Salesforce.com posts 48 percent jump in 4th-qtr profit as sales of its software gain

Salesforce.com 4Q profit soars on big sales jump

SAN FRANCISCO — Salesforce.com on Wednesday posted a 48 percent jump in fiscal fourth-quarter profit, on strong sales growth for its online business software applications.

For the three months ended Jan. 31, Salesforce.com said profit jumped to $20.4 million, or 16 cents per share, compared with $13.8 million, or 11 cents per share, in last year’s fourth quarter.

Revenue shot up 22 percent to $354 million, from $289.6 million a year ago.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters, on average, expected profit of 15 cents per share, on revenue of $342.3 million.

Chairman and CEO Marc Benioff said the company is benefiting from the move to cloud computing.

Cloud computing lets companies collaborate online and store data on outside servers, lowering the cost of maintaining their own computer systems.

For the fiscal year, the company earned $80.7 million, or 63 cents per share, on revenue of $1.31 billion. That compares with profit of $43.4 million, or 35 cents per share, on revenue of $1.08 billion last year.

The company said it added more than 17,000 new customers during the fiscal year, to about 72,500.

For the fiscal first quarter, the company expects earnings between 12 and 13 cents per share, on revenue between $365 million and $367 million.

Analysts call for profit of 18 cents per share, on revenue of $354.7 million. The earnings per share numbers, however, may not be comparable because of unusual items.

For the full fiscal year, Salesforce.com forecast earnings between 58 cents and 60 cents per share. It raised its revenue guidance to growth between 16 percent and 17 percent, from 15 to 16 percent. That implies a revenue forecast between $1.51 billion and $1.53 billion.

Wall Street expects profit of 82 cents per share on revenue of $1.51 billion for the fiscal year.

Salesforce.com shares wobbled in aftermarket electronic trading, falling immediately after the release before gaining $1.28 to $70.90. The stock closed regular trading up $1.20 at $69.44.