Salesforce.com Inc. (NYSE: CRM), a San Francisco, California-based company providing enterprise cloud computing and social enterprise solutions, released its first-quarter results. CRM swung to a loss in the first quarter due to higher operating costs and stock-based expenses. However, the company’s sales growth and quarterly billion beat Street estimates, sending shares sharply higher on Friday.
Shares of CRM rose to an intra-day high of $148.95 before finishing the day 8.80% higher at $145.58 on above average volume of 9.04 million.
Graham Smith, Chief Financial Officer of Salesforce.com, said that in addition to accelerating sales, CRM retained more customers and sold licenses for additional seats to existing customers. Smith noted that the company’s business mix continues to become more diverse, with more than 40% of new business in the quarter coming from non-sales cloud contracts.
For the first quarter ended April 30, Salesforce.com reported a loss of $19.5 million, or $0.14 per share, compared with a profit of $530,000 reported for the same period in the previous year. Excluding one-time items, the company reported earnings of $0.37 per share, up from $0.28 per share reported for the same period in the previous year.
Revenue for the quarter rose 38% to $695.5 million.
Back in February, Salesforce.com forecast first-quarter earnings of $0.33-$0.34 per share on revenue of $673-$678 million.
CRM’s gross margin for the quarter was 78.2%, down from 79.6%.
Salesforce.com also provided guidance for the current quarter. The company expects adjusted earnings for the current quarter to com in between $0.38 per share and $0.39 per share. Revenue for the quarter is expected to come in between $724 million and $728 million.
For the full year, CRM expects earnings to come in between $1.60 per share and $1.63 per share. Revenue for the full year is expected to come in between $2.97 billion and $3 billion.
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