- Salesforce's (NYSE:CRM) 33% Y/Y FQ2 billings growth was better than a Street forecast of 28%, says Nomura (Buy). The firm also estimates organic revenue growth was 28% (total growth was 38%), and notes op. cash flow grew 34% to $246M.
- Nomura sees Salesforce's Microsoft partnership yielding favorable press this fall, and also thinks Salesforce will announce a new cloud service, possibly by leveraging recently-acquired CRM analytics startup RelateIQ.
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BofA/Merrill (Buy) also talks up Salesforce's billings/cash flow growth, and points out the company's backlog ($7.35B) is now 24% above forward revenue estimates. FBR likes the fact op. margin (a recent concern, given heavy spending) rose 130 bps.
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Goldman (Conviction Buy) observes FQ3 guidance implies ~25% billings growth, which in turn points to a pickup in organic growth. "We believe CRM continues to be the preeminent SaaS vendor with significant runway ahead."
- On the CC (transcript), Salesforce mentioned it struck major deals with 3M and Safeway during FQ2, and expanded relationships with GM, P&G, and Yahoo (among others). The company also claimed European deal activity is picking up. Marc Benioff: "Europe tends to be a laggard when it comes to implementing new technology. And that has not escaped our cloud companies."
- Prior Salesforce earnings coverage