Salesforce.com (CRM) ended the recent trading session at $247.49, demonstrating a -1.91% change from the preceding day's closing price. This change lagged the S&P 500's 0.49% loss on the day. At the same time, the Dow lost 0.14%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.65%.
Coming into today, shares of the customer-management software developer had lost 6.48% in the past month. In that same time, the Computer and Technology sector gained 3.58%, while the S&P 500 gained 0.96%.
The investment community will be paying close attention to the earnings performance of Salesforce.com in its upcoming release. The company is expected to report EPS of $2.77, up 8.2% from the prior-year quarter. In the meantime, our current consensus estimate forecasts the revenue to be $10.13 billion, indicating a 8.66% growth compared to the corresponding quarter of the prior 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. Such recent modifications usually signify the changing landscape of near-term business trends. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the business outlook.
Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. We developed the Zacks Rank to capitalize on this phenomenon. Our system takes these estimate changes into account and delivers a clear, actionable rating model.
The Zacks Rank system, which varies between #1 (Strong Buy) and #5 (Strong Sell), carries an impressive track record of exceeding expectations, confirmed by external audits, with stocks at #1 delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has remained steady. Right now, Salesforce.com possesses a Zacks Rank of #4 (Sell).
Looking at its valuation, Salesforce.com is holding a Forward P/E ratio of 22.34. This denotes a discount relative to the industry average Forward P/E of 23.97.
It is also worth noting that CRM currently has a PEG ratio of 1.73. The PEG ratio bears resemblance to the frequently used P/E ratio, but this parameter also includes the company's expected earnings growth trajectory. Computer - Software stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 2.25 based on yesterday's closing prices.
The Computer - Software industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 93, which puts it in the top 38% of all 250+ industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank assesses the vigor of our specific industry groups by computing the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks incorporated in the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.
Make sure to utilize Zacks.com to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and more, in the coming 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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