Goldman Sachs has opened coverage of Samsara Inc. with a Buy recommendation and a $36 price objective, stating the company is well situated to benefit from rising interest in digitising vehicle fleets, equipment and field operations. The investment bank's note frames Samsara as a platform business that fuses purpose-built hardware with cloud software to gather, analyse and act on operational data.
Goldman contends that this combination embeds Samsara's services into customers' day-to-day workflows, creating significant switching costs. The firm describes the positioning as more durable than many conventional software models because the platform is anchored to owned operating data and continuous operational use rather than being solely licence-driven.
On the top-line outlook, Goldman projects more than 20% average annual revenue growth. The bank attributes that trajectory to several factors: steady new customer additions, deeper penetration within large enterprise accounts and broader uptake of complementary modules across existing customers. In parallel, Goldman expects free cash flow to increase steadily as the business scales and benefits from operating leverage.
Artificial intelligence is noted as already integrated across Samsara's platform. According to the bank, AI capabilities are applied to improve safety, optimise routing, support maintenance programmes and enable real-time decision making. Goldman views these capabilities as delivering measurable returns to customers, which in turn should drive persistent spending on Samsara's platform.
The market opportunity, the bank says, is substantial and fragmented. Goldman argues that digital tools remain underutilised relative to the potential value at stake, and that demand is being propelled by a range of operational and cost pressures - including safety mandates, insurance expenses, regulatory compliance, labour productivity and asset utilisation. These dynamics, the bank adds, favour platforms that can demonstrate clear operational improvements across multiple use cases.
Goldman does acknowledge valuation comes at a premium - roughly 42 times estimated fiscal 2028 enterprise value to free cash flow - but judges that multiple to be supported by robust unit economics, a lengthy runway for growth and an improving cash generation profile. The note also observes that recent share-price volatility linked to AI-related concerns has, in Goldman's view, produced a more attractive entry point for investors into a company it believes can gain share as customers increase allocations to operational technology.
Analyst takeaways
- Samsara's product mix pairs hardware and cloud software to capture operational data and embed workflows.
- Goldman expects revenue growth above 20% annually and steadily rising free cash flow as scale improves.
- AI features are presented as value-generating tools that support customer ROI and recurring spend.