Snowflake Inc. (SNOW) is getting some love from Wall Street ahead of its earnings report, with JPMorgan analyst Mark R Murphy maintaining an Overweight rating and a $255 price target. The company reports results after the closing bell on Wednesday, Dec. 3.
What's more interesting than the rating itself is what Murphy heard from a Fortune 150 customer he recently spoke with. Turns out, Snowflake isn't just another tool in their tech stack—it's becoming the foundation of how they think about data and AI.
The Customer Perspective
According to Murphy, the customer described Snowflake as a unified data layer that pulls together information from across different business units. It replaced their old on-premises business intelligence infrastructure and now provides end-to-end visibility for both analytics and customer-facing needs.
Here's where it gets interesting: Snowflake has become central to the company's AI and data strategy, essentially forming the core of their tech stack and influencing how they allocate their AI budget. That said, they haven't made any major AI platform decisions yet because, well, the market is still evolving rapidly.
The customer is using multiple Snowflake offerings. They're leveraging Snowpark for performance improvements similar to what they'd get from Spark-based solutions, using zero-copy data sharing for client reporting, and experimenting with Cortex to integrate with certain applications. Interestingly, they're still using Databricks for some workloads—a reminder that enterprise tech stacks are rarely all-or-nothing affairs.
Why Murphy Stays Bullish
Murphy says he remains confident in Snowflake's long-term prospects, driven by strong secular tailwinds in data management and AI. The company's rapid product innovation, particularly in AI and machine learning capabilities, combined with its strategic position as a key data layer, gives it a favorable competitive edge.
Looking ahead, the analyst estimates adjusted earnings per share of $1.15 in 2026 and $1.41 in 2027.
Price Action: SNOW shares were up 2.43% at $265.95 at last check on Wednesday.
