What happened

Shares of cloud analytics company Teradata (TDC 1.21%) skyrocketed on Thursday. Shares jumped as much as 35.3%, and as of 10:20 a.m. EDT today, the growth stock was up about 30%.

The stock's sharp gain follows the release of the company's preliminary first-quarter earnings per share and its revised forecast for growth in the annual value of the cloud contracts for its Teradata Vantage analytics service. 

A digital-looking cloud.

Image source: Getty Images.

So what

Teradata now expects adjusted EPS between $0.67 and $0.69, up from a previous forecast for $0.38 to $0.40. The company is guiding for the annual value of its Teradata Vantage cloud contracts (often referred to by the company as public cloud ARR) to increase by $16 million to $18 million during the quarter. Previously, management was expecting public cloud ARR growth of $10 million to $15 million during the period.

On the heels of these strong results, RBC Capital analyst Matthew Hedberg raised his 12-month price target for the stock from $27 to $45. He notes that the preliminary results suggest public cloud growth has accelerated on a sequential basis.

Now what

Investors will get more details about the quarter when Teradata reports its official first-quarter results, which is scheduled after market close on Thursday, May 6.