Stifel lifts Twilio to Buy, calls it key infrastructure for AI-era communications

Investing.com -- Stifel upgraded Twilio from Hold to Buy and raised its price target for the stock to $260, telling investors that the communications platform has positioned itself as essential infrastructure for the agentic AI era following significant restructuring and product refocusing.

Analyst J. Parker Lane stated that customers increasingly treat Twilio "not as a channel vendor but as a foundational infrastructure layer for the era of AI," with voice now a primary entry point to the platform.

The firm notes that voice channel revenue grew 20% year-on-year last quarter, its sixth consecutive quarter of accelerating growth driven by AI adoption, with AI-native companies including Sierra and Bland.ai deepening their usage.

Lane pointed to market share data as evidence of Twilio's strengthening competitive position, noting that roughly 90% of the Forbes AI 50 have chosen to build on Twilio.

He said these customers are "voting with their feet and their dollars to use Twilio as a provider of choice."

On financial momentum, Stifel noted that first-quarter organic growth of 16% was the fastest since 2022, prompting management to raise its full-year 2026 organic growth range by 150 basis points to 9.5-10.5%.

With voice, Branded Calling and Conversational Intelligence each growing more than 100% year-on-year, Lane said the bias to consensus estimates of $5.81 billion in fiscal 2026 and $6.37 billion in fiscal 2027 "looks upward."

On margins, first-quarter non-GAAP operating margin hit a record 19.8%, while stock-based compensation fell below 10% of revenue for the first time since Twilio's IPO, removing what Stifel described as a key bear-case overhang on dilution.

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