Marc Benioff, billionaire and co-founder and CEO of Salesforce.com Inc., pauses during a group session on the opening day of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, on Tuesday, January 21, 2020. Leaders influential executives, bankers and political leaders attend the 50th annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos from 21 to 24 January. Photographer: Jason Alden / Bloomberg via Getty Images
Jason Alden | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Shares of Salesforce rose as much as 3% in extended trading on Wednesday after the business software maker reported second-quarter tax gains and future guidelines that exceeded analysts ’estimates.
Here’s how the company did it:
- Earnings: $ 1.48 per share, adjusted, compared to 92 cents per share, as analysts expected, according to Refinitiv.
- Income: $ 6.341 billion, up from 6.24 million analysts expected, according to Refinitiv.
Revenue rose 23% year-over-year in the quarter, which ended July 31, the company said in a statement. In the previous quarter, revenue grew 23%.
The Salesforce Platform and Other unit, which includes MuleSoft integration software and Tableau data analysis software, grossed $ 1.888 billion, up 24%.
The Cloud Service segment posted revenue of $ 1.601 billion, representing 23% growth.
Salesforce’s Sales Cloud core product, which marketers use to keep up with business opportunities, had revenue of $ 1.48 billion, up 15%.
In the quarter, Salesforce completed the $ 27.7 billion acquisition of computer communications application company Slack. Also in the quarter, Salesforce announced plans for investment-targeted tools through the Financial Services Cloud and said it would launch Work.com software for employee welfare.
As for the guidelines, Salesforce said it recorded adjusted third-quarter tax earnings from 91 cents to 92 cents for revenue from $ 6.78 billion to $ 6.79 billion. Analysts polled by Refinitiv had been looking for 82 cents of adjusted earnings per share and revenue of $ 6.666 billion.
Salesforce increased its revenue and earnings guide for the full fiscal year 2022.
It now records adjusted earnings per share of $ 4.36 to $ 4.38 and revenue of $ 26.2 billion to $ 26.3 billion. The consensus among analysts surveyed by Refinitiv was $ 3.82 in adjusted earnings per share and $ 26.01 billion in revenue. Revenue includes $ 530 million from Slack, which is $ 30 million more than Salesforce had forecast a quarter earlier. The company projected that its operating margin for the fiscal year would be 1.8%, wider than the target of 1.4% in the previous quarter.
Despite the after-hours movement, Salesforce shares have risen 17% since early 2021, while the S&P 500 index has risen nearly 20% over the same period.
Executives will discuss the results with analysts at a conference call starting at 5 p.m. ET.
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