Summary
Snowflake reported revenue of $190.5 million for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2021, up 117.2% from the prior-year quarter. Product revenue, which excludes professional services, reached $178.3 million and grew 116% year over year. Full-year revenue was $592.0 million, up 123.6%, and full-year product revenue was $553.8 million, up 120%. Management credited higher consumption by existing customers, new customer additions, and an approximately 8% rise in capacity sales prices for the fiscal year.
Profitability moved the other way. Gross profit was $107.6 million in the quarter, up 102.3%, yet gross margin slipped to 56.5%, down 4.2 percentage points from the prior-year quarter. The company tied the compression to a jump in stock-based compensation, which hit $143.7 million in the quarter on more RSU grants and a higher weighted-average grant date fair value. The operating loss widened to $200.4 million, and the net loss widened to $198.9 million. Strip out stock-based compensation and related items, and the non-GAAP operating loss was $46.0 million, a negative 24% margin. For the full year the GAAP operating loss was $543.9 million against a non-GAAP operating loss of $224.9 million. Full-year gross margin came in at 59.0%, up 3.1 percentage points, and the full-year diluted loss per share was $3.81, a narrower loss than the prior year.
Customer metrics held up. Remaining performance obligations were $1.3 billion at period end, and the company expects roughly 55% of that to be recognized as revenue in the twelve months ending January 31, 2022. The weighted-average remaining life of contracts was 1.9 years. Current deferred revenue was $638.7 million, up 95.3%. Net revenue retention rate stood at 168% as of January 31, 2021. Total customers reached 4,139, and 77 customers produced more than $1 million in trailing 12-month product revenue. Management warned that the net revenue retention rate should decline over time as long-tenured customers make up a larger share of the base.
Cash trends improved. Operating cash flow was $19.6 million in the quarter, up 145.8% and a swing from a use of cash a year earlier. Full-year operating cash flow was negative $45.4 million, up 74.3% on the prior year. Capital expenditures were $11.0 million in the quarter, up 170.1%. Non-GAAP free cash flow was $7.3 million, a 4% margin, and adjusted free cash flow was $17.3 million, a 9% margin. For the full year, free cash flow was negative $85.7 million and adjusted free cash flow was negative $71.6 million. Snowflake ended the period with $5.1 billion in cash, cash equivalents, and short and long-term investments.
Guidance points to slower growth ahead. For the first quarter of fiscal 2022, product revenue is guided to $195 million to $200 million, or 92% to 96% growth, with a non-GAAP operating loss margin of 23%. For the full fiscal year 2022, product revenue is guided to $1,000 million to $1,020 million, or 81% to 84% growth, alongside a non-GAAP product gross profit margin of 71%, a non-GAAP operating loss margin of 19%, and an adjusted free cash flow margin of 0%. The company plans to keep investing for growth rather than optimize profit. Key risks include the variability of consumption-based revenue, competition, the difficulty of forecasting consumption timing, and COVID-19, which management said lengthened some sales cycles and could still weigh on new customer acquisition.
Forecast
Reported figures
GAAP, from SEC filings| Metric | Q4 FY2021 | Q3 FY2021 | QoQ | Q4 FY2020 | YoY |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $190.5M | $159.6M | +19.3% | — | — |
| Gross profit | $107.6M | $92.9M | +15.7% | — | — |
| Gross margin | 56.5% | 58.2% | -1.8 pp | — | — |
| Research & development | $94.0M | $74.1M | +26.8% | — | — |
| Sales & marketing | $154.1M | $134.7M | +14.3% | — | — |
| General & administrative | $59.9M | $53.5M | +11.9% | — | — |
| Total operating expenses | $308.0M | $262.4M | +17.4% | — | — |
| Operating income (loss) | -$200.4M | -$169.5M | -18.3% | — | — |
| Operating margin | -105.2% | -106.2% | +1.0 pp | — | — |
| Net income (loss) | -$198.9M | -$168.9M | -17.8% | — | — |
| Net margin | -104.5% | -105.8% | +1.3 pp | — | — |
Risks
Snowflake competes with large public cloud providers AWS, Azure, and GCP that are also its infrastructure providers and in some cases competitors. A substantial majority of its business runs on AWS, and those providers could bundle competing products, offer unfavorable pricing, or exclude Snowflake from opportunities, pressuring pricing and gross margins.
The platform is offered only on AWS, Azure, and GCP. If contractual relationships with these providers are terminated or materially changed, Snowflake may be unable to provide its platform and could face significant delays and additional expense transitioning customers.
Revenue is generally recognized on customer consumption, and customers have flexibility in timing. Snowflake has less visibility into the timing of revenue recognition than subscription software companies, and customers may consume the platform more slowly than expected.
Net loss widened to $539.1 million for FY2021 from $348.5 million in FY2020, and operating loss widened to $543.9 million from $358.1 million. Management intends to invest heavily to grow the business rather than optimize for profitability or cash flow in the near future.
Q4 gross margin declined 4.2 percentage points year over year to 56.5%, even though FY2021 gross margin improved to 59.0%. Product gross margin could be pressured by third-party cloud infrastructure pricing, discounting, and consumption mix.
Net revenue retention rate was 168% as of January 31, 2021, down from 169% as of January 31, 2020. Management expects it to decrease over time as existing customers become a larger portion of revenue and growth relates more to existing use cases.
Sales to large enterprises involve longer sales cycles, complex customer requirements, substantial upfront costs, and less predictability. COVID-19 has lengthened the sales cycle for some prospective customers and delayed professional services and training.
The pandemic may reduce demand, lengthen sales cycles, cause customer losses or collection difficulties, and disrupt international expansion. Remote work may also decrease productivity and increase cybersecurity risk.
Success depends on key executives including CEO Frank Slootman and CFO Michael P. Scarpelli, and on hiring engineers and sales personnel. Competition is intense, and volatility in equity award value can affect recruitment and retention.
Increasing business with U.S. federal, state, and local governments and heavily regulated industries creates procurement, audit, compliance, and contract termination risks. International expansion adds privacy, data security, and local regulatory complexity; international customers generated 16% of FY2021 revenue.
As of January 31, 2021, U.S. federal and state net operating loss carryforwards were $1.9 billion and $1.4 billion. IPO-related ownership changes and state NOL suspensions could limit use of these carryforwards, increasing future taxes.
The stock price may be volatile, and the IPO lock-up release in March 2021 plus prior private placement shares subject to market standoff could lead to future sales. Issuance of additional capital stock in financings, acquisitions, or equity plans will dilute stockholders.
The first Section 404 assessment as of January 31, 2022 requires compiling documentation and may identify material weaknesses. Failure to maintain effective internal control could reduce investor confidence and affect the stock price.
Future growth increasingly depends on the Data Cloud ecosystem and relationships with data providers, data consumers, and data application developers. A small but increasing portion of revenue comes from global system integrators, managed service providers, and resellers, and failure to grow or maintain these partners could harm growth.
Historically a higher volume of orders from new and existing customers occurs in the fourth fiscal quarter, which affects RPO. This seasonality is expected to become more pronounced as Snowflake targets large enterprise customers.
SaaS KPIs
All quarters →Net Revenue Retention Rate
Total Customers
Remaining Performance Obligations
Customers with Trailing 12-Month Product Revenue Greater than $1 Million
Summary, forecast, risks and KPIs are extracted from Snowflake Inc.'s SEC filings for Q4 FY2021 (10-Q / 10-K and the 8-K earnings release); GAAP figures in the summary are checked against the reported XBRL data. They can contain errors; the filings are authoritative. Processed Oct 2, 2026.