Salesforce.com Slightly Beats Expectations, Raises Its Forecast

Salesforce.com Inc. eked out an earnings beat Thursday and raised its revenue forecast for the year, pushing the cloud-software company's stock higher in late trading. The San Francisco firm reported a loss of $852,000, less than a penny a share, on sales of $1.63 billion; after adjustments for stock-based compensation and other factors, Salesforce said profit was 19 cents a share. Analysts expected Salesforce to report a loss of a penny a share on sales of $1.6 billion, with adjusted earnings of 18 cents a share. The company also pushed the top of its guidance range for revenues in the full fiscal year from $6.55 billion to $6.63 billion. Salesforce shares gained more than 2% in immediate late trading after closing with a 5.9% decline in a rough day for Wall Street.