Snowflake Inc. (SNOW) Communacopia + Technology 2026 — Key Takeaways

Equity Research 9 September 2026 | 8:39AM EDT

Snowflake Inc. (SNOW): Communacopia + Technology 2026 — Key Takeaways

Gabriela Borges, CFA | Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC

Maura Hager | Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC

Presenters: Sridhar Ramaswamy (CEO) and Brian Robins (CFO) Selina Zhang | Bottom Line: 1) Snowflake has two quarters of data now to forecast CoCo; long term Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC

focus centers on value capture rather than standalone gross margin; 2) AI is accelerating migration timelines and consumption ramps; and 3) Snowflake described a future in which enterprise applications become collections of agentic skills operating directly on governed enterprise data, rather than packaged SaaS, with Snowflake as the underlying data substrate.

n Improving confidence in forecasting CoCo, long term focus centers on value capture rather than unit economics. Snowflake highlighted growing confidence in CoCo forecasting, with two quarters of usage data now providing visibility into actual customer behavior rather than relying solely on theoretical adoption curves. That said, Snowflake emphasized it remains conservative when modeling new products and is not extrapolating recent usage trends. Snowflake reiterated its objective to monetize as high in the AI stack as possible, positioning CoCo as the highest-value layer, ahead of inference and the core data platform. On unit economics, Snowflake noted that if accelerated CoCo adoption creates gross margin pressure, it would view that as a worthwhile tradeoff given the potential for stronger consumption growth and greater platform monetization. Over time, Snowflake believes CoCo should be assessed based on incremental consumption and value capture rather than standalone gross margin outcomes. n AI is accelerating migration timelines and consumption ramps. Snowflake outlined how AI is reshaping customer onboarding by shortening migration cycles (including via fixed cost pricing) and enabling more outcome-oriented engagements. Customers are reaching meaningful consumption milestones more quickly than historical cohorts, with internal metrics showing steeper activation

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Goldman Sachs Snowflake Inc. (SNOW)

curves and faster paths to production. Snowflake attributed this trend to AI-enabled implementation, improved partner execution, and customers increasingly deploying agents within their own organizations. To support these efforts, Snowflake has introduced a new “activation engineer” role focused on accelerating go-lives, scaling production workloads, and driving faster realization of customer value. In our view, fixed cost migrations will be one of the primary drivers of share gain momentum over the medium term. n Expanding relevance in the application stack. Snowflake described a future in which enterprise applications become collections of agentic skills operating directly on governed enterprise data rather than traditional packaged SaaS products. In this model, Snowflake serves as the underlying data substrate, enabling customers to dynamically generate workflows, interfaces, automations, and AI-native applications on top of their existing data assets. As such, Snowflake sees the opportunity to extend beyond its traditional role in data warehousing and analytics into becoming the environment where operational applications are built, orchestrated, and continuously evolved. We see this as a key extension of Snowflake’s role beyond analytics infrastructure and into the application stack itself, expanding both its strategic relevance and addressable spend within the enterprise.

We maintain our Buy rating and 12-month price target of $436 based on a 82x EV/FCF multiple to…