Salesforce stock rises on earnings beat, hiked outlook

CEO says Salesforce on track for $50 billion in revenue for fiscal 2026.

Salesforce.com Inc. shares rose in the extended session Thursday after the cloud-based customer-relationship management company topped Wall Street estimates and hiked its outlook for the year.

Salesforce $(CRM.AU)$ shares rose 4.41% after hours, following a 1.7% decline in the regular session to close at $225.83.

Salesforce reported fiscal first-quarter net income of $469 million, or 50 cents a share, compared with $99 million, or 11 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Adjusted earnings were $1.21 a share, compared with 70 cents a share in the year-ago period.

Revenue rose to $5.96 billion from $4.87 billion in the year-ago quarter.

Analysts surveyed by FactSet had estimated earnings of 88 cents a share on revenue of $5.89 billion, based on Salesforce's forecast of 88 cents to 89 cents a share on revenue of $5.88 billion to $5.89 billion back in February .

"We had the best first quarter in our company's history," said Marc Benioff, Salesforce chairman and chief executive, in a statement. "We believe our Customer 360 platform is proving to be the most relevant technology for companies accelerating out of the pandemic."

"We're on our path to reach $50 billion in revenue in FY26," Benioff added.

Salesforce expects adjusted second-quarter earnings of 91 cents to 92 cents a share on revenue of $6.22 billion to $6.23 billion, while analysts had forecast 87 cents a share on revenue of $6.17 billion.

For fiscal 2022, Salesforce forecast adjusted earnings of $3.79 to $3.81 a share on revenue of $25.9 billion to $26 billion for the year, with analysts expecting $3.44 a share on revenue of $25.75 billion. Previously, Salesforce has forecast $3.39 to $3.41 a share on revenue of $25.65 billion to $25.75 billion.

The full-year outlook includes about $500 million in revenue from the company's $27.7 billion acquisition of Slack Technologies Inc. (WORK) that it announced late last year . In a late April filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the company reiterated it expected to close the deal in its fiscal second quarter, or the one ending July 31.

Over the past 12 months, Salesforce shares have advanced 28%, while the iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF $(IGV.UK)$ and the S&P 500 index have both gained 38%, the tech heavy Nasdaq Composite Index has grown 46%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average -- which added Salesforce as a component last year -- has risen 35%.