Salesforce.com (CRM) slips to a loss in Q4 but beats estimates; agrees to buy Vlocity

Salesforce.com Inc. (NYSE: CRM) slipped to a loss in the fourth quarter of 2020 from a profit last year due to higher costs and expenses despite a 35% growth in the top-line. The results exceeded analysts’ expectations.

The company said that Keith Block has stepped down as co-CEO of Salesforce and Marc Benioff is Chair and CEO of the company. Block is remaining as Advisor to the CEO. Also, the company appointed Gavin Patterson, former BT Group plc Chief Executive, as its President and CEO of Salesforce International.

Also, the company agreed to buy Vlocity Inc., a provider of industry-specific cloud and mobile software built natively on the Salesforce platform, for about $1.33 billion. The purchase price will be paid in cash and the assumption of outstanding unvested equity awards held by Vlocity employees. The acquisition is expected to close during Q2 of fiscal 2021.

Net loss was $248 million or $0.28 per share compared to a profit of $362 million or $0.46 per share in the previous year quarter. Adjusted earnings decreased by 6% to $0.66 per share. Revenue jumped by 35% to $4.85 billion. Analysts had expected EPS of $0.55 on revenue of $4.75 billion for the fourth quarter.

Subscription and support revenues rose 35% year-over-year, while professional services and other revenues advanced 26%. Product-wise revenue by cloud, sales cloud increased by 17% while service cloud jumped by 26%. Salesforce Platform and other revenue soared by 74% while marketing cloud & commerce cloud revenue advanced by 28%.

For the first quarter, the company expects adjusted earnings in the range of $0.70-0.71 per share and revenue in the range of $4.875-4.885 billion. The GAAP earnings are anticipated to be $0.00-0.01 per share. Analysts expect earnings of $0.70 per share on revenue of $4.84 billion.

For the full year 2021, revenues are predicted to be $21-21.1 billion and adjusted earnings of $3.16-3.18 per share. The GAAP earnings are anticipated to be in the range of $0.12-0.14 per share. The consensus estimates EPS of $3.11 on revenue of $20.93 billion.

Read: Palo Alto Networks Q2 earnings review

The company said it continues to remain focused on driving towards a long-term revenue goal of $34-35 billion in fiscal 2024 as it is uniquely positioned to help customers drive broad-based digital transformation.

The Black Friday and Cyber Monday momentum has kicked off well for Salesforce, which experienced a 33% year-over-year growth in the gross merchandise volume to $14.5 billion during the Q4 of 2020. There were about 31.6 million commerce orders during the cyber week with a gross merchandise volume of $2.7 billion.

Follow our Google News edition to get the latest stock market, earnings and financial news at your fingertips.