Salesforce.com, inc.'s CRM chief executive recently teased that a big announcement is coming, but analysts warn the resulting service may already be factored into the stock.
On September 12, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff jokingly tweeted a "top secret" agenda for the upcoming Dreamforce conference. The event is scheduled to begin on October 13 in San Francisco. Benioff fueled media and investor anticipation after tweeting the following image:
Top secret v1 of the sched for Dreamforce #df14. Doesn't incl the 1,450 breakout sessions. Must bring food to attend. pic.twitter.com/J3a7jO2Qoy
— Marc Benioff (@Benioff) September 12, 2014
After taking a closer look at the tweet, Wells Fargo analyst Jason Maynard pointed out that "Analytics Cloud Keynote" is listed as a scheduled event.
The Hype Continues
On September 15, Benioff tweeted a follow-up image with an adjusted Dreamforce agenda. He played up the agenda's secrecy by writing "Top Secret - Do Not Share On Tweet" on the printed sheet:
Here is the new Top Secret 2014 Dreamforce Agenda. Bring a can of food to get in to #DF14. The best DF ever. pic.twitter.com/fmjA6zV0dG
— Marc Benioff (@Benioff) September 15, 2014
Both agendas are fairly similar, but there is one notable change: the 9:00 a.m. "Analytics Cloud Keynote" has been replaced by "Project Wave Keynote."
Could this be the name of Salesforce's cloud analytics service or hint at another service the company is developing?
The answer may not come before October, but in the meantime, investors might want to brace themselves for a lukewarm reception.
Nothing New?
Global Equities Research analyst Trip Chowdhry likes Salesforce, though he told Benzinga that the Analytics Cloud is old news. "We think this whole new service is already factored into the stock price because the institutional investors already know about it," said Chowdhry. "There's nothing new. But this is a good service."
Barrington Research analyst Jeffrey Houston agrees that the tweeted image indicates a cloud-based analytics service is coming. "It's been the rumor for a while," Houston told Benzinga.
"I think, generally, the direction Salesforce is taking is good," Chowdhry added. "I don't know if there is something new from an investment point of view on this because it's so highly known in the investment community."
Disclosure: At the time of this writing, Louis Bedigian had no position in the equities mentioned in this report.
© 2024 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
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