Salesforce.com, inc. (NYSE:CRM) reported its fiscal first quarter 2015 results on Tuesday after the market close. For the quarter ending April 30, the company’s revenues surged 37% YoY to $1.23 billion from $892.6 million in the same quarter a year earlier. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had called for $1.21 billion in revenues. Salesforce said its subscription and support revenues increased 36% to $1.15 billion, while professional services revenues soared 58% to $79 million.
Salesforce’s Q1 losses widen
However, Salesforce.com, inc. (NYSE:CRM)’s losses widened during the quarter. The San Francisco-based company reported GAAP losses of $96.9 million or 16 cents a share, while analysts were expecting a loss of $67.7 million or 12 cents. Anyway, its non-GAAP EPS of 11 cents came in above the consensus estimate of 10 cents. Cash from operations increased 67% to $473 million. Salesforce said its gross margins narrowed from 76.6% to 76.2%. Meanwhile, total operating expenses climbed 36.
Salesforce.com, inc. (NYSE:CRM) shares rose about 3% in after-hours trading when the company announced Q1 results. But soon the stock receded to a gain of just 0.72%. The enterprise cloud computing company ended the first quarter with $1.53 billion in cash and cash equivalents. The company is still pushing out its new Salesforce1 platform, which is aimed at keeping customers within the company’s ecosystem as they operate enterprise apps on mobile devices.
Salesforce issues strong Q2 guidance
Salesforce.com, inc. (NYSE:CRM) CEO Marc Benioff has strengthened the company’s online services through multiple acquisitions. The company purchased email marketing provider ExactTarget in 2013 and Buddy Media Inc in 2012. The company expects its sales growth to exceed 30% for the third consecutive year in FY2015. But Bernstein Research believes that Salesforce can’t grow at 30% annual rate without acquisitions.
Salesforce.com, inc. (NYSE:CRM)’s second quarter outlook exceeded analysts’ expectations as its Web-based products keep attracting new users. The company forecasts Q2 revenues of $1.29 billion, topping the analysts’ projection of $1.27 billion. It expects non-GAAP earnings of 11-12 cents per share. For the full year 2015, Salesforce raised its revenue guidance from $5.25-$5.30 billion to $5.30-$5.34 billion. Adjusted earnings for FY2015 are expected to be in the range of 49-51 cents per share.
