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Investing.com — Salesforce reported Wednesday fourth-quarter results that topped expectations and guidance ahead of estimates.
Salesforce Inc (NYSE:CRM) shares gained 14% in after-hours trade following the report.
Salesforce.com announced EPS of $1.68 on revenue of $8.38 billion. Analysts polled by Investing.com anticipated EPS of $1.36 on revenue of $8B.00.
Subscription and support revenues for the quarter were $7.79B, an increase of 14% year-over-year.
Professional services and other revenues for the quarter were $0.60 billion, an increase of 19% year-over-year.
Fourth quarter operating margin, which has been flagged as a concern by activist investors, was 4.3% after a 2.4% seen decline seen in the prior-year period.
Looking ahead, the company said it expected to generate first-quarter EPS of $1.60 to $1.61 on revenue in the range of $8.16B to $8.18B. That was well ahead of forecasts for EPS of $1.31 on revenue of $8.03B.
Full-year 2024 guidance on EPS was $7.12 to $7.14 on revenue between $34.5B to $34.7B.
The stronger-than-expected results come just as reports suggest activist investor Elliott Management notified Salesforce that it had nominated a slate of directors for the cloud software company’s board. Other activist investors including Inclusive Capital Partners and Starboard Value have also flagged concerns about growth and margins as well as the desire for the company to step up share buybacks.
