Snowflake's Institutional Backers Go All In Ahead of Earnings Showdown

Institutional investors boost Snowflake stakes despite 33% stock decline; AI product blitz and May 27 earnings test key for turnaround.

The market's verdict on Snowflake has been brutal this year, with the stock shedding roughly a third of its value since January. Yet behind the bearish price action, a very different story is unfolding among the smart money crowd. Institutional investors have been quietly loading up on shares, betting that the data cloud company's aggressive push into artificial intelligence will eventually win over the skeptics.

Harel Insurance Investments led the charge, ballooning its stake by a staggering 247% to over 660,000 shares during the last quarter. The Swedish bank Swedbank also added to its position, increasing holdings by 6% to roughly 1.33 million shares. Not everyone is convinced, however — Alpha Cubed Investments slashed its position by more than 80%. Still, with institutions now holding approximately 65% of all outstanding shares, the professional investor class is clearly leaning bullish.

A Product Blitz Ahead of the Numbers

Snowflake isn't waiting for the earnings call to make its case. On May 5, the company rolled out three new views within its ORGANIZATION_USAGE schema — NETWORK_POLICIES, NETWORK_RULE_REFERENCES, and NETWORK_RULES — giving administrators centralized oversight of security configurations across all accounts. It also declared four new instance families for Snowpark Container Services generally available, offering developers more flexible compute options for AI workloads. The AI_PARSE_DOCUMENT tool now handles up to 2,000 pages and extracts image content.

This flurry of product updates is part of a broader strategy. Over the past year alone, Snowflake has unleashed more than 430 new features. The spending required to sustain this pace is a key concern for investors watching the delicate balance between growth and profitability.

Analyst Sentiment Remains Split

Wall Street is divided on the stock. Citi and Goldman Sachs see Snowflake as exceptionally well positioned for enterprise AI adoption, while Bank of America and UBS have recently trimmed their price targets, pointing to fierce competition in the cloud market and the stock's lofty valuation. The consensus rating stands at "Moderate Buy" with an average price target of €242 — nearly double the current level.

The stock recently bounced 10% in a single session to €131.40, but that still leaves it far below the 52-week high of €240.65. The 200-day moving average remains a distant milestone. The net revenue retention rate of 125% offers some reassurance that existing customers are spending more, though the costs from the Observe acquisition and new AI products continue to weigh on margins.

The May 27 Earnings Test

All eyes are now on May 27, when Snowflake reports first-quarter results for fiscal 2027 after the US market close. Management is targeting product revenue between $1.262 billion and $1.267 billion, representing roughly 27% year-over-year growth. For the full year, the company has set a goal of approximately $5.7 billion.

The critical question for analysts will be how much the AI agent "Cortex Code" is already driving usage. If the Snowpark ecosystem is expanding faster than anticipated, it could help offset margin pressure. Hit the target, and the bears may have to reconsider their bearish stance. Miss it, and the stock's already painful slide could deepen further.