Salesforce.com Q3 Earnings Preview

Salesforce.com, Inc. CRM reports FY Q3 2015 earnings Wednesday after the close.

Consensus estimates anticipated EPS of $0.13 on revenue of $1.37 billion.

Morgan Stanley analyst Keith Weiss claimed that “consensus numbers have fully reflected the FX headwinds, so investors should be sure to look thru to the underlying cc growth rates. After making these adjustments, we still see upside to our 3Q15 subscription revenue growth of 3.7 percent QoQ vs a 8.1 percent five year average. For billings, our QoQ estimate of (7.8 percent) is well below the five year average of +3.4 percent (even adjusting for FX), suggesting the possibility of upside.”

Sterne Agee analyst Robert Breza forecasted “Revenue/EPS of $1.388B/ $0.14, above the Street's $1.37/$0.13. We expect total bookings of $1.294B, up 33 percent y/y with Deferred Revenue seasonally decreasing to $2.258B; supporting our independent checks is the public Salesforce transactional data which is accelerating up 61.3 percent y/y vs. 52.9 percent y/y last quarter.”

Wedbush analyst Steve Koenig thought that “the company can post a 3Q revenue beat of $10M - $15M or more and guide above 4Q consensus (e.g., $1,450M - $1,455M vs. $1,451). Also, we think initial FY16 guidance can bracket consensus (e.g., $6,650M - $6,700M vs. $6,663M) and probably leave some room for raises in successive quarters. Our revenue increase leads to upward revisions in our EPS by a penny this year and next year.”

Ahead of the earnings announcement Salesforce.com, Inc. traded at $60.99, down 2.37 percent,