In the latest trading session, Salesforce.com (CRM) closed at $267.22, marking a +1.38% move from the previous day. This move outpaced the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.78%. Elsewhere, the Dow gained 1.14%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 0.61%.
The customer-management software developer's stock has dropped by 2.8% in the past month, falling short of the Computer and Technology sector's gain of 8.76% and the S&P 500's gain of 5.88%.
Analysts and investors alike will be keeping a close eye on the performance of Salesforce.com in its upcoming earnings disclosure. The company's earnings per share (EPS) are projected to be $2.77, reflecting a 8.2% increase from the same quarter last year. Meanwhile, the latest consensus estimate predicts the revenue to be $10.13 billion, indicating a 8.66% increase compared to the same quarter of the previous year.
CRM's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $11.3 per share and revenue of $41.17 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of +10.78% and +8.64%, respectively.
Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for Salesforcecom. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the business and profitability.
Empirical research indicates that these revisions in estimates have a direct correlation with impending stock price performance. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, actionable rating system.
The Zacks Rank system, ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), possesses a remarkable history of outdoing, externally audited, with #1 stocks returning an average annual gain of +25% since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection remained stagnant. Salesforce.com is currently a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
With respect to valuation, Salesforce.com is currently being traded at a Forward P/E ratio of 23.33. This represents a discount compared to its industry average Forward P/E of 24.84.
Meanwhile, CRM's PEG ratio is currently 1.81. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. As of the close of trade yesterday, the Computer - Software industry held an average PEG ratio of 2.3.
The Computer - Software industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 39, which puts it in the top 16% of all 250+ industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.
Remember to apply Zacks.com to follow these and more stock-moving metrics during the upcoming trading sessions.
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Salesforce Inc. (CRM): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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