Salesforce shares up 16% on strong earnings forecast
Shares of cloud-based software provider Salesforce Inc rose 16% on Thursday to $193.91, its biggest intraday gain since August 2020 after it announced a strong full-year earnings forecast.
The company also doubled its share buyback program to $20 billion.
Shares of Salesforce closed Thursday at $186.59, up 11.50%, on the NYSE.
Salesforce posted better-than-expected fourth-quarter results on Wednesday. In the fourth quarter ended January 31, 2023, revenue increased 14% to $8.38 billion, better than forecast of 9.2% growth.
The software maker said Wednesday that its operating margin will be about 27% in fiscal year 2024, higher than the 22.5% for fiscal year 2023.
The company’s plan to integrate artificial intelligence across all of its cloud, as well as Slack, data analytics platform Tableau and MuleSoft platform also boosted the stock.
In the past few months, Salesforce had laid off 8,000 employees, changed boards, and lost several top executives.
Salesforce stock was up 26% this year, more than double the Nasdaq 100 rally.
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