Snowflake (SNOW) - Get Snowflake, Inc. Class A Report shares surged on Thursday, gaining nearly 15% in premarket trading, after the data-analytics software provider announced a narrower-than-expected quarterly loss and provided strong forward sales guidance. Snowflake shares were up 14.95% at $357.50 in premarket trading after the company reported a net loss of 51 cents a share vs. $1.01 a share a year ago. Revenue totaled $334.4 million for the quarter vs. $159.6 million in the year-earlier quarter. Grabbing investors' attention, however, was the company's forward guidance. For the fourth quarter, Snowflake said it expects revenue of between $345 million and $350 million, well above current FactSet consensus estimates of $315.9 million. For the full year, Snowflake expects revenue of between $1.126 billion and $1.131 billion, also above the $1.06 billion to $1.07 billion expected by analysts polled by FactSet. Ongoing adaption of its products in the EMEA and APJ regions as well as “broad industry adoption” continued to drive both sales and earnings momentum, CEO Frank Slootman said. For the third quarter, Snowflake said its remaining performance obligations -- a measure of what's left to come sales-wise on current contracts -- were $1.8 billion, noting its net revenue retention rate was 173% as of the end of October. Snowflake kicked off trading in September 2020 at $245 a share, more than double its already lifted initial public offering price of $120, solidifying it as the largest software-focused IPO ever. The stock also surged after the company’s second-quarter earnings report, hitting new 2021 highs. Salesforce (CRM) - Get salesforce.com, inc. Report also owns a stake in Snowflake. More