Salesforce shares rose 4% in extended trading on Wednesday after the business software maker reported robust fiscal second-quarter results that beat estimates and raised its full-year profit outlook.
The company also said Amy Weaver, its chief financial officer, will step down. She will remain at the company as the CFO until a successor is appointed and, after that, will stay on as an advisor. Salesforce will consider internal and external candidates, Marc Benioff, the company’s co-founder, chair and CEO, said on a conference call with analysts. He said it was his idea to have Weaver take over the lead financial role after joining as general counsel in 2013.
Here is how the company did compared to LSEG consensus:
- Earnings per share: $2.56 adjusted vs. $2.36 expected
- Revenue: $9.33 billion vs. $9.23 billion expected
The company’s revenue grew 8% year over year during the quarter, which ended on July 31, according to a statement. Weaver pointed to growth in average revenue per user, partly because of a shift to premium products.
Net income, at $1.43 billion, or $1.47 per share, was up from $1.27 billion, or $1.28 per share, in the same quarter a year ago.
With respect to guidance, Salesforce called for adjusted fiscal third-quarter earnings of $2.42 to $2.44 per share on $9.31 billion to $9.36 billion in revenue. Analysts surveyed by LSEG had expected $2.43 in earnings per share on $9.41 billion in revenue.
Management called for $10.03 to $10.11 per share in adjusted fiscal 2025 earnings, with $37.7 billion to $38 billion in revenue, which implies growth of 8% to 9%. Last quarter’s forecast was $9.86 to $9.94 per share and revenue of $37.7 billion to $38.0 billion. The LSEG consensus was $9.89 in adjusted earnings per share, with $37.84 billion in revenue. Salesforce’s adjusted operating margin guidance for the full year is now 32.8%, up from 32.5% in May.
“We are assuming that the conditions we’ve been experiencing over the past few years persist,” Weaver said. Executives have previously pointed to longer sales cycles and scrutiny of budgets.
During the quarter, Salesforce said in the fall it will start testing an Einstein Copilot for Merchants that can compose product pages and promotions with a few words of human input.
Benioff talked up the company’s Agentforce artificial intelligence offerings on the call.
“This is not copilots,” Benioff said. “So many customers are so disappointed in what they bought from Microsoft, and copilots, because they aren’t getting the accuracy and the responses they want. Microsoft has disappointed so many customers with AI. Listen. These agents are autonomous, able to act with accuracy, come right out of the box, able to go right out of the platform.”
A Microsoft executive pushed back on that description.
“Every customer is at a different place in their journey, but overall we are hearing something quite different from our Copilot for Microsoft 365 customers,” corporate vice president Jared Spataro said in a statement provided to CNBC. “Last quarter alone, we saw a customer increase of over 60%, and daily users have more than doubled – a clear indicator of Copilot’s value in the market. When I talk to CIOs directly and if you look at recent third-party data, organizations are betting on Microsoft for their AI transformation.”
Earlier this month, activist investors Starboard and ValueAct both disclosed increases in their Salesforce positions. Both bought shares before the company announced a widening of its adjusted operating margin sooner than planned last year.
Excluding the after-hours move, Salesforce shares are down 2% so far in 2024, while the S&P 500 index has gained 17% during the same period.
Correction: Updated to reflect correct full-year revenue guidance.