Snowflake Inc. (SNOW) reports third-quarter earnings Wednesday, and the market already has a pretty good idea of what's coming—thanks to an executive who probably wishes he could take back a social media interview.
The Accidental Leak That Launched a Thousand Trades
About a month ago, Snowflake's Chief Revenue Officer, Mike Gannon, sat down for an interview with an influencer called "theschoolofhardknockz" on Instagram and TikTok. During the conversation, Gannon casually mentioned that Snowflake would report $4.5 billion in revenue for the year and was tracking toward $10 billion over the next couple of years.
Here's the thing: that $4.5 billion figure is higher than the company's official guidance of $4.395 billion. So either Gannon was being overly optimistic, or he just confirmed that Snowflake is about to beat its own projections.
The company quickly filed an 8-K document to do damage control, clarifying that Gannon "is not a designated spokesperson authorized to disclose financial information on behalf of the Company." In other words: that wasn't an official statement, folks.
But analysts aren't buying the walk-back. They're taking Gannon's comments at face value and expecting the cloud data storage company to post a solid beat when it reports Wednesday.
Wall Street Stays Bullish
DA Davidson certainly isn't worried about the controversy. The firm reiterated its "Buy" rating and bumped its price target from $275 to $300 per share—representing 15.52% upside from current levels.
The analysts pointed to strengthening momentum in Snowflake's core data-warehousing business and solid traction across its product lineup. They went as far as calling the company "arguably one of the best stories in software," which is high praise in an environment where software stocks have had a rough ride.
Wednesday's earnings call should be interesting. Will management address the leak directly? Will the numbers back up Gannon's comments? Either way, it's a reminder that in the age of social media, every executive interview is potentially market-moving.