Since the beginning of October, the Dow has dropped nearly 1,400 points. Even Google’s lost its glow. But Salesforce.com just posted fourth quarter financial numbers that beat analysts’ expectations and represent year-over-year increases in almost every way possible.
Corporate hyperbole is nothing new, but when Marc Benioff, Salesforce.com’s CEO, stated, “By any measure, the fourth quarter was amazing,” no one seemed ready to disagree. Here are some of the highlights of his company’s accomplishments.
Marc Benioff
Revenue reached a record level of $217 million, up 50 percent year-over-year. Cash flow went up 112 percent in the same period. Earnings per share reached six cents (as opposed to breakeven a year ago), and the company’s number of net customers increased by about 38 percent. As a result Salesforce.com’s stock is up over 10 percent in pre-market trading.
We try not to write entirely fluffy articles, however, and there could be a few less-positive things lurking about. First, Renee Boucher Ferguson points out that Benioff didn’t “break out any revenue numbers for Force.com, or its corresponding marketplace, AppExchange – an issue in the past for analysts who have tried to assess the penetration (and revenue stream) of Salesforce.com’s newer product lines.”
Also, in regards to 2009, “earnings for the year are now expected to come in at between 32 and 33 cents a share, slightly below analyst expectations of 36 cents per share.”
For the time being, though, it looks like Salesforce.com has done extraordinarily well despite some tough market conditions.
