Technology stocks have taken it on the chin in recent months, as "tech" became a dirty word, causing investors to throw the baby out with the bathwater. Many cloud computing stocks were caught up in the fray as macroeconomic tailwinds served to stifle the growth of many up-and-coming disruptors.
Not so for Snowflake (SNOW -1.00%). The company provides cloud storage but goes even further, helping companies gather, integrate, and analyze the information, providing meaningful and actionable insights from data on its platform.
Its quarterly results proved once again why the company is a special little Snowflake.
A beat by any other name
For its fiscal 2023 second quarter (ended July 31), Snowflake reported revenue of $497 million, up 83% year over year, on top of 103% growth in the prior-year quarter. The company's remaining performance obligation (RPO) -- which represents contractually obligated revenue that hasn't yet been billed -- grew to $2.7 billion, up 78%. This suggests that the company's current growth spurt will continue.
Profitability is still a ways off, as the company had a loss per share of $0.70. However, Snowflake generated strong and growing free cash flow of $54 million, which suggests that its losses are a result on noncash items including depreciation. Furthermore, it suggests that it's just a matter of time before the company generates meaningful profits.
The results were a mixed bag in terms of expectations, as analysts' consensus estimates called for revenue of $467 million and a loss per share of $0.56.
At the same time, its impressive customer metrics highlight Snowflake's massive and ongoing potential. The company grew its customer base to 6,808, up 36% year over year, but those spending $1 million or more over the preceding 12 months grew 112%. And existing customers tend to spend more over time, as evidenced by the company's world-class net revenue retention rate of 171%.
Perhaps more important to investors -- particularly in an environment marked by macroeconomic headwinds -- Snowflake put its money where its mouth is, issuing a solid outlook for the third quarter. The company is guiding for product revenue in a range of $500 million to $505 million, representing growth of 61% year over year at the midpoint of its guidance.
Snowflake also raised its full-year outlook, guiding for revenue of $1.91 billion at the midpoint, up from its prior forecast that called for revenue of about $1.893 billion.
Is Snowflake stock a buy?
Its blockbuster financial results aside, there are plenty of other reasons to add Snowflake to your buy list.
An incredible 100% of its customers recommend the company, the fifth consecutive year it has achieved this benchmark, according to Dresner.
Snowflake was selected as a Customers' Choice, according to Gartner Peer Insights, receiving 4.6 out of 5 stars. Furthermore, the company was identified as a leader in Gartner's vaunted Magic Quadrant for cloud database management systems.
If that weren't enough, there's also the massive opportunity the company is addressing. Snowflake is targeting a total addressable market that management estimates will reach $248 billion by 2026.
Just to be clear, all this robust growth and future potential doesn't come cheap, at least in terms of traditional valuation metrics. Snowflake is currently selling at 19 times next year's sales, when a reasonable price-to-sales ratio is between 1 and 2. However, given the company's consistently high revenue growth, that's a cheap price to pay, relatively speaking. Furthermore, with the stock price currently down roughly 53% off its recent highs, investors have the opportunity to get all that growth at a discount.
Given the company's improving financial metrics, consistently strong customer adoption, and the massive opportunity ahead, the evidence suggests that Snowflake stock is an unqualified buy.
