This post was originally published on this site
Salesforce.com Inc. earnings topped Wall Street estimates in a Tuesday report, but the cloud-software company’s outlook came in shy of consensus views.
The customer-relationship-management software company reported a fiscal third-quarter loss of $109 million, or 12 cents a share, compared with net income of $105 million, or 13 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Adjusted earnings were 75 cents a share. Revenue rose to $4.51 billion from $3.39 billion in the year-ago quarter. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had forecast earnings of 67 cents a share on revenue of $4.45 billion.
For the fourth quarter, Salesforce expects adjusted earnings of 54 cents to 55 cents a share on revenue of $4.74 billion to $4.75 billion, while analysts had forecast earnings of 61 cents a share on revenue of $4.74 billion.
“We had strong growth across our clouds and regions in the quarter as more companies turn to Salesforce as a trusted advisor in their digital transformations,” Keith Block, Salesforce co-chief executive, said in a statement.
Salesforce CRM, +0.35% shares slipped 1.5% after hours, following a 0.4% rise in the regular session to close at $161.65.
At Tuesday’s close, Salesforce shares have risen 9% since their last earnings report, compared with a 5.8% gain for the S&P 500 index SPX, -0.66% , a 6.6% rise on the Nasdaq Composite Index COMP, -0.55% , and a 3.9% gain on the First Trust Cloud Computing ETF SKYY, +0.05% over that period.
Of the 36 analysts who cover Salesforce, 34 have overweight or buy ratings and two have hold ratings, with an average price target of $190.12.
