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Salesforce and COO President Bret Taylor says the company has exceeded its revenue, while staff travel less and management maintains discipline over costs.
Victor J. Blue / Bloomberg
Salesforce.com
the shares are gaining ground in response to better-than-expected financial results for the company’s second fiscal quarter, which ended July 31.
At the end of trading, shares of Salesforce (marker: CRM) rose 1.9% to $ 265.75.
For the quarter, Salesforce posted revenue of $ 6.341 billion, up 23% from a year ago, or 21% adjusted for the currency. The cloud-based enterprise software provider had projected revenue of $ 6.222 billion to $ 6.23 million, while the street projected $ 6.25 million. It was the company’s first quarter with more than $ 6 billion in sales.
Non-GAAP earnings were $ 1.48 per share, which includes a 43-cent gain for the market accounting for the company’s strategic investment portfolio. The direction orientation had been from 91 to 92 cents per share, while the street had projected 92 cents. After adjusting for market gain, the result implies a beat of gains of more than 10 cents per share.
According to generally accepted accounting principles, profits were 56 cents per share.
The remaining performance obligations — a measure of work contracted but not yet delivered — totaled $ 36.2 billion at the end of the quarter, 18% more than the previous year. The remaining current performance obligations, which cover outstanding work over the next 12 months, amounted to $ 18.7 billion, up 23%.
“With companies and governments around the world continuing to accelerate their digital transformations, we delivered our phenomenal fifth consecutive quarter,” CEO Marc Benioff said in a statement. “Salesforce has never seen better execution or greater momentum.”
For the October quarter, Salesforce projects revenue of $ 6.783 billion to $ 6.79 billion, with non-GAAP profits of 91 to 92 cents per share. The consensus call had been $ 6.671 billion in revenue and 81 cents in earnings per share.
For the full year ending January 2022, Salesforce now has revenue of $ 26.2 billion to $ 26.3 billion, with non-GAAP earnings of $ 4.36 to $ 4.38 per share, above the previous revenue forecast between $ 25,900 million and $ 26 billion and profits of $ 3.79 to $ 3.81 per share. The street had projected $ 26 billion and $ 3.82 per share.
In an interview with Salesforce President and Chief Operating Officer Bret Taylor, he said the strong growth for the quarter “reflects the relevance of our products right now, with customer demand for what we do … transformation digital begins and ends with your customers. ”He says customers agree that the pandemic is not going away and are adjusting their systems accordingly.
“We are experiencing widespread growth in sales, services, marketing and commercial software.” He said.
Taylor said that of the approximately $ 300 million increase in the year-round revenue guide, about $ 40 million reflects the acquisition of Slack, while the rest will come from the organic growth of the business. As for the sharp rise in profit prospects, he said the company “is performing better than we’ve ever had.” He says the company has been “exceeding its revenue,” while staff travel less and management maintains discipline over costs.
Meanwhile, Taylor says the company’s annual Dreamforce conference, which in the past drew up to 200,000 people to San Francisco, will be primarily virtual when it takes place next month. Hundreds of people will be in place for the main presentations, but most people will participate online.
Write to Eric J. Savitz at [email protected]