Salesforce.com Posts Doubled Revenue

Hosted CRM application services provider Salesforce.com Inc. reported quarterly earnings for the first time as a public company Thursday, reporting revenues nearly double what they were in the same period a year ago, as well as a modest profit.

For its fiscal second quarter ended July 31, Salesforce.com, which began trading on the New York Stock Exchange in June, reported revenues of $40.6 million, up from $21.6 million in the same period last year.

It turned a $1.2 million profit on those revenues, up from $122,000 in last years fiscal second quarter. The revenue increase included a rise in subscription revenues—the companys lifeblood—from $19.6 million to $36 million. Professional services accounted for the other revenue.

Salesforce.coms customer count increased from 7,000 to 11,100 year-to-year. Total users climbed from 96,000 to 168,000.

“We continue to grow while traditional enterprise software companies continue to struggle,” Salesforce.com chairman and CEO Marc Benioff said in a statement. “We exceeded our expectations, so we will raise our guidance for the remainder of the fiscal year.”

Salesforce.com said revenue in fiscal year 2005 would range from $165 million to $170 million, with earnings expected to range from 2 cents to 4 cents per share, based on an estimated average of 110 million diluted shares and an effective tax rate of 13 percent, company officials said.

/zimages/6/28571.gifClick hereto read about Salesforce.coms initiation to the world of shareholder lawsuits.

At its inaugural Analyst Day last month, Salesforce.com chief financial officer Steve Cakebread gave similar guidance, which fell below the consensus estimates of the three financial analysts who cover the company, who had predicted earnings of 6 cents per share on revenues of nearly $175 million.

The gap between those numbers caused Salesforce.coms stock to plummet by more than $4 per share that day. The stock price has yet to recover from that level, and had dropped an additional 40 cents per share to $11.77 in after-hours trading Thursday.´

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