Technology

What Analysts Are Saying About Salesforce After Earnings

Chris Lange

Published: November 22, 2017 11:46 am

Last Updated: January 12, 2020 6:05 am

Salesforce.com, Inc. (NYSE: CRM) reported fiscal third quarter financial results after markets closed Tuesday. While shares did take a step back in Wednesday’s session, analysts were still fairly positive following the report.

24/7 Wall St. has included some highlights from the earnings report, as well as what a few analysts are saying about the stock after the fact.

The company said that it had $0.39 in earnings per share (EPS) and $2.68 billion in revenue, compared with consensus estimates that called for $0.37 in EPS and $2.65 billion in revenue.

Subscription and support revenues were $2.49 billion, an increase of 25% year-over-year. Professional services and other revenues were $194 million, an increase of 20%.

Deferred revenue totaled $4.39 billion, an increase of 26%, and 24% in constant currency. Unbilled deferred revenue totaled about $11.5 billion, up 34% from last year.

In terms of guidance for the coming quarter, the company expects to see EPS in the range of $0.32 to $0.33 and revenues in the range of $2.801 billion to $2.811 billion. There are consensus estimates calling for $0.34 in EPS and $2.79 billion in revenue for the fiscal fourth quarter.

Wedbush has an Outperform rating with a $123 price target, implying an upside of 13% from the most recent closing price $108.80. The firm detailed in its report:

We expect Salesforce to sustain its strong momentum and margin expansion, as it capitalizes on its industry-leading CRM product portfolio to gain enterprise wallet share in a large TAM [total addressable market]. Salesforce delivered a big 3Q billings beat, driven by sustained growth in Sales Cloud (+17%), acceleration in Service Cloud (+25%, up from +21% last quarter), and international expansion… Moreover, the gap between Salesforce.com and broad-line competitors in the CRM market appears to be widening, not narrowing, especially as Salesforce deepens its industry specialization, geographic reach, and partner relationships. Valuation looks attractive given our outlook for 21% revenue growth and 150 basis points of annual margin expansion on a ratable model.

Oppenheimer has an Outperform rating with a $125 price target, implying upside of 15%. Oppenheimer had this to say about Salesforce:

We are increasing our price target to $125 (from $100) on Salesforce shares following another quarter of solid results from the business. Management also reaffirmed the FY2019 revenue growth guidance of ~20% given on November 6th which we see limiting risks to estimates in F4Q, and foretelling another strong growth year for the business in 2018. We believe the fundamental outlook for the business is positive. On balance, Americas growth decelerated for the third straight quarter. Bottom Line: We see CRM shares as one of the best long-term growth investments for the powerful digital-transformations spending wave permeating the enterprise market, and it should be a core holding for large-cap growth investors who believe in nextgeneration cloud, data analytics, AI, and mobile technology.

A few other analysts weighed in on Salesforce after earnings as well:

• Canaccord Genuity has a Buy rating with a $130 price target.
• Roth Capital has a Neutral rating.
• Bernstein has an Underperform rating with an $89 price target.
• SunTrust has a Buy rating with a $122 price target.
• Wells Fargo has an Outperform rating with a $130 price target.
• Pivotal Research has a Hold rating with a $96 price target.

Shares of Salesforce were last seen down about 2% at $106.29, with a consensus analyst price target of $115.59 and a 52-week range of $66.43 to $109.19.