What Happened?
Shares of cloud data platform provider Snowflake (NYSE: SNOW) jumped 3.2% in the after-market session after Bank of America lifted its rating on the company to 'Buy' from 'Neutral'. Analyst Bradley Sills of Bank of America Securities raised the rating, citing growing optimism ahead of Snowflake's second-quarter earnings report scheduled for August 27. The price target for the stock was also increased to $240 from $220. Sills highlighted that the cloud data company is experiencing strong momentum in three key areas: its core data warehouse business, as well as its emerging Cortex AI and Snowpark developer platforms. The analyst expressed strong conviction in the durability of Snowflake's AI-driven momentum and its ability to sustain growth.
After the initial pop the shares cooled down to $194.33, up 0.9% from previous close.
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What Is The Market Telling Us
Snowflake’s shares are quite volatile and have had 16 moves greater than 5% over the last year. In that context, today’s move indicates the market considers this news meaningful but not something that would fundamentally change its perception of the business.
The previous big move we wrote about was about 23 hours ago when the stock dropped 3% on the news that investors took some profits off the table as markets awaited signals on future monetary policy from the Federal Reserve's Jackson Hole symposium later in the week. The downturn in the market was largely attributed to a significant sell-off in megacap tech and chipmaker shares. Nvidia, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), and Broadcom all saw notable drops, dragging down the VanEck Semiconductor ETF. Other major tech-related companies like Tesla, Meta Platforms, and Netflix were also under pressure. A key reason for this trend is that much of the recent market gains have been concentrated in the "AI trade," which includes these large technology and semiconductor companies. So this could also mean that some investors are locking in some gains ahead of more definitive feedback from the Fed.
Snowflake is up 23.4% since the beginning of the year, but at $194.33 per share, it is still trading 13.9% below its 52-week high of $225.79 from July 2025. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of Snowflake’s shares at the IPO in September 2020 would now be looking at an investment worth $765.29.
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