Salesforce (CRM) had a big week to end August, with its stock surging 25% in a five-day span. The rally was fueled by Thursday’s earnings report, which sent the stock as much as 20% higher. The US stock market had a solid week, with the three major indexes (S&P 500, Nasdaq, Dow Jones) all up approximately 1% each as of 12 pm on Friday.
Salesforce reported a beat on second-quarter earnings and expanded its partnership with Anthropic, per its earnings press release. The stock notched its second-best day ever, Thursday trailing only August 2020, when shares jumped roughly 26%. posted revenue of $11.35 billion, versus $11.32 billion that LSEG analysts expected. That was up 11% year over year. The software company reported adjusted earnings per share at $5.90, sailing past estimates of $3.27 a share. Net income rose 87% from a year ago, coming in at $3.53 billion, or $4.29 a share, versus last year’s $1.89 billion, or $1.96 a share.
In addition, Salesforce (CRM also noted a $2.6 billion gain from its strategic investment in Anthropic, whose valuation has now grown to $965 billion ahead of its hotly anticipated initial public offering. CEO Marc Benioff and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei joined CNBC to unveil the “Claudeforce” effort, which brings Salesforce into Claude with a plug-in built to help salespeople access critical data through the frontier lab’s Claude chatbot.
Furthermore, for the full year, Salesforce now expects revenue of $46.1 billion to $46.4 billion, compared with its prior view of $45.9 billion to $46.2 billion. It now guides for adjusted earnings per share of $16.67 to $16.71, up from $14.06 to $14.12 previously. The updated guidance reflects an expected boost from organic growth as well as the company’s deals for Contentful and Fin, which it expects to close in the coming weeks.
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Wall Street analysts maintain a bullish for CRM stock post-earnings. However, analysts recommend a cautious approach due to concerns over reliance on investment gains and the sustainability of current growth rates. Based on 39 Wall Street analysts offering 12-month price targets for Salesforce in the last 3 months, the average price target is $267.00 with a high forecast of $400.00 and a low forecast of $160.00. The average price target represents a 2.79% uptick from the current price, indicating that Salesforce stock may have peaked at its current price range.