Salesforce, the competitor of SAP, has reported its numbers for the past quarter after trading hours on the US stock exchanges on Wednesday. The cloud specialist achieved a profit of $2.06 per share in the third quarter of its fiscal year 2024, surpassing analysts' expectations, who had predicted earnings of $2.05 per share. Compared to the previous year, earnings per share increased from $1.40 to $2.06. Salesforce's revenue for the past quarter amounted to $8.72 billion, compared to $7.84 billion in the same period last year. Analysts had forecasted an average quarterly revenue of $8.72 billion.

The strong growth in the last quarter has exceeded the expectations of the IT corporation and secured the third place on the list of the largest providers of enterprise software. In addition, Salesforce is now the largest provider of enterprise applications and AI-based customer management systems. According to CEO Marc Benioff, who was quoted in a statement on Wednesday, the company has successfully implemented its plan for profitable growth and has once again recorded a strong quarter. In recent months, Salesforce has already impressed Wall Street with its rapid increase in profit margins. The forecast for the fourth quarter now exceeds market expectations.

An adjusted operating margin of 30.5 percent is targeted for the entire fiscal year, ending in January, compared to the previous 30 percent. In the previous year, the margin was 22.5 percent. The goal for free cash flow from day-to-day operations has also been raised. Revenue is expected to increase by around 11 percent to $34.75 to $34.8 billion (€31.7 billion). The adjusted day-to-day operating margin is currently at 31.2 percent, which is above the new annual target.

Net profit increased almost six-fold compared to the previous year and amounted to $1.22 billion. Analyst Kash Rangan from US bank Goldman Sachs described the figures as unexpectedly strong. Subscription revenue has surprisingly increased significantly. He is convinced that Salesforce can continue to achieve a balance between improving operating margins and accelerating revenue growth. Some industry observers are concerned about the recently declining growth rate, to which Salesforce is now responding with new AI features and more cautious price increases.

Several analyst houses, including UBS, RBC, and Jefferies, have raised their target price. Salesforce owes part of its increased profitability to the massive job cuts announced at the beginning of this year. Until October 31st, the company had seen an 11% increase in employment compared to the previous year. However, in September, Salesforce announced the hiring of more than 3,000 new employees to benefit from the interest in artificial intelligence.

The stock price of Salesforce, traded on the NYSE, has already risen by nearly 74 percent this year due to the AI hype, achieving the highest gain in the US benchmark index Dow Jones (Since Wednesday's close). This increase was particularly noticeable in the first half of the year, as Salesforce faced increased pressure from activist investors.

As part of its campaign to increase profits, Salesforce is also focusing on reducing costs in sales and marketing, allowing the company to offer its software in new sales channels. Some analysts have called this a smart move to reach new target audiences while reducing sales costs. The stock rose 9.41 percent to $252.03 on Wednesday.