One of these businesses is more capital-intensive than the other.On Aug. 14, Warren Buffett's conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A 0.27%) (BRK.B 0.17%) released its updated stock holdings for the second quarter of 2024. The biggest headline-grabbing moves were that it sold all of its shares of Snowflake (SNOW 0.22%) and started a roughly $260 million position in Ulta Beauty (ULTA 2.85%). But both of these moves make perfect sense for Berkshire.To be clear, Berkshire Hathaway has plenty of money -- it had ...

It's hard to love the cloud-based data warehouse company right now.It's been a tough four years for Snowflake (SNOW 0.38%). The cloud-based data warehousing company went public at $120 per share on Sept. 16, 2020, more than doubled on its first trade to $245, and touched a record high of $401.89 on Nov. 16, 2021.At the time, the bulls were impressed by its triple-digit percentage growth rates and investments in its IPO from Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.A) (NYSE: BRK.B) and Salesforce (NYSE ...

Core Viewpoint - Berkshire Hathaway has exited its position in Snowflake, which may have been a premature move given the company's potential for future growth in the AI sector [1][4][10] Group 1: Berkshire's Investment in Snowflake - Berkshire Hathaway initially purchased Snowflake shares at a pre-IPO price of $120, which was advantageous compared to the debut trading price of around $245 [3] - The average trading price of Snowflake shares in Q2 was $148, with potential selling prices ranging from $125 to $155 depending on the timing of the sale [3] - The decision to sell was influenced by a decline in Snowflake's stock price following disappointing quarterly earnings and the retirement of its CEO [3][4] Group 2: Snowflake's Current Challenges - Snowflake is experiencing slowing growth and is not yet profitable, with a negative profit margin of -38% in Q1 [4][8] - A recent data breach has further eroded investor confidence in the company [4] - The stock has seen a significant decline, dropping about 20% since the quarterly report [3][5] Group 3: Future Potential of Snowflake - Snowflake's software for managing data in a cloud environment is positioned to benefit from the increasing demand for AI, as companies will need substantial data to train their AI models [5][10] - Analysts project Snowflake's revenue could reach approximately $5.3 billion by FY 2027, with the potential for a 20% profit margin translating to around $1.06 billion in profits [8][10] - Current valuation at 14 times sales could suggest a potential value play, despite being considered expensive for most companies [7][10]

Snowflake Inc SNOW stock is down 30.43% year-to-date and 13.37% over the past year.Let’s look at what the charts indicate for the Bozeman, Montana-based company ahead of its second-quarter earnings on Wednesday, and how the stock currently maps against Wall Street estimates.Snowflake Longer-Term Outlook Is Less OptimisticSnowflake faces slight bullish pressure, though its overall trend remains relatively stagnant. See below. Chart created using Benzinga ProThe stock is trading at $131.42, slightly above its ...

Snowflake (SNOW) is set to report its second-quarter fiscal 2025 results on Aug 21.The Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenues is pegged at $848.15 million, indicating an increase of 25.83% from the year-ago quarter’s reported figure.The consensus mark for earnings has been stable in the past 30 days at 15 cents per share. The figure suggests a decrease of 31.82% from the year-ago quarter’s levels.SNOW’s earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in three of the trailing four quarters, the average surprise be ...

Wall Street analysts expect Snowflake Inc. (SNOW) to post quarterly earnings of $0.15 per share in its upcoming report, which indicates a year-over-year decline of 31.8%. Revenues are expected to be $848.15 million, up 25.8% from the year-ago quarter.Over the past 30 days, the consensus EPS estimate for the quarter has remained unchanged. This demonstrates the covering analysts' collective reassessment of their initial projections during this period.Before a company announces its earnings, it is essential t ...

DNY59/iStock via Getty Images Intro & Thesis In May 2024, I issued a "Sell" rating for Snowflake Inc. (NYSE:SNOW) stock when it was trading at $147 apiece. Since then, despite some serious volatility, the broader market, as represented by the S&P 500 index (SP500) (SPY), has grown by over 5%. However, the SNOW stock has continued its downward trend, which started with the Q4 FY2024 report released in late February 2024. TrendSpider Software, SNOW, the author's notes I was basing my thesis on the slowing ...

Core Viewpoint - Warren Buffett sold his entire 6.1 million shares in Snowflake, indicating a significant shift in investor sentiment towards the company, especially after a substantial decline in stock value since its peak in October 2021 [1] Management Changes - Frank Slootman, the former CEO, announced his retirement in February 2024, leading to a 20% drop in Snowflake's stock value following a disappointing revenue forecast [3] - New CEO Ramaswamy, a former Google executive, aims to enhance AI capabilities for Snowflake's customers and is focused on long-term growth rather than quarterly earnings expectations [4][5] Competitive Landscape - Wells Fargo downgraded Snowflake's rating and reduced its price target by 35% due to increased competition from Databricks, Amazon Web Services, and Microsoft Azure, which are challenging Snowflake's market share [6] - Databricks reported a 50% sales growth to $1.6 billion in 2023, while Snowflake's sales grew 36% to $2.8 billion, indicating a competitive shift [6] Customer Retention Issues - A data breach involving AT&T's customer data on Snowflake's platform has led to concerns about customer retention, with some high-value accounts considering switching to competitors [8] Earnings Outlook - Snowflake's Q2 earnings report is anticipated to be modest, with a product revenue forecast of approximately $3.3 billion for FY 2025, representing 24% growth, and challenges related to high semiconductor costs [9][10] - Analysts have lowered revenue and earnings estimates for FY 2026 and FY 2027, indicating a cautious outlook for the company's near-term growth [10]

Snowflake Inc (NYSE:SNOW) stock is down 3.9% before the bell, after a bear note from Wells Fargo. The analyst downgraded shares of the cloud computing company to "equal weight" from "overweight" and lowered its price target from $200 to $130, citing multiple headwinds.Separately, Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway (BRK), sold the entirety of its stake in Snowflake. That equated to 6.1 million shares, or around $910 million.When we last covered SNOW in July, a historically bearish signal threatened to press ...

When deciding whether to buy, sell, or hold a stock, investors often rely on analyst recommendations. Media reports about rating changes by these brokerage-firm-employed (or sell-side) analysts often influence a stock's price, but are they really important?Before we discuss the reliability of brokerage recommendations and how to use them to your advantage, let's see what these Wall Street heavyweights think about Snowflake Inc. (SNOW) .Snowflake currently has an average brokerage recommendation (ABR) of 1.8 ...