“FRANCISCO (AP) — On-demand software company Salesforce.com Inc. said Thursday that its fiscal first-quarter profit shrank as rising operating expenses overshadowed revenue growth. The company’s results beat analyst expectations, though, and Salesforce shares rose more than 7 percent in extended trading.
For the quarter that ended April 30, Salesforce earned $530,000 and broke even on a per-share basis. This compares with a profit of $17.7 million, or 13 cents per share, in the year-ago quarter.
Excluding one-time items such as $48 million in stock-based compensation expenses, the company earned 28 cents per share — a penny more than what analysts polled by FactSet expected.
Revenue rose 34 percent to $504.4 million, much higher than the $482.6 million analysts were looking for. A year earlier, Salesforce collected revenue of $376.8 million.
The company said subscription and support revenue rose 35 percent to $473.5 million, while professional services and other revenue rose 18 percent to $30.9 million.
Operating expenses grew to $404.1 million, up 48 percent from $272.2 million.
The company said its net paying customers climbed 5,400 in the three-month period and it ended the quarter with 97,700 paying customers.
For the second quarter, Salesforce predicted it will either break even or report a loss of a penny per share. Excluding one-time items, it expects to report net income of 29 or 30 cents per share. The company forecast revenue of $526 million to $528 million.
Analysts are expecting adjusted net income of 27 cents per share on $506 million in revenue.
For the full fiscal year, the company expects a net loss of a penny to 3 cents per share, or earnings of $1.30 to $1.32 when excluding items. The company predicted revenue of $2.15 billion to $2.17 billion.
Analysts expect adjusted net income of $1.29 per share on $2.11 billion in revenue.
Salesforce shares climbed $9.99, or 7.4 percent, to $145.80 in after-hours trading after the earnings were released. The stock finished regular trading up $1.56 at $135.81.”
If you enjoy the content at iBankCoin, please follow us on Twitter
