Salesforce Q1 Sales Surge 37%, FY Outlook Boosted

announced its fiscal 2015 first-quarter results after the market closed on Tuesday, May 20th. Revenue for the quarter was $1.23 billion, an increase of 37 percent year-over-year, while subscription and support revenue was $1.15 billion, an increase of 36 percent year-over-year. Sales from the Professional Services and Other segment were $79 million, an increase of 58 percent from the same quarter last year. A consensus of analyst estimates showed the Street was looking for total sales around $1.21 billion. The company showed a diluted GAAP loss of $0.16 per share and non-GAAP earnings of $0.11 per share. Analysts had been expecting EPS of just $0.10. Salesforce.com noted the results do not include $131 million in stock-based compensation expense, $44 million in amortization of purchased intangibles, $11 million in net non-cash interest expense, $44 million in amortization of purchased intangibles, $11 million in net non-cash interest expense, and $9 million related to the loss on conversions of convertible 0.75 percent senior notes, due 2015, and is based on a projected tax rate of 36.5 percent. The company guided second-quarter revenue in the range of $1.285 billion to $1.290 billion, an increase of 34 to 35 percent year-over-year. GAAP loss per share is expected in the range of $0.13 to $0.12 per share, while the non-GAAP figure is expected to be a gain in the range of $0.11 to $0.12 per share. Fiscal year 2015 revenue will be in the range of $5.3 billion to $5.34 billion, Salesforce said, an increase of 30 to 31 percent year-over-year. The unadjusted loss per share is expected to be in the range of $0.49 to $0.47 per share while the adjusted figure is expected to be a $0.49 to $0.51 per share gain. Salesforce shares are trading up nearly a half percent to around $53.10 in Tuesday's post-market trading session.