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Snowflake vs. Teradata: Which Data Cloud Stock Has More Upside?

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Key Takeaways

  • SNOW and TDC are compared as cloud analytics grows and both aim to support expanding AI-driven workloads.
  • SNOW's cloud-native model and integrated AI features boost adoption, though valuations are premium.
  • TDC's hybrid design, high-concurrency performance and lower valuation point to potential upside.

Snowflake (SNOW - Free Report) and Teradata (TDC - Free Report) sit at the center of the same enterprise data warehousing and analytics landscape. Both platforms are designed to manage and analyse large, complex data estates for business intelligence and AI-driven decision-making. Snowflake takes a cloud-native, multi-cloud approach aimed at unifying data and accelerating analytics through AI-powered features. Teradata leans on a hybrid architecture built for consistent, high-performance analytics across on-premises, private cloud and public cloud deployments.

Per Future Market Insights, the cloud analytics market is projected to grow from $43.9 billion in 2025 to $539.5 billion by 2035, witnessing a CAGR of 28.5%. That surge reflects how quickly data-driven decision-making and AI-powered analytics are shifting from strategic advantages to operational necessities. Both SNOW and TDC are positioned to benefit, as enterprises modernize legacy estates and prepare for real-time analytics, machine learning and Agentic AI workloads that require far more scalable and AI-ready data platforms.

Let’s delve deep to determine which one is a better investment now.

The case for SNOW

Snowflake offers its cloud-native, multi-cloud platform as a modern alternative to legacy and hybrid analytical architectures. SNOW’s model is anchored in elastic compute, unified storage and minimal infrastructure management, enabling enterprises to consolidate diverse data types into a single analytical environment. This capability contrasts with Teradata’s infrastructure-aware hybrid approach and has appealed to enterprises modernising data stacks previously anchored to on-premise platforms.

Snowflake has strengthened its competitive stance by integrating analytics and AI more tightly into its core platform. Features such as Snowflake Intelligence, Cortex AI SQL and Gen2 warehouses aim to streamline the path from data preparation to model inference, allowing users to run more advanced workloads without significant architectural redesign. These AI-driven enhancements directly challenge Teradata’s long-standing strengths in mixed-workload optimization by attempting to deliver similar performance through a cloud-first environment.

Adoption trends reflect this positioning. Enterprises focused on cloud-first modernization and automated scaling have continued to adopt Snowflake for analytics and AI workloads. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for SNOW’s fiscal 2026 EPS is pegged at $1.17, unchanged over the past 30 days and indicating a 40.96% year-over-year increase, suggesting confidence that Snowflake will keep capturing workloads shifting off legacy platforms.

However, SNOW’s cloud-first design introduces constraints. Workloads requiring deterministic performance, tightly governed costs or predictable latency under sustained, high-concurrency pressure can test the limits of elastic architectures. These scenarios highlight competitive openings for Teradata, whose design remains optimized for always-on, agentic and high-intensity analytical workloads.

The case for TDC

Teradata offers a hybrid analytics architecture designed to operate consistently across on-premises, private cloud and public cloud environments. This flexibility addresses enterprise realities that Snowflake’s cloud-only model does not fully accommodate, including data sovereignty requirements, regulatory constraints and latency-sensitive workloads that require local processing. By enabling analytics and AI workloads to run where performance, governance and cost are best aligned, Teradata appeals to organisations that anticipate hybrid environments remaining central to long-term data strategies.

Teradata reinforces this position through platform capabilities tailored for advanced analytics and emerging agentic AI workloads. ClearScape Analytics supports in-database machine learning, model governance and hybrid AI execution. Enterprise Vector Store and MCP Server integrate unstructured, vectorized and semantic data directly into analytical pipelines. AgentBuilder allows enterprises to develop context-aware autonomous agents at scale. Combined with Teradata’s massively parallel processing engine, patented workload management and QueryGrid connectivity fabric, these components deliver deterministic performance under extreme concurrency, where cloud-only elastic models can experience latency drift or cost variability. This architecture provides a structural counterpoint to Snowflake’s AI-focused features by emphasising performance, control and predictable execution.

Teradata embeds decades of industry-specific data models and contextual frameworks, giving AI agents the domain structure required for reliable outputs in regulated environments. 

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for TDC’s 2025 EPS is pegged at $2.35, up 7.8% over the past 30 days, indicating a 2.89% year-over-year decline. The upward revision signals increasing recognition of Teradata’s positioning in hybrid analytics and AI-driven workloads.

However, Teradata must continue modernising user experience and accelerating cloud-native adoption to match the frictionless onboarding associated with cloud-first competitors, even as its architecture remains well-suited to the most complex workloads.

Price Performance and Valuation of SNOW and TDC

In the year-to-date (YTD) period, SNOW shares have rallied 47.6%, outperforming TDC, which has plunged 12.4%. While Snowflake’s rally reflects enthusiasm for cloud-native growth, Teradata’s decline masks strengthening fundamentals, as its hybrid architecture, high-concurrency performance and AI-ready platform increasingly resonate with enterprises prioritising control, governance and predictable execution.

SNOW vs TDC YTD Performance

Zacks Investment Research
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

Currently, SNOW shares are overvalued, as suggested by a Value Score of F, while Teradata is trading cheap with a Value Score of B. In terms of forward 12-month Price/Sales, Snowflake shares are trading at 15.8x, higher than TDC’s 1.52x.

This valuation gap suggests SNOW’s premium already prices in strong growth, while Teradata’s lower multiple offers potential upside as its hybrid and AI-ready capabilities gain enterprise traction.

SNOW vs TDC Valuation

Zacks Investment Research
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

Conclusion

Snowflake and Teradata are both positioned to benefit from the rapid expansion of cloud analytics, yet their competitive strengths differ meaningfully. Snowflake remains well-suited for cloud-first modernisation and continues to gain traction through integrated AI features, but its fully cloud-native model and premium valuation limit near-term upside. Teradata, by contrast, delivers stronger performance on complex, high-concurrency and agentic AI workloads, supported by platform components and domain context that cater to regulated and mission-critical environments. Combined with a far more attractive valuation, TDC appears better positioned to capture additional upside as cloud analytics demand accelerates. SNOW and TDC currently carry a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) each.

You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.


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