Wells Fargo sees Twilio as the next ‘pick-and-shovel play’ in AI

Twilio could be a standout name as software stocks bounce back heading into the end of the year, according to Wells Fargo. Analyst Michael Turrin upgraded San Francisco-based Twilio to overweight from equal weight and lifted his price target by 50%, or $40, to $120 from $80. That suggests 28% potential upside for the cloud-based communication software company, which has already gained nearly 24% year to date. Underlying Turrin’s investment thesis is his belief that software vendors will lead the next phase of AI development. The analyst said that artificial agents will drive increased communications volumes over many years, which should help drive sustained growth for Twilio, which also provides AI customer engagement services.