker Hughes personnel” on its product free of charge.

One of the Baker Hughes employees who spoke to CNBC had trained sales personnel on the C3.ai product. At the training he attended, he estimated there were around 60 sales employees.

He also said the product was difficult to learn and that employees were not allowed to sell it without going through a rigorous approval process. He said he had no idea how they could certify 12,000 people.

A Baker Hughes spokesperson said in response that the company trained “well beyond 60” people on the technology and that “both companies continue to engage in training opportunities on C3.ai offerings.”

In a motion to dismiss the suit, C3.ai’s attorneys wrote that Siebel’s statements about the sales force are “classic puffery that no reasonable investors would have taken literally” and are “obvious hyperbole.”

A former SEC official, who asked not to be named, told CNBC that companies are allowed to burnish their brand through “puffery,” but they can’t change important numbers that are relied upon by investors.

When asked how investors should understand the difference between puffery and factual statements, Siebel said to ask investors because he can’t speak for them. Siebel said he’s confident the lawsuit will be dismissed.

CNBC’s “Last Call” aired a report Thursday night on the investor lawsuit against C3.ai and the company’s relationship with Baker Hughes. After the video aired, C3.ai said on Twitter that the statements made by CNBC “misrepresent C3 AI and its fundamental business practices” and that “the business results speak for themselves.”

In addition to the claim of an inflated sales force, the investor suit against C3.ai further alleges that the disclosure contributed to an “artificially inflated” stock, which Siebel and other insiders then took advantage of by selling more than 11 million shares.

‘Perverse incentive’ to sell.

Siebel, who remains the largest individual shareholder, sold about 3.4 million shares for close to $288 million in March 2021, just three months after the IPO. Lockup periods for insiders are typically six months, but C3.ai insiders could sell after 90 days if certain provisions were met, including if the stock was 33% above the IPO price.

“As a result, C3's lockup provision created a perverse incentive for C3 executives to pump up C3's stock price in the first six months following the IPO,” the suit said.

Reed Kathrein, who previously represented investors in reaching a settlement against Theranos — the medical-technology company that failed to deliver on its promises — is now behind this investor lawsuit against C3.ai. His view is that continued statements from the company about the Baker Hughes relationship helped bolster the stock.

“It’s about smoke and mirrors to sell your company,” Kathrein told CNBC, adding that it’s also about the end result that comes from selling hundreds of millions of dollars worth of stock “once the public has bought into that.”

The lawsuit says the publicity about the massive Baker Hughes sales force “artificially inflated C3's stock” when the company first went public. It alleges C3.ai quietly restructured its sales group, which “sat outside of the organization” and “did not have the relationships” or “deep industry expertise” of the Baker Hughes sales team. The suit also says that Siebel did not announce the change until December 2021.

The day after that announcement, the stock opened at $31 a share, a drop of more than 80% from its peak a year earlier. Kathrein’s four investors allege the multi-month lag on that disclosure was one of the factors that cost them more than $1.2 million.

According to financial documents, there were approximately 11 transactions made by Siebel between March 2021 and November 2021 totaling over $630 million. Siebel and other insiders sold more than $730 million worth of stock, the filings show.

“That is staggering,” Kathrein said. “If you believe in a company, you’re not going to dump your stock.”

As of the latest proxy filing last year, Siebel still owned over 31 million Class A and Class B shares.

“If you look at the percentage of my ownership in the company, that was a very small percentage,” Siebel said in his defense. “I am still the largest shareholder and I have a substantial commitment to the company.”

Traders gather at the post that handles Baker Hughes on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. / Richard Drew | AP
---------------------------------

In an April 2023 filing, Baker Hughes announced it divested 1.7 million C3.ai shares, bringing its ownership to 6.9 million shares.

A Baker Hughes spokesman said its relationship with C3.ai remains the same and that its commitment “has not changed.”

But a financial filing shows C3.ai has not yet recognized a large amount of revenue from the partnership.

C3.ai’s quarterly filing for the period ended January, indicates it had $87.9 million in unbilled receivables, meaning its customers hadn’t been invoiced and thus had not paid for services they’d received. Baker Hughes accounted for more than 90% of those unbilled receivables.

Siebel said that’s how generally accepted accounting practices (GAAP) work.

“The money will be invoiced, the money will be collected,” he said. “I’m not certain what there is not to like.”

He said an unbilled receivable is “just money the company is owed at some point in the future.”

In a public document published on its investor relations page, C3.ai reiterated it has no concerns about its unbilled receivables related to Baker Hughes and detailed a future payment schedule. The document said unbilled receivables would drop to $57.4 million related to Baker Hughes for the fourth quarter. On its earnings call on Wednesday, C3.ai reported that it still had $70.7 million in unbilled receivables from Baker Hughes.

Risks about the company’s close ties to Baker Hughes were central to a letter in April from short-selling investment firm Kerrisdale Capital to C3.ai’s auditor. The letter claimed the company engaged in “aggressive accounting” to “inflate its income statement.”

Kerrisdale pointed to C3.ai’s “highly conspicuous growth” in unbilled receivables, largely from Baker Hughes, and wrote that “accounting red flags abound with the Baker Hughes relationship.”

The stock plummeted 38% in the two trading days after Kerrisdale’s letter.

Targeted by other shorts

It’s not the first time short sellers have targeted C3.ai.

Spruce Point Capital Management, a short-selling firm, published a report in February that flagged concerns over the company’s “less transparent” method for counting customers, its “revolving door” of chief financial officers and its history of pivoting its focus to the latest buzzword.

C3.ai cycled through three CFOs since 2019, in addition to one acting CFO in 2018 and the current CFO, who both still work at the company. When asked about the high turnover of executives more broadly, Siebel said most left for personal reasons and pointed to a similar turnover at companies like Tesla, Spotify and Twitter.

Regarding the regular change of focus, the company was named C3 Energy to help energy companies improve their operations, reduce costs and increase revenue. Spruce Point said it pivoted to IoT (Internet of Things) when that “buzzword peaked” and expanded to include other industries. In 2019, it changed its name from C3 IoT to C3.ai, a move Spruce Point said reflected the hype around artificial intelligence.

C3.ai has denied the statements from both firms, defending its financial reports as accurate and indicating that its business is growing rapidly.

In a statement to CNBC, a spokesman for C3.ai called the Kerrisdale letter “a highly creative and transparent attempt by a self-acclaimed short seller to short the stock, publish an inflammatory letter to move the stock price downward, then cover the short and pocket the profits.”

The spokesman pointed out that Kerrisdale is being sued by an investor who alleges the letter “contained false and deceptive statements for the purpose of manipulating and driving down the price.”

Siebel called the short sellers “shrewd” and said their reports are an attempt to move the stock price at the expense of retail investors.

“I think sometimes crime pays and this appears to be one of those cases,” he said.

A day before CNBC was scheduled to interview Siebel for this story, C3.ai released a preliminary earnings report for the first time, ahead of its reporting date of May 31. Revenue for the fiscal fourth quarter exceeded guidance and its loss was narrower than expected, the company said. The stock jumped 23%, recouping some of its losses that followed the Kerrisdale report.

However, following C3.ai’s full earnings report after the close of trading on Wednesday, the stock dropped 13% due to a disappointing forecast.

Siebel told CNBC that the controversy over unbilled business was “misconstrued” by short sellers and that a big four accounting firm had audited its financials. The company declined to provide the name of the firm.

Many of the 30 former C3.ai employees who spoke with CNBC said the company has had a difficult time attracting new customers and they claim that those that have come in the door originated from Siebel’s relationships.

The vast majority of those ex-employees also described a problematic culture, revolving around fear of Siebel and intense oversight from the CEO.

Of the 30 ex-workers, five praised Siebel’s hard-charging approach as imperfect but effective.

For a positive perspective on Siebel, a company spokesperson referred CNBC to Ken Goldman, who served as Siebel Systems’ CFO from 2000 to 2005. Goldman has never been directly employed at C3.ai but said he is an advisor to Siebel and was an early investor in the company.

“He takes good care of you if you do your job,” Goldman said, regarding Siebel. “He will make sure financially he takes good care of you.”

Goldman also said Siebel “has his identity in this company,” and “is singularly focused on this company to the detriment of other activities and hobbies he used to have.”

But questions remain about the health of the business. C3.ai’s financial filings show the company pivoted to an opaque new formula for counting customers.

CNBC reviewed the company financial filings, which explain how it counts customers. The documents say the company considers parent companies like Baker Hughes as a customer. Additionally, each division inside the parent company and all third parties that entity sells the software to are also considered unique customers.

In a March 2022 earnings report, C3.ai said it failed to account for all divisions and third parties properly with its prior customer calculation method. Using its new method, the customer count jumped from 110, as had been previously reported for the quarter, to 218. The total number of parent companies C3.ai serves declined from 53 in the October 2021 quarter to 50 in the January 2022 period.

Siebel said C3.ai has complex customers and licensing models, which required it to change its customer count.

The company again changed the way it counts customers in its latest earnings report and said it was to to account for “customer engagement.” Siebel said the old methodology for counting customers didn’t recognize the “complexity of our contractual and pricing structures and the involvement of resellers.”

Under the new formula, customer count jumped to 287 in the period ended April 30, from 247 a quarter earlier. However, using the old method, C3.ai added only eight customers, closing the period with 244, up from 236 the prior quarter.

Despite all the recent controversy, C3.ai still has its defenders on Wall Street.

Gil Luria, an analyst at DA Davidson who recommends buying the stock, wrote in a report on May 15, that C3.ai has a growing pipeline of clients and is benefiting from a surge in enterprise demand for AI. He disputes the findings of the short sellers.

“I would argue that if you look item by item at everything the short sellers have said, it’s either proven not to be correct or misleading, or the company was able to address properly,” Luria said in an interview.

Siebel, of course, agrees with that assessment.

“The demand for what we do has never been greater,” Siebel said. “The business prospects in front of C3 are extraordinarily positive.”

His legacy depends on it.

— CNBC’s Nick Wells, Scott Zamost and Sam Woodward contributed to this report.

Billionaire Tom Siebel faces controversy at AI software vendor C3.ai (cnbc.com)

[Ron] C3ai founder Tom Siebel faces attacks from shareholders, short sellers, over met...

Ron — 6/2/2023 9:21:28 AM

C3ai founder Tom Siebel faces attacks from shareholders, short sellers, over metrics, revenue and margins
cnbc.com

[Julius Wong] C3.ai Stock Drops 22% on Lighter-Than-Expected Annual Revenue Guidance fool.com

Julius Wong — 6/1/2023 8:05:21 AM

[Julius Wong] C3ai (AI) Stock Forecast & Price Target tipranks.com

Julius Wong — 6/1/2023 7:35:31 AM

[Ron] C3.ai Inc. plunged 20% in extended trading after providing a fiscal-year revenue...

Ron — 5/31/2023 9:27:22 PM

C3.ai Inc. plunged 20% in extended trading after providing a fiscal-year revenue outlook that fell short of analysts’ estimates, fueling concerns the artificial intelligence software company is not living up to the investor enthusiasm that has seen its stock price more than triple this year.

Sales will increase 11% to 20% to a midpoint of $307.5 million in the fiscal year ending April 2024, the Redwood City, California-based company said Wednesday in a statement. Analysts, on average, estimated $317 million, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The company projected an adjusted loss of $50 million to $75 million in the fiscal year, which is in line with estimates.

Shares dropped to a low of $31.10 in extended trading after closing at $40.01 in New York. As investors have developed an insatiable appetite for AI, the company’s stock has leaped 258% this year, making it the best-performing stock in the S&P North American Expanded Technology Software Index. C3.ai has jumped 45% just since Nvidia Corp.’s blockbuster earnings last week, which boosted a basket of AI-related stocks.

finance.yahoo.com

[Julius Wong] [graphic]

Julius Wong — 5/26/2023 7:32:31 PM

[Savant] The easiest, fastest way for customers to begin deploying generative AI acr...

Savant — 5/26/2023 1:27:41 PM

The easiest, fastest way for customers to begin deploying generative AI across their organizations

REDWOOD CITY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 24, 2023--

C3 AI (NYSE: AI), the Enterprise AI application software company, announced today that the C3 Generative AI Product Suite is now available as a public offering on Google Cloud Marketplace. Any purchases made through Google Cloud Marketplace are easily tracked and can count towards a customer's committed spending with Google Cloud.

Google Cloud Marketplace provides their customers with the ability to seamlessly purchase and access products from Google Cloud's partners. With C3 Generative AI joining the rest of C3 AI's products on Marketplace, the procurement and onboarding process is further streamlined to allow customers to access C3 AI and Google Cloud's combined expertise in just a few clicks.

"Since we announced C3 Generative AI, we've had intense interest from current customers and prospects to get these capabilities deployed and in use across their systems," said C3 AI CEO Thomas M. Siebel. "Enterprises are looking for ways to locate and retrieve relevant information from their diverse, often siloed systems. C3 Generative AI provides a transformative human-computer interaction model that helps users at the largest organizations rapidly get access to the right information and take concrete action."

The C3 Generative AI Product Suite enables users to ask complex questions about their data and get answers through a simple user interface that everyone across the organization knows how to use. C3 Generative AI is offered as both a standalone application and also packaged as part of existing C3 AI applications such as C3 AI Readiness, C3 AI ESG, and C3 AI Supply Network Risk. Users can easily interact with complex applications to find relevant information and also take appropriate actions.

Customers can now view and purchase all C3 AI products on Google Cloud Marketplace by simply searching and transacting on the platform itself. Marketplace allows interested parties to standardize multiple purchasing functions into a single step, including negotiation and deployment.

"Purchasing the C3 AI Pilot through Google Cloud Marketplace was such a quick and easy process compared to the typical journey of securing enterprise software, which is usually drawn out and complicated," said Honorio Padr?n, CTO at Pantaleon, one of the largest sugar producers in Central America.

Together, C3 AI and Google Cloud have already conducted several transactions through Google Cloud Marketplace, including a large industrial agricultural company, a leading financial technology company, and a global manufacturing company.

[Julius Wong] AI Darling Criticized for Product Delays, Founder Tom Siebel’s Micromanaging ar...

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[Julius Wong] The White House is looking to develop a national AI strategy May 24, 2023 5:48 ...

Julius Wong — 5/24/2023 11:27:20 PM

The White House is looking to develop a national AI strategy

May 24, 2023 5:48 AM ET
Microsoft Corporation (MSFT), AI, GOOG, GOOGL IBM, BIDU, ORCL, NVDA, MU, ADBE, SSNLF, AVGO, PLTR, GFAI, BBAI, SOUN
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As generative AI systems take many industries by storm, calls have been growing on the need to regulate emerging tools and address the potential downsides of the technology. Just last week, the CEO of OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, testified to Congress about the need for government intervention to mitigate the risks of increasingly powerful artificial intelligence models. While lawmakers didn't arrive at any specific proposals at the first AI hearing on Capitol Hill, several ideas were brought up and more are now on the horizon.

Snapshot: In response to "one of the most powerful technologies of our time," the Biden administration is taking new steps to "advance responsible artificial intelligence." The first is updating its roadmap, called the National AI R&D Strategic Plan, which outlines key priorities and goals for federal investments in AI research and development. It also released a new request for public input on critical AI issues, like "protecting individuals' rights and safety, and harnessing AI to improve lives." A new report on AI trends in education is being addressed as well, which will cover the risks and opportunities related to teaching, learning, research, and assessment.

Social media went through similar scrutiny during its growth stages in the 2010s. Under the microscope were addictive behavior and disorders stemming from social comparison - and later - data privacy and misinformation. The difference this time around is that AI companies are generally calling for increased regulation as they disrupt current models, compared to the once-famous motto of "move fast and break things" of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. The government also now seems to be keenly aware of moving too slowly on the tech front, with U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy even releasing an advisory on Tuesday that covers the dangers of social media on child and adolescent brain development.

[Julius Wong] Artificial Intelligence grows louder as Wall Street receives another ETF in AIDB...

Julius Wong — 5/24/2023 10:38:06 AM

Artificial Intelligence grows louder as Wall Street receives another ETF in AIDB

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[Julius Wong] C3.ai Stock Rises on Earnings Update. Demand Is ‘Just Exploding’ for Enterprise ...

Julius Wong — 5/16/2023 8:53:22 AM

C3.ai Stock Rises on Earnings Update. Demand Is ‘Just Exploding’ for Enterprise AI, CEO Says

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Julius Wong — 5/15/2023 2:10:01 PM

[Savant] longer term graph shows 183.xx high on 12/21/2020 C3.ai, Inc. (AI) Interactive ...

Savant — 5/15/2023 1:51:51 PM

longer term graph shows 183.xx high on 12/21/2020

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