Snowflake stock rose 2.5% in premarket trading

Snowflake stock rose 2.5% in premarket trading on beating revenue estimates and giving upbeat forecast.

Snowflake Inc., the software company with 2020’s biggest U.S. initial public offering, delivered better-than-expected results and a rosy forecast for the current quarter.

Product sales, which make up more than 90% of Snowflake’s revenue, will be $280 million to $285 million this quarter, the company said on Wednesday. Analysts have projected $271.4 million on average. Revenue also topped projections in the second quarter, and Snowflake posted a narrower loss than predicted.

Snowflake, which makes software for warehousing data in the cloud, is benefiting from companies modernizing their corporate applications and networks. Customers also are seeking ways to manage and analyze ever-increasing volumes of information from multiple locations. And Snowflake is facing less of a threat from a rival Amazon Web Services product called Redshift, according to UBS AG.

Snowflake makes software that pulls in, stores and analyzes information from multiple systems. Its customers include BlackRock Inc. and McKesson Corp. Product revenue climbed to $254.6 million last quarter, compared with an average analyst estimate of $240.1 million. Snowflake reported a loss of 64 cents a share, narrower than the 70 cents projected.

At its analyst day in June, Snowflake said it is aiming for $10 billion in sales by fiscal 2029. Analysts expect annual sales to top $1 billion in the current fiscal year, 2022.

Snowflake listed on the New York Stock Exchange in September in the largest IPO ever for a software maker. The stock has more than doubled since then. It climbed as much as 5.3% to $298.75 in late trading Wednesday, before paring the gains.

The onetime Silicon Valley company said in May that it no longer has a corporate headquarters because its workforce is distributed. It currently lists Bozeman, Montana -- where Chief Executive Officer Frank Slootman and Chief Financial Officer Mike Scarpelli live -- as its principal executive office.