Shares of corporate travel and expense management provider Navan soared after its latest financial results, and at least two Wall Street analysts say the company’s expanded use of artificial intelligence is a key driver of future gains. Both Goldman Sachs and Loop Capital reiterated their bullish recommendations on Navan after releasing fourth-quarter results after the market on Wednesday. The stock has soared more than 37% this week. Navan earned an adjusted profit of 2 cents per share in the latest quarter, while analysts surveyed by FactSet had expected a loss of 22 cents per share. Sales were $177.9 million, exceeding analysts’ expectations of $162.2 million. Additionally, Navan expects sales for the quarter and full year to also beat consensus estimates. Investors pushed Navan stock up 43% on Thursday, but the stock is still down more than 50% from its initial public offering price of $25 per share last October. Goldman was one of two lead managers and Loop Capital was one of three joint managers. NAVN 6M Mountain NAVN 6M Chart Goldman has a $23 price target on the stock, reflecting an 88% upside from Friday’s close. Loop expects the stock to rise 63.8% to $20. Both investment banks pointed to Navan’s better earnings as a reason for optimism. “The quarter benefited from strong sales execution, rapid onboarding of large customers, and competitive wins against traditional incumbents. Management’s tone remains optimistic about both the business and the broader travel environment, prompting strong and cautious fiscal year 2027 (C2026) guidance calling for 24% revenue growth and significant margin improvement at the midpoint,” Loop Capital analyst Mark Chappelle said. Roop views Navan as a “hot” stock, but Chappelle said he lowered his price target to $22, citing declines in the sector’s overall price-to-earnings ratio and other multiples. ‘Long-term beneficiary’ “We continue to view Navan as a long-term beneficiary of digital disruption in the travel management space, where incumbents have been slow to innovate in this large market,” Loop analysts wrote on Wednesday. “We continue to believe that NAVN remains an under-the-radar small-cap stock with very strong return potential,” Goldman analyst Gabriela Borges said, praising Navan’s use of artificial intelligence as a differentiator. “Navan outlined how his company’s AI-enhanced product strategy expands its reach for fast-tracking peers and incumbents,” she said. “We continue to view Navan as an undervalued software asset with clear technology advantages to drive business acceleration and a clear path to sustained growth with solid unit economics.” For example, Navan Cognition, the AI layer of the company’s technology stack, leverages internal data and models to deliver better, up to 10 It can provide twice as fast results, she noted. Borges continued that Navan is also able to allocate human support resources to more complex cases, as Ava, its AI-powered customer service agent, currently handles 55% of its customer support volume. Goldman analysts added that the company’s new hyper-personalized travel aid, Navan Edge, will allow it to better serve a portion of the total addressable market in business travel. TravelClaw, announced March 23, is a new tier of agents that provides proactive service to customers, he said.
