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Salesforce (CRM) Suffers a Larger Drop Than the General Market: Key Insights

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In the latest trading session, Salesforce (CRM - Free Report) closed at $241.05, marking a -2.31% move from the previous day. The stock's performance was behind the S&P 500's daily loss of 1.09%. Elsewhere, the Dow saw a downswing of 0.34%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq depreciated by 2.15%.

Coming into today, shares of the customer-management software developer had gained 1.6% in the past month. In that same time, the Computer and Technology sector gained 1.99%, while the S&P 500 gained 2.44%.

The investment community will be closely monitoring the performance of Salesforce in its forthcoming earnings report. It is anticipated that the company will report an EPS of $3.43, marking a 5.54% rise compared to the same quarter of the previous year. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $11.46 billion, up 11.72% from the prior-year quarter.

For the entire fiscal year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $16.71 per share and a revenue of $46.25 billion, representing changes of +33.47% and +11.38%, respectively, from the prior year.

Additionally, investors should keep an eye on any recent revisions to analyst forecasts for Salesforce. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the business outlook.

Our research demonstrates that these adjustments in estimates directly associate with imminent stock price performance. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, actionable rating system.

Ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), the Zacks Rank system has a proven, outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks returning an average of +25% annually since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection remained stagnant. Salesforce is currently a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

In the context of valuation, Salesforce is at present trading with a Forward P/E ratio of 14.76. This valuation marks a discount compared to its industry average Forward P/E of 21.23.

We can also see that CRM currently has a PEG ratio of 0.86. 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. Internet - Software stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 1.25 based on yesterday's closing prices.

The Internet - Software industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. With its current Zacks Industry Rank of 81, this industry ranks in the top 33% of all industries, numbering over 250.

The Zacks Industry Rank assesses the strength of our separate industry groups by calculating the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks contained within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Don't forget to use Zacks.com to keep track of all these stock-moving metrics, and others, in the upcoming trading sessions.

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