(Boursier.com) — Salesforce the American giant of customer relationship management (CRM) software, published quarterly results on Tuesday evening that beat expectations for the past quarter, and revised up its earnings per share forecast for the current financial year, while by slightly lowering its annual revenue forecasts, citing difficult commercial conditions.
Investors judged the whole of this publication rather positively, if we are to believe the rise of more than 7.5% of the title Salesforce Tuesday evening in electronic quotations after the close of Wall Street. Since the start of the year, the stock has however lost almost 37%, carried away by the correction in technology stocks.
In the fiscal first quarter that ended in late April, the group’s sales beat Wall Street expectations, driven by strong demand for business software and tools as companies increasingly adopt hybrid work models. Turnover thus jumped by 24% to reach $7.41 billion against $5.96 billion a year earlier (+24%) and $7.38 billion expected by the FactSet consensus.
Quarterly net profit fell to $28 million (3 cents per share) from $469 million (50 cents per share) a year earlier. Nevertheless, in data adjusted for non-recurring items, earnings per share were 98 cents, compared to $1.21 in the 1st quarter of fiscal 2021, and above expectations analysts, housed at 94 cents.
Annual sales revised down slightly
The software publisher, which acquired the specialist in collaborative teleworking solutions Slack Technologies at the end of 2021, was however cautious for its annual sales. He now expects revenue of between $31.7 billion and $31.8 billion for its fiscal year ending in January 2023, whereas he previously expected a range of $32 to $32.1 billion.
Salesforce cited difficult business conditions forcing enterprise customers to delay upgrading their software infrastructures. Despite this, the group has revised upwards its forecasts for annual profits and expects adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of $4.74 to $4.76 versus $4.62 to $4.64 expected in March.
Analysts, for their part, were expecting EPS of $4.66 for sales of $32.06 billion for the current financial year.