Twilio NYSE:TWLO shares climbed about 3% in trading Friday after Stifel upgraded the cloud communications software company to Buy from Hold and raised its price target to $260 from $175.
Stifel said Twilio appears well positioned to benefit from broader adoption of artificial intelligence, citing the company's communications platform, customer engagement tools and data capabilities. The firm said restructuring efforts and a greater focus on core products and AI development may support more durable long-term growth.
The brokerage also expects investments in agentic AI, software designed to perform tasks with limited human intervention, to begin contributing more meaningfully as AI-powered voice agents become more widely adopted. Stifel said that trend could strengthen Twilio's role as infrastructure supporting AI-driven customer engagement.
Twilio has been reshaping its operations over the past several quarters while increasing investment in AI-related products. Stifel said those initiatives, combined with improving business momentum, could position the company to capture additional demand as enterprises expand AI deployments.