C3.ai (AI) Shares Fell Despite Solid Revenue Outlook

C3.ai Inc. (NYSE:AI) started its journey in 2009 by offering cloud-based artificial intelligence (AI) tools to energy firms. Today, the company serves various clients from government, industrial, and commercial sectors, among others. C3.ai’s software allows its customers to streamline their operations, reduce expenses, and make decisions based on data.

The company went public in December 2020 by pricing its shares at $42. C3.ai stock has been highly volatile since going public. Its stock has touched a high price of $183.90 and a low price of $90.03 in less than three months following its debut on NYSE.

The artificial intelligence software company on Monday announced its financial results for the third quarter. C3.ai reported a loss of $16.9 million, or 23 cents per share for the three months ended January 31, narrower than a loss of 27 cents per share in the comparable period of 2020.

Revenue climbed 19 percent on a year-over-year basis to $49.1 million, easily beating the consensus forecast of $47.3 million. Subscription revenue jumped 23 percent to $42.7 million in the quarter, while professional services revenue slipped 4 percent to $6.4 million.

Commenting on the quarter, CEO Thomas Siebel said in a statement, “We continue to establish our leadership as the only enterprise AI software pure play.” He added, “This is a large and rapidly growing market; we continue to innovate; we continue to expand our market-partner ecosystem and associated distribution capacity; and we continue to demonstrate technology leadership. I believe that we are increasingly well-positioned to establish a global market leadership position in enterprise AI software.”

C3.ai also issued its revenue outlook for the fourth quarter. It expects to report revenue in the range of $50 million to $51 million for the current quarter, above analysts’ average estimate of $48.3 million.

Nevertheless, C3.ai stock plummeted more than 15 percent in the mid-day trading Tuesday on heavy volume despite an upbeat sales outlook. C3.ai shares have slipped nearly 15 percent so far in 2021, including today’s drop.