C3.ai Inc. plunged more than 22% 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 has jumped 45% just since Nvidia Corp.’s blockbuster earnings last week, which boosted a basket of AI-related stocks.
Still, many are betting against the company. Short interest amounted to about 29% of shares available to the public as of May 24, according to data from S3 Partners. Activist investors have accused the company of chasing trends and employing poor accounting practices. Former employees said the company has routinely overstated the readiness of its technology in the past, although founder and Chief Executive Officer Tom Siebel has defended his company’s products and practices.
“The C3 AI Platform is increasingly recognized as the gold-standard in enterprise AI,” Siebel said in the statement. “We have over 40 production enterprise AI applications that offer the market rapid time to value; our C3 Generative AI offerings are being enthusiastically received.”
Much of the investor interest is based on C3’s new generative artificial intelligence “product suite” it debuted in March. The company said it signed generative AI application agreements with Georgia-Pacific, Flint Hills Resources, and the U.S. Department of Defense Missile Defense Agency in the quarter. It previously announced the three customers when it released preliminary quarterly results earlier this month.