Salesforce Falls as Revenue Forecast Misses Analysts’ Estimates

(Bloomberg) — Salesforce Inc. gave a forecast for quarterly revenue that fell short of analysts’ estimates, suggesting that a choppy economy may be causing some customers to slow spending on business software. The shares declined in extended trading.

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Sales will be as much as $7.83 billion in the period ending in October, the San Francisco-based company said Wednesday in a statement. Analysts, on average, projected $8.05 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. For the full year, the company cut its revenue forecast slightly to as much as $31 billion from $31.8 billion.

The reduced guidance reflects a shift in the tone of customers as the quarter progressed, which particularly hit in July, said Mike Spencer, recently appointed head of investor relations, in an interview.

Co-Chief Executive Officer Bret Taylor said the company was facing a “more measured buying environment.”

Salesforce, the leader in cloud-based customer management software, has a wide variety of clients across industries. It maintained high revenue growth through the pandemic and expanded its business productivity products with the $27.7 billion purchase of the messaging platform Slack, which was completed in July 2021. This year, however, it has tried to rein in some costs, including slowing the pace of hiring and reducing travel. Earlier this month, the company appointed Brian Millham as chief operating officer, filling a role that had been vacant since Taylor was promoted to co-CEO about nine months ago.

Many software peers such as ServiceNow Inc. have seen clients extend their purchasing cycles as the economy has weakened in past months, and it’s likely that Salesforce has experienced the same dynamic, Keith Bachman, an analyst at BMO Capital, wrote in a note ahead of earnings.

Spencer said the company is seeing “longer deal cycles,” from its customers. “We’re seeing extra approvers getting inserted into deals — CFOs are getting included in deals a lot more frequently than in the past,” he said.

The shares dropped about 5.5% in extended trading after closing at $180.01 in New York. The stock has declined 29% this year amid a broad technology rout that has particularly hit software vendors.

The company also announced a $10 billion share buyback program.

The buyback may be management signaling to investors that they’re conscious of the company’s share price, said Anurag Rana, an analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence. “The stock has been so much under pressure over the last year and a half — that may have sparked it,” he said in an interview with Bloomberg Television.

In the fiscal second quarter, revenue increased 22% to $7.72 billion, beating analysts’ projections. The current remaining performance obligation — or contracted sales that have yet to close, which is a metric of near-term demand — grew 15% to $21.5 billion. Profit, excluding some items, was $1.19 a share, compared with analysts’ average estimate of $1.03.

Currency fluctuations, particularly the strength of the US dollar, caused about $50 million more in headwinds than anticipated in the quarter, Chief Financial Officer Amy Weaver said on a conference call. For the full year, currency fluctuations are now expected to cost about $800 million in revenue, an increase of $200 million from last quarter’s estimate.

Subscription revenue generated by its platform unit, which includes Slack, gained 34% to $1.48 billion in the period ended July 31 — the biggest increase any division. Marketing and commerce software gained 12% to $1.12 billion, which was the smallest jump of any unit. Many analysts anticipated a slowdown in this division due to a wider pullback in marketing spending.

(Updates with CFO’s comments on currency in the 12th paragraph.)