New York, May 22, 2026, 09:04 (EDT)
- AvePoint was quoted at $10.49 in premarket trade, up 2.44%, after closing Thursday at $10.24.
- The company’s latest quarter showed 35% growth in SaaS revenue and 26% growth in annual recurring revenue, or ARR.
- Analysts have trimmed targets since earnings, with Goldman Sachs cutting to $14 and Scotiabank to $12.
AvePoint Inc. shares rose in thin U.S. premarket trading on Friday, giving the cloud data-management software maker a small lift after a lower close and a week of fresh scrutiny over its growth story. The Nasdaq-listed stock was quoted at $10.49 before the bell, up 2.44% from Thursday’s $10.24 close.
The move matters now because AvePoint sits in a crowded corner of software where investors are rewarding companies that can tie artificial-intelligence spending to recurring revenue, not just slogans. U.S. stock index futures were also firmer before the open, with S&P 500 e-mini and Nasdaq 100 futures each up 0.4% in a Reuters market note carried by MarketScreener.
AvePoint’s shares remain far from last year’s highs. The stock’s 52-week range runs from $8.84 to $19.95, leaving Friday’s premarket price closer to the bottom than the top even after the early move.
The company reported first-quarter total revenue of $117.2 million, up 26% from a year earlier. Software as a service, or SaaS — subscription software delivered over the internet — rose 35% to $93.4 million. Annual recurring revenue, or ARR, a measure of contracted revenue expected to repeat each year, reached $435.2 million, up 26%.
Chief Executive Tianyi “TJ” Jiang called the quarter a “strong start” and said demand for secure, automated and AI-ready products helped the company beat its own guidance. He also said AvePoint’s tools were helping turn “AI risk into a manageable variable” for customers. SEC
That is the bull case, in plain terms. Companies are trying to use AI inside Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, Salesforce and other cloud systems, but they need tighter control over who or what can see sensitive data. AvePoint says more than 28,000 customers use its Confidence Platform across those cloud environments.
Wall Street is not giving the company a free pass. Goldman Sachs analyst Gabriela Borges cut her AvePoint price target to $14 from $15.50 and kept a Neutral rating, while noting the company’s role in AI enterprise projects as governance and cost control become gating factors for wider AI use.
Scotiabank also lowered its target, to $12 from $13, while keeping an Outperform rating. The firm called AvePoint’s first-quarter ARR “solid” but said it had hoped for a bigger beat to reduce risk around the full-year ARR guide. TipRanks
The competitive backdrop is tight. Gartner’s buyer review pages list Veeam, Commvault and Rubrik among alternatives to AvePoint in backup-as-a-service, a market tied to cloud data protection and recovery. AvePoint is trying to separate itself with governance tools for AI agents as well as backup and recovery.
The main risk is timing. Chief Financial Officer Jim Caci told analysts that a heavier SaaS mix is “good long term” because revenue becomes easier to predict, but it means less revenue is recognized up front. AvePoint guided second-quarter revenue to $120.3 million to $122.3 million, below the $124.62 million consensus cited by The Fly. StockAnalysis
Foreign exchange is another drag. AvePoint said currency headwinds more than offset the ARR raise and first-quarter outperformance in its updated outlook. If public-sector demand or AI governance deals do not build through the second half, Friday’s premarket bounce could fade quickly.
