Salesforce Beats On Earnings, Slightly Raises Full-year Guidance

Salesforce.com Inc. beat earnings expectations in the fiscal fourth quarter and raised its revenue guidance for the year Tuesday, briefly sending shares near record levels in after-hours trading. The cloud-software giant reported a loss of $51.4 million, or 7 cents a share, on revenue of $2.29 billion in the final quarter of its 2017 fiscal year. After adjusting for stock-based compensation and other effects, Salesforce claimed profit of 28 cents a share. Analysts polled by FactSet expected adjusted earnings of 25 cents a share on sales of $2.28 billion. Salesforce also slightly increased its projection for revenue in the 2018 fiscal year, which began Feb. 1, to a range of $10.15 billion to $10.2 billion from a range of $10.1 billion to $10.15 billion. Salesforce shares neared $84 a share in immediate late trading, more than 3% higher than its closing price of $81.35, but those gains dissipated later in after-hours trading.