BigBear.ai (BBAI 8.43%) stock posted huge gains across February's trading. The company's share price closed out last month up 107.4%, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence.
Artificial intelligence (AI) stocks enjoyed an explosive bullish run last month, and BigBear.ai participated in the rally. While there wasn't any business-specific news driving the company's share price higher, the combination of surging AI excitement and strong business results from high-profile players including Nvidia, Palantir, and C3.ai helped power incredible gains for the stock.
BigBear.ai stock is surging thanks to AI excitement
AI stocks went on a tear in February. Excitement for the emerging tech category was already running hot, and strong corporate earnings from some visible players in the space helped push BigBear.ai and other stocks higher.
Palantir published its Q4 results after the market closed on Feb. 5 and posted sales performance that came in better than Wall Street's target. The company reported non-GAAP (adjusted) earnings per share of $0.08 on sales of $608.4 million. Meanwhile, the average analyst estimate had called for the date specialist to post revenue of $602.4 million in the quarter.
Nvidia was next up with its own market-shaping Q4 report. The graphics-processing-unit leader published fourth-quarter results on Feb. 21 and delivered sales and earnings performance that crushed the market's expectations. The AI front-runner reported adjusted earnings of $5.16 per share on revenue of $22.1 billion, trouncing the average Wall Street target's call for per-share earnings of $4.64 on revenue of $20.6 billion.
BigBear stock also got a boost from C3.ai's earnings report on Feb. 28. For the third quarter of the company's current fiscal year, which ended Jan. 31, C3 posted an adjusted loss of $0.13 on sales of $78.4 million. The performance came in significantly better than the average analyst estimate's call for a per-share loss of $0.28 on sales of roughly $76.1 million.
In addition to serving up better-than-expected quarterly results, Palantir, Nvidia, and C3.ai also issued encouraging forward guidance. Favorable demand indicators from these high-profile AI companies helped send BigBear's otherwise beaten-down stock soaring last month.
What comes next for BigBear.ai?
BigBear went public in the fourth quarter of 2021 through a merger with a special purpose acquisition company and has seen volatile trading since its debut. Despite the surge for the company's share price last month and a 3% gain in March's first trading day, BigBear stock is still down roughly 73% from the high that it reached in 2022.
Investors won't have to wait long to get a closer look at BigBear's business performance and outlook. The company is scheduled to publish its fourth-quarter results and host an investor conference call after the market closes on March 7. f
For Q4, management's most recent guidance suggested that sales would come in between $40.4 million $55.4 million. At the midpoint of the guidance range, that would mean delivering sales growth of roughly 18.6% year over year. Turning to full-year performance, BigBear expects to close out the year with revenue between $155 million and $170 million, good for growth of roughly 4.8% at the midpoint of the target.
