C3.ai stock pops, company raises outlook amid 'accelerating' AI interest

C3.ai (AI) stock closed up more than 23% after the artificial intelligence company raised its outlook citing interest in applying predictive analytics "has never been greater."

"Overall business environment for enterprise AI is more active than we have seen since the company’s inception and seems to be accelerating," read the company's preliminary revenue release.

C3.ai says total revenue for its fourth fiscal quarter quarter was $72.1 million – $72.4 million, exceeding the company's own guidance. C3.ai expects an adjusted operating loss of $23.7 million - $23.9 million, narrower than previous expectations of $24 million - $28 million. Exact results will be released at the end of May.

The AI software company, whose clients include Bank of America, Shell, and 3M, said "the number of qualified enterprise opportunities for closure within 12 months in our sales pipeline has increased by over 100% in the past year."

In March, C3.ai founder and CEO Tom Siebel told Yahoo Finance AI "will soon be a $600 billion addressable software market. Everyone will be using enterprise AI applications, just like they use PCs, just like they use relational databases."

On Monday C3.ai also released the results of an investigation into allegations brought forth separately by short sellers Spruce Point Capital and Kerrisdale Capital.

"The investigations found that none of the allegations or insinuations of wrongdoing made by either Spruce Point or Kerrisdale were supported by the facts, and no irregularities, misrepresentations, or omissions in the Company’s prior disclosures were identified," said the C3.ai press release.

In February, Spruce Point alleged "Evidence of a severely challenged partnership with Baker Hughes, a related-party and C3.ai's largest customer."

In early April the stock tanked 38% in a span of two days, after short seller Kerrisdale Capital published a letter alleging the AI-related company was involved in “aggressive accounting to inflate its income statement.”

C3.ai responded to allegations following the Kerrisdale letter, highlighting it "appears to be a highly creative and transparent attempt by a self-acclaimed short seller to short the stock, publish an inflammatory letter to move the stock price downward, then cover the short and pocket the profits."

Investors piled into C3.ai and other artificial intelligence related stocks amid a craze over OpenAi's ChatGPT earlier this year. In early February the stock had surged 100% over the span of a month.

Year-to-date AI is up roughly 114%.

Ines is a senior business reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter at @ines_ferre

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