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Salesforce says the last few months have been a “whirlwind” of business and activity.NYSE: CRM) Co-Chief Marc Benioff proclaimed the resilience of the business software company in a conference call with industry analysts on Tuesday.
Benioff spoke with regard to Salesforces (CRM) fiscal results for the first quarter, where the company reported a profit of 98 cents per share, excluding non-recurring items, of 7.41 billion. USD in revenue. During the same period a year ago, Salesforce (CRM) earned $ 1.21 pr. share, at $ 5.96B in revenue.
Wall Street analysts had predicted that Salesforce (CRM) would earn 94 cents a share on revenue of $ 7.38 billion.
The results send Salesforce (CRM) shares up more than 7% in after-hours trading.
The “whirlwind” that Benioff spoke of directly involved him when he said he recently returned to the United States after meeting customers in Sydney, Davos, Switzerland, and for the first time since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic more than two years ago, Tokyo. Benioff said the company is “keeping a close eye on economic data” and that Salesforce (CRM) has not seen “any major impact” from the global economic situation, which continues to deal with supply chain problems, Covid-related shutdowns in parts of China , the war between Russia and Ukraine and rising inflation in the United States
“Salesforce has been through all kinds of crises,” Benioff said. “We continue to cope with this storm.”
Benioff said one thing that has an effect on Salesforce (CRM) is exchange rates that have strengthened the U.S. dollar. “The dollar could have even had a stronger quarter than we had,” Benioff said.
As such, Benioff said Salesforce (CRM) trimmed its full-year revenue forecast to a range of $ 31.7B to $ 31.8B, from an earlier estimate of $ 32B to $ 32.1B.
“We’re seeing strong demand across our clouds and industry,” said Salesforce (CRM) co-CEO Bret Taylor. “Our products are more relevant than ever. The digital transformation trends that accelerated during the pandemic are moving at full steam.”
Salesforce (CRM) shares have been rising since reaching a 52-week low of $ 154.55 on May 20th. Earlier this month, Roth Capital analyst Richard Baldry raised his rating on Salesforce (CRM) stock in anticipation that its business will continue to improve in the second half.
