Salesforce.com (CRM) Registers a Bigger Fall Than the Market: Important Facts to Note

Salesforce.com (CRM) ended the recent trading session at $288.33, demonstrating a -1.02% swing from the preceding day’s closing price. This change lagged the S&P 500’s daily loss of 0.05%. Meanwhile, the Dow lost 0.02%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 0.18%.

Prior to today’s trading, shares of the customer-management software developer had gained 10.25% over the past month. This has outpaced the Computer and Technology sector’s gain of 3.5% and the S&P 500’s gain of 2.76% in that time.

Analysts and investors alike will be keeping a close eye on the performance of Salesforce.com in its upcoming earnings disclosure. The company’s earnings per share (EPS) are projected to be $2.43, reflecting a 15.17% increase from the same quarter last year. In the meantime, our current consensus estimate forecasts the revenue to be $9.34 billion, indicating a 7.1% growth compared to the corresponding quarter of the prior year.

For the entire fiscal year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $10.08 per share and a revenue of $37.86 billion, representing changes of +22.63% and +8.6%, respectively, from the prior year.

Furthermore, it would be beneficial for investors to monitor any recent shifts in analyst projections for Salesforce.com. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company’s business and profitability.

Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. To exploit this, we’ve formed the Zacks Rank, a quantitative model that includes these estimate changes and presents a viable rating system.

The Zacks Rank system, ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), possesses a remarkable history of outdoing, externally audited, with #1 stocks returning an average annual gain of +25% since 1988. Over the last 30 days, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has witnessed a 0.02% decrease. Salesforce.com currently has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Looking at valuation, Salesforce.com is presently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 28.9. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 30.02, which means Salesforce.com is trading at a discount to the group.

Also, we should mention that CRM has a PEG ratio of 1.97. Comparable to the widely accepted P/E ratio, the PEG ratio also accounts for the company’s projected earnings growth. The Computer – Software was holding an average PEG ratio of 2.47 at yesterday’s closing price.

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