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Salesforce.com (CRM) Gains But Lags Market: What You Should Know

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Salesforce.com (CRM - Free Report) closed at $192.62 in the latest trading session, marking a +0.33% move from the prior day. This move lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 1.4%. Elsewhere, the Dow gained 1.05%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 2.13%.

Heading into today, shares of the customer-management software developer had gained 1.28% over the past month, lagging the Computer and Technology sector's gain of 1.93% and the S&P 500's gain of 4.78% in that time.

CRM will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release, which is expected to be August 25, 2020. In that report, analysts expect CRM to post earnings of $0.67 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 1.52%. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $4.90 billion, up 22.56% from the year-ago period.

CRM's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $2.97 per share and revenue of $20.05 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of -0.67% and +17.29%, respectively.

Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for CRM. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company's business outlook.

Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-team stock moves. 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 ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell). It has a remarkable, outside-audited track record of success, with #1 stocks delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate remained stagnant within the past month. CRM is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Digging into valuation, CRM currently has a Forward P/E ratio of 64.71. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 33.26, which means CRM is trading at a premium to the group.

Also, we should mention that CRM has a PEG ratio of 3.59. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. Computer - Software stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 2.51 based on yesterday's closing prices.

The Computer - Software industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 89, putting it in the top 36% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our individual 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.

To follow CRM in the coming trading sessions, be sure to utilize Zacks.com.


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