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Salesforce.com (CRM) Dips More Than Broader Markets: What You Should Know

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In the latest trading session, Salesforce.com (CRM - Free Report) closed at $240.86, marking a -0.44% move from the previous day. This move lagged the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.18%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the customer-management software developer had lost 2.53% over the past month. This has lagged the Computer and Technology sector's gain of 3.16% and the S&P 500's gain of 2.44% in that time.

Investors will be hoping for strength from CRM as it approaches its next earnings release. On that day, CRM is projected to report earnings of $0.91 per share, which would represent a year-over-year decline of 36.81%. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $6.23 billion, up 21.01% from the prior-year quarter.

Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $3.80 per share and revenue of $25.93 billion. These totals would mark changes of -22.76% and +22.01%, respectively, from last year.

Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for CRM. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-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. 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, which ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has an impressive outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks generating an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection remained stagnant. CRM is currently a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Valuation is also important, so investors should note that CRM has a Forward P/E ratio of 63.67 right now. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 33.12, which means CRM is trading at a premium to the group.

Investors should also note that CRM has a PEG ratio of 3.45 right now. 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. CRM's industry had an average PEG ratio of 2.72 as of yesterday's close.

The Computer - Software industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 97, which puts it in the top 39% 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.

You can find more information on all of these metrics, and much more, on Zacks.com.


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