By Christiana Sciaudone
Investing.com -- C3 Ai Inc (NYSE:AI) dropped 10% on Monday after analyst ratings on the newly public company came in mixed.
Wedbush to Piper Sandler (NYSE:PIPR) give it a buy, Deutsche Bank (DE:DBKGn) and Keybanc see a hold, while Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) says sell, StreetInsider reported.
The AI software provider went public in early December, jumping as much as 174% on its first day of trading, Business Insider reported.
The company was founded by a former Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) executive, Tom Siebel, and raised $651 million in its IPO.
Morgan Stanley set a $100 price target, saying that C3.ai's "compelling growth opportunity ahead" is already priced into the stock, The Street reported.
JMP Securities, however, set a price target of $167 and a buy-equivalent rating.
"We view C3 as an excellent opportunity for long-term durable growth and capital appreciation for a number of reasons," Street Insider reported analyst Patrick Walravens. He cited Siebel's leadership and experience, the focus on artificial intelligence projects in the commercial industrial sector with the potential to return significant economic value and a set of partnerships that should supplement C3’s go-to-market capabilities over time, with companies like Baker Hughes, Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Raytheon (NYSE:RTN), among other reasons, StreetInsider reported.
Last week, a Motley Fool article noted that while C3.ai has plenty of potential and room to grow, the stock is too expensive at 85 times last year's sales. Even if revenue doubles, it would still be more expensive than Palantir Technologies Inc (NYSE:PLTR), which trades at roughly 30 times next year's sales.