Shares of Snowflake are a ‘high quality growth’ story for investors with more than 30% upside from here, according to Jefferies. Analyst Brent Thill upgraded the stock to buy from hold, saying in a Tuesday note that shares are at an “attractive entry point” given its long-term targets. Snowflake’s stock price has fallen 63% off its highs, as higher interest rates hurt growth names. “We are upgrading SNOW after a significant compression on its multiple in the last 6-8 months, in part driven by a broader sector drawdown and by continued execution and strength in top-line growth,” Thill wrote. The analyst raised the price target to $200 from $125. The new price target is 35% above where shares closed on Monday. Jefferies believes Snowflake’s solid fundamentals, including a strong management team and growing end-markets, offers investors high quality growth over the long term. Snowflake has a total addressable market of more than $90 billion after expanding its business from data warehousing. The company expects its free cash flow margins to grow to 25% in 2028. “While SNOW is among the fastest growing names in software (with consistent triple digit growth in recent Qs), it has achieved such growth while rapidly improving its unit economics and operating leverage,” the note read. “These disciplined investments are reflected in rapidly improving profitability margins, with SNOW delivering 12% FCF margin in CY21 and guiding to 16%/25% in CY22E/CY28E.” Shares of Snowflake jumped more than 3% in Tuesday premarket trading. —CNBC’s Michael Bloom contributed to this report.
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