Nov. 18, 2013 4:44 p.m. ET
Salesforce.com Inc. CRM -3.14% Salesforce.com Inc. U.S.: NYSE [SUP]$[/SUP]55.51 -1.80 -3.14% Nov. 18, 2013 4:01 pm Volume (Delayed 15m) : 13.70M AFTER HOURS [SUP]$[/SUP]55.90 +0.39 +0.70% Nov. 18, 2013 5:29 pm Volume (Delayed 15m): 1.10M P/E Ratio N/A Market Cap $34.16 Billion Dividend Yield N/A Rev. per Employee $354,368 11/18/13 Salesforce.com's Loss Narrows ... 11/18/13 Analysts Assess Salesforce's P... 11/18/13 Janus Sounds 'Dot-Com' Valuati... More quote details and news » CRM in
Your Value Your Change Short position narrowed its fiscal third-quarter loss, with the Web-based business-software company's revenue growing, due in part to its acquisition of ExactTarget Inc.
Salesforce, which used to focus solely on helping businesses automate their sales processes, has grown its marketing business as revenue flags in its core operations. The company in July completed its $2.5 billion acquisition of online-marketing provider ExactTarget and has built up its marketing software portfolio with relatively smaller purchases over the past couple of years.
Salesforce on Monday also unveiled a cloud-computing partnership with Hewlett-Packard Co. HPQ -0.83% Hewlett-Packard Co. U.S.: NYSE [SUP]$[/SUP]25.00 -0.21 -0.83% Nov. 18, 2013 4:00 pm Volume (Delayed 15m) : 11.49M AFTER HOURS [SUP]$[/SUP]25.01 +0.01 +0.04% Nov. 18, 2013 4:42 pm Volume (Delayed 15m): 87,255 P/E Ratio N/A Market Cap $48.45 Billion Dividend Yield 2.32% Rev. per Employee $340,552 11/18/13 Salesforce.com's Loss Narrows ... 11/13/13 Google, H-P Halt Chromebook Sa... 11/07/13 Lenovo's Profit Climbs 36% More quote details and news » HPQ in Your Value Your Change Short position The partnership, which will focus on creating a multi-tenant cloud product called Salesforce Superpod, will be powered by H-P's technology and managed within Salesforce's data centers, according to Salesforce Chief Executive Marc Benioff.
The product will be available for an additional fee to Salesforce's biggest customers, and H-P is looking to be the first customer deployed on it, according to the companies.
For the current quarter, Salesforce forecast per-share adjusted earnings of five cents to six cents and revenue of $1.12 billion to $1.13 billion. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had projected earnings of seven cents a share and revenue of $1.12 billion.
For the next fiscal year, Salesforce said it expects revenue of $5.15 billion to $5.20 billion, with the top end coming in higher than the $5.19 billion expected by analysts surveyed recently by Thomson Reuters.
For the quarter ended Oct. 31, Salesforce.com reported a loss of $124.4 million, or 21 cents a share, compared with $220.3 million, or 39 cents a share, a year ago. Excluding $142 million in stock-based compensation expenses and other items, earnings were up at nine cents from eight cents. The most recent period included an income tax provision of $393,000, compared with one of $157.4 million in the year-ago period.
Revenue rose 36% to $1.08 billion.
In August, Salesforce forecast adjusted per-share earnings of eight cents to nine cents and revenue between $1.05 billion and $1.06 billion.
Gross margin fell to 75.1% from 76.4%, as input costs rose 44%. In all, the company said its operating expenses increased 38%, while research and development costs grew 50%.
Subscription and support fees, which make up by far the biggest share of the top line, rose 36%. Professional services and other payments revenue surged 50%.
Deferred revenue, which measures future revenue for its subscription-based business model, rose 34% year-over-year to $1.73 billion.
For the full year, the company raised the lower end of its earnings outlook by a penny, now projecting earnings between 33 cents and 34 cents a share. It also increased its full-year revenue view to a range of $4.05 billion to $4.06 billion, from its previous guidance of $4 billion and $4.03 billion.
Through the close, the stock had risen 32% so far this year.
Write to Michael Calia at [email protected]
Salesforce.com Inc. CRM -3.14% Salesforce.com Inc. U.S.: NYSE [SUP]$[/SUP]55.51 -1.80 -3.14% Nov. 18, 2013 4:01 pm Volume (Delayed 15m) : 13.70M AFTER HOURS [SUP]$[/SUP]55.90 +0.39 +0.70% Nov. 18, 2013 5:29 pm Volume (Delayed 15m): 1.10M P/E Ratio N/A Market Cap $34.16 Billion Dividend Yield N/A Rev. per Employee $354,368 11/18/13 Salesforce.com's Loss Narrows ... 11/18/13 Analysts Assess Salesforce's P... 11/18/13 Janus Sounds 'Dot-Com' Valuati... More quote details and news » CRM in
Your Value Your Change Short position narrowed its fiscal third-quarter loss, with the Web-based business-software company's revenue growing, due in part to its acquisition of ExactTarget Inc.Salesforce, which used to focus solely on helping businesses automate their sales processes, has grown its marketing business as revenue flags in its core operations. The company in July completed its $2.5 billion acquisition of online-marketing provider ExactTarget and has built up its marketing software portfolio with relatively smaller purchases over the past couple of years.
Salesforce on Monday also unveiled a cloud-computing partnership with Hewlett-Packard Co. HPQ -0.83% Hewlett-Packard Co. U.S.: NYSE [SUP]$[/SUP]25.00 -0.21 -0.83% Nov. 18, 2013 4:00 pm Volume (Delayed 15m) : 11.49M AFTER HOURS [SUP]$[/SUP]25.01 +0.01 +0.04% Nov. 18, 2013 4:42 pm Volume (Delayed 15m): 87,255 P/E Ratio N/A Market Cap $48.45 Billion Dividend Yield 2.32% Rev. per Employee $340,552 11/18/13 Salesforce.com's Loss Narrows ... 11/13/13 Google, H-P Halt Chromebook Sa... 11/07/13 Lenovo's Profit Climbs 36% More quote details and news » HPQ in
Your Value Your Change Short position The partnership, which will focus on creating a multi-tenant cloud product called Salesforce Superpod, will be powered by H-P's technology and managed within Salesforce's data centers, according to Salesforce Chief Executive Marc Benioff.The product will be available for an additional fee to Salesforce's biggest customers, and H-P is looking to be the first customer deployed on it, according to the companies.
For the current quarter, Salesforce forecast per-share adjusted earnings of five cents to six cents and revenue of $1.12 billion to $1.13 billion. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had projected earnings of seven cents a share and revenue of $1.12 billion.
For the next fiscal year, Salesforce said it expects revenue of $5.15 billion to $5.20 billion, with the top end coming in higher than the $5.19 billion expected by analysts surveyed recently by Thomson Reuters.
For the quarter ended Oct. 31, Salesforce.com reported a loss of $124.4 million, or 21 cents a share, compared with $220.3 million, or 39 cents a share, a year ago. Excluding $142 million in stock-based compensation expenses and other items, earnings were up at nine cents from eight cents. The most recent period included an income tax provision of $393,000, compared with one of $157.4 million in the year-ago period.
Revenue rose 36% to $1.08 billion.
In August, Salesforce forecast adjusted per-share earnings of eight cents to nine cents and revenue between $1.05 billion and $1.06 billion.
Gross margin fell to 75.1% from 76.4%, as input costs rose 44%. In all, the company said its operating expenses increased 38%, while research and development costs grew 50%.
Subscription and support fees, which make up by far the biggest share of the top line, rose 36%. Professional services and other payments revenue surged 50%.
Deferred revenue, which measures future revenue for its subscription-based business model, rose 34% year-over-year to $1.73 billion.
For the full year, the company raised the lower end of its earnings outlook by a penny, now projecting earnings between 33 cents and 34 cents a share. It also increased its full-year revenue view to a range of $4.05 billion to $4.06 billion, from its previous guidance of $4 billion and $4.03 billion.
Through the close, the stock had risen 32% so far this year.
Write to Michael Calia at [email protected]