C3.ai: Tom Siebel returns as CEO; preannounces soft bookings

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C3.ai: Tom Siebel returns as CEO; preannounces soft bookings

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C3.ai

Tom Siebel returns as CEO; preannounces

soft bookings

Maintain Rating: UNDERPERFORM | PO: 8.00 USD | Price: 9.01 USD

Another CEO transition raises execution risks 12 May 2026

On Tuesday May 12th before the market open, C3.ai announced that Tom Siebel returned Equity

as CEO (effective May 8th) and the former CEO Stephen Ehikian will transition to

Koji Ikeda, CFA

President. As a reminder, Mr. Siebel founded the company in 2009 and served as CEO Research Analyst

until September 2025 when he transitioned to Executive Chairman. The press release BofAS +1 415 913 2106

stated that the health issues Mr. Siebel faced last year are “largely resolved.” We are koji.ikeda@bofa.com

thrilled to hear Mr. Siebel is healthy and returning, as we think founder/CEO’s have the George McGreehan

best potential to drive change and innovation. However, the return of Mr. Siebel does Research Analyst BofAS

not mean that C3.ai is on a glide path to improving fundamentals. We still think more +1 415 913 4315

work needs to be done to drive growth, and we are looking for revenue growth to george.mcgreehan@bofa.com

reaccelerate before getting more positive on the stock. We are modeling total revenue

growth to decline by 14% y/y in FY27, and reaccelerate to +5% y/y in FY28. We look to

its upcoming F4Q26 earnings report set for June 3rd to learn more about any potential Stock Data

updates to the growth or profitability strategy. Maintain Underperform.

Price 9.01 USD

Soft bookings could result in very conservative FY27 guide Price Objective 8.00 USD

Date Established 26-Feb-2026

We believe the key datapoint in its preannouncement is that bookings during F4Q26

Investment Opinion C-3-9