Stocks · Technology · Software - Application
C3.ai, Inc. AI
$11.01 -0.90% Close, Oct 2, 2026 · NYSE · Market cap $1.67B
Expensive vs sector
Next earnings report: Dec 2, 2026
Scroll or pinch to zoom, drag to move. Daily prices adjusted for splits. Markers: E = earnings (green beat, red miss), S = split, D = dividend.
Three things to know
- Operating margin narrowed to -198.4% from -101.2% a year earlier.
- The diluted share count rose 14.5% in a year.
- Revenue over the last four quarters was $232.4M, down 37.5% from a year earlier.
PromtFinance scores
Each score is a percentile within the Technology sector (0–100). Under each score: how the stock ranks in its sector on every component. As of Oct 5, 2026.
How fast revenue, earnings and cash flow are growing.
- Revenue growth (TTM, YoY)Bottom 2%
- Revenue growth, 3-year CAGRBottom 23%
- Revenue growth accelerationBottom 23%
Returns on capital, margins, earnings quality and balance-sheet strength.
- Return on invested capitalBottom 3%
- Gross marginBottom 21%
- Operating marginBottom 7%
- Accruals (lower is better)Top 6%
How cheap the shares are relative to earnings, cash flow and their own history.
- Earnings yieldBottom 9%
- Free-cash-flow yieldBottom 12%
- EBITDA / enterprise valueBottom 6%
- Sales / enterprise valueBottom 34%
Strength and persistence of the price trend, including versus the S&P 500.
- 12-month return excluding last monthBottom 15%
- 6-month returnTop 48%
- 1-year return vs S&P 500Bottom 19%
- Distance from 52-week highBottom 28%
- Trend checklist (0–4)Top 44%
Earnings surprises and analyst sentiment (estimate-revision history is being collected).
- Average EPS surprise, last 4 quartersBottom 39%
- Consecutive EPS beatsBottom 44%
- Share of analysts rating BuyBottom 4%
- Upside to consensus price targetBottom 7%
Low volatility, shallow drawdowns, low market sensitivity and modest leverage.
- Volatility, 60 days (lower is better)Top 27%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 yearsBottom 12%
- Beta vs S&P 500 (lower is better)Bottom 22%
What changed
Latest four quarters versus the same period a year earlier (growth: versus one quarter earlier).
| Measure | Before | Now | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (YoY) | -35.7% | -37.5% | ↓ |
| Gross margin | 56.5% | 29.1% | ↓ |
| Operating margin | -101.2% | -198.4% | ↓ |
| FCF margin | -23.1% | -66.4% | ↓ |
Fundamental momentum
| Measure | Now (TTM) | Year / quarter before | Sector rank | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (TTM, YoY) | -37.5% | -35.7% | ↓ | Bottom 2% |
| Gross margin | 29.1% | 56.5% | ↓ | Bottom 21% |
| Operating margin | -198.4% | -101.2% | ↓ | Bottom 7% |
| Net margin | -192.1% | -92.1% | ↓ | — |
| Free-cash-flow margin | -66.4% | -23.1% | ↓ | — |
| Return on invested capital | -61.5% | — | Bottom 3% | |
| Revenue growth, 3-year CAGR | -2.1% | — | Bottom 23% |
Quality of earnings and balance sheet
- Accruals (net income − OCF) / assetsLower is better; high accruals can signal weaker earnings quality.
- -33.5%
- Stock-based compensation / revenueA cost to shareholders through dilution.
- 87.8%
- Receivables growth vs revenue growthReceivables growing much faster than sales can be a warning.
- +20.6 pp
- Net debt / EBITDABelow 1× is conservative; above 3× is high leverage.
- Net cash
Shareholder returns
- Dividend yield (dividends paid, TTM)
- 0.00%
- Net buyback yield (TTM)
- -5.29%
- Shareholder yield
- -5.29%
- Share count change, 1 year
- +14.5%
- Share count change, 3-year CAGR
- +10.2%
Shareholder yield = dividends + net buybacks over the last four quarters, divided by market cap.
Based on the four quarters through Jul 31, 2026 (filed Sep 9, 2026).
Earnings and expectations
Earnings momentum
- Consecutive EPS beats
- 2
- Beats in the last 8 reports
- 7 of 8
- Average EPS surprise, last 4
- +5.5%
- Average 2-day reaction, last 8
- +0.3%
- Positive 20 days after report
- 2 of 8
Analysts
- Consensus price target
- $9.67
- Target vs current price
- -12.2%
- Analysts with a rating
- 28
- Share rating Buy or Strong Buy
- 21%
- Consensus rating
- Hold
How the stock reacted to recent reports
| Report date | EPS surprise | 2 days | 5 days | 20 days | 60 days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 2, 2026 | +23.2% | +1.7% | +0.4% | +6.3% | — |
| Jun 3, 2026 | +13.2% | -4.2% | -3.5% | -15.7% | -7.6% |
| Feb 25, 2026 | -37.9% | +1.9% | -10.1% | -18.1% | -8.3% |
| Dec 3, 2025 | +23.6% | +4.5% | +11.6% | -6.2% | -39.8% |
| Sep 3, 2025 | +2.6% | -0.8% | -6.4% | +3.1% | -15.7% |
| May 28, 2025 | +20.4% | -3.8% | +7.3% | -1.2% | -29.5% |
| Feb 26, 2025 | +52.0% | +0.4% | -16.1% | -10.7% | -16.9% |
| Dec 9, 2024 | +62.5% | +2.9% | -2.6% | -11.6% | -44.4% |
Returns from the close before each report. Past reactions do not determine future ones.
Earnings history
| Report date | EPS | Estimate | Surprise | Revenue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 2, 2026 | -$0.20 | -$0.26 | +23.2% | $52.4M |
| Jun 3, 2026 | -$0.33 | -$0.38 | +13.2% | $51.6M |
| Feb 25, 2026 | -$0.40 | -$0.29 | -37.9% | $53.3M |
| Dec 3, 2025 | -$0.25 | -$0.33 | +23.6% | $75.1M |
| Sep 3, 2025 | -$0.37 | -$0.38 | +2.6% | $70.3M |
| May 28, 2025 | -$0.16 | -$0.20 | +20.4% | $108.7M |
| Feb 26, 2025 | -$0.12 | -$0.25 | +52.0% | $98.8M |
| Dec 9, 2024 | -$0.06 | -$0.16 | +62.5% | $94.3M |
Valuation in context
| Multiple | Now | 5-year median | 5-year percentile | Sector rank (cheapness) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| EV / Sales | 6.61× | — | — | Bottom 34% |
| Free-cash-flow yield | -9.23% | — | — | Bottom 12% |
| Earnings yield | -28.07% | — | — | Bottom 9% |
Technical state
Trend checklist
- ✓ Price above 20-day average
- ✓ Price above 50-day average
- ✓ Price above 200-day average
- ✗ 50-day average above 200-day
- ✗ MACD histogram positive
Trend quality
- Days above the 50-day average
- 44
- Days above the 200-day average
- 10
- 50-day average slope (20 days)
- +7.6%
- 200-day average slope (20 days)
- -3.6%
- Distance from 50-day average
- +7.6%
- Distance from 200-day average
- +7.3%
- RSI (14)
- 57.3
- Relative volume
- 1.09×
Risk and drawdowns
- Volatility, 60 days (annualized)
- 45.5%
- Volatility vs own 5-year history
- 4th percentile · Low for this stock
- Beta vs S&P 500 (2 years, weekly)
- 2.07
- Correlation with S&P 500
- 0.48
- Current drawdown from 1-year high
- -44.0%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 years
- -81.9%
Largest declines in the past six years
| From peak | To low | Decline | Length | Recovery |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 22, 2020 | Mar 27, 2026 | -95.6% | 1320 days | Not yet recovered |
| Dec 10, 2020 | Dec 15, 2020 | -21.5% | 3 days | 3 days (Dec 18, 2020) |
Declines of 10% or more from a closing high, measured on daily closes.
Financial statements
- Market cap
- $1.67B
- EPS, diluted (TTM)
- -$3.09
- Revenue (TTM)
- $232.4M
- 52-week range
- $7.68 – $20.22
| FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | FY 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $252.8M | $266.8M | $310.6M | $389.1M | $250.3M |
| Gross profit | $189.0M | $180.5M | $178.6M | $235.9M | $77.4M |
| Operating income | -$196.1M | -$290.5M | -$318.3M | -$324.4M | -$487.7M |
| Net income | -$192.1M | -$268.8M | -$279.7M | -$288.7M | -$470.4M |
| EPS (diluted) | -$1.84 | -$2.45 | -$2.34 | -$2.24 | -$3.35 |
| Q2 2025 | Q3 2025 | Q4 2025 | Q1 2026 | Q2 2026 | Q3 2026 | Q4 2026 | Q1 2027 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $94.3M | $98.8M | $108.7M | $70.3M | $75.1M | $53.3M | $51.6M | $52.4M |
| Net income | -$66.0M | -$80.2M | -$79.7M | -$116.8M | -$104.7M | -$133.4M | -$115.6M | -$92.8M |
| EPS (diluted) | -$0.52 | -$0.62 | -$0.60 | -$0.86 | -$0.75 | -$0.95 | -$0.79 | -$0.60 |
| FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | FY 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operating cash flow | -$86.5M | -$115.7M | -$62.4M | -$41.4M | -$188.8M |
| Capital expenditure | -$4.3M | -$71.5M | -$28.0M | -$3.0M | -$1.9M |
| Free cash flow | -$90.8M | -$187.2M | -$90.4M | -$44.4M | -$190.7M |
| Dividends paid | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Net share buybacks | $5.8M | $7.6M | $24.5M | $31.3M | $17.0M |
Cash outflows are shown as negative numbers.
- Cash and short-term investments
- $651.1M
- Total assets
- $874.8M
- Total liabilities
- $179.9M
- Total debt
- $0
- Net debt
- -$136.4M
- Shareholders’ equity
- $694.9M
As of Jul 31, 2026 (filed Sep 9, 2026).
Dividends
| Ex-date | Amount | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Dec 30, 2019 | $0.23 | Feb 3, 2020 |
| Sep 27, 2019 | $0.23 | Oct 31, 2019 |
| Jul 3, 2019 | $0.23 | Jul 31, 2019 |
| Mar 28, 2019 | $0.38 | Apr 30, 2019 |
| Dec 28, 2018 | $0.38 | Jan 31, 2019 |
| Sep 27, 2018 | $0.38 | Oct 31, 2018 |
| Jun 28, 2018 | $0.38 | Jul 31, 2018 |
| Mar 28, 2018 | $0.55 | Apr 30, 2018 |
Short interest
- Shares sold short
- 42,395,077
- Days to cover
- 6.93
- Change vs previous report
- -9.2%
FINRA short interest, settlement date Sep 15, 2026.
Stock splits
- Oct 7, 2009
- 1-for-20