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Mark Beniof, co-founder and CEO of Salesforce, visits the 50th World Economic Forum in Davos Switzerland, January 21, 2020.
Denis Balibow | Reuters
Was a momentDuring the growth days of the 2020 pandemic when Seller exceeded Oracle by the market cap. Mark Beniof Finally overthrew his protege, Larry Alison.
This moment has long gone.
Salesforce’s stock price decreased by 25%this year, which is the worst performance in the technology of great capitalization and the second dow Unitedhealth. Meanwhile, Oracle jumped by 34%, surpassing most of his peers and exceeded the main indices.
Both companies, which once were approximately estimated, are now divided by about $ 400 billion. Oracle costs $ 630 billion, and Salesforce decreased to $ 239 billion. Now Alison is ranked second behind Elon Musk on Index Bloomberg BilloombesWith a net price of $ 278 billion. Beniof ranks 318th at $ 10.4 billion.
Investors seek to hear how Beniof plans to fix the ship when Salesforce reports quarterly results after closing on Wednesday.
Sales growth has been immersed in single numbers for four direct quarters, as the company is considered to be problems with the key market software to manage customer management. This series is expected to continue, and analysts estimate revenue growth by 8.7% to $ 10.1 billion, LSEG reports.
Pending April periodAbout a quarter of Salesforce at $ 9.3 billion subscriptions and support income came from customer service products, its largest category. The company charges a proposal for a maintenance cloud -based agents that use software.
With the rapid rise of artificial intelligence, some analysts predict that more requests will be carried out through automation, which creates a risk to Salesforce.
Beniof knows this task well. He – said in June that AI is already engaged in 30% to 50% of the company’s work. This is a big reason for which salesforce justify This year, 1000 jobs were reduced.
When it comes to customers, Salesforce is now selling AgentForce, AI System for Customer Support Requirements. After became available in October, AgentForce provided $ 100 million annual revenue, Beniof Analytics said at a conference call in May.
“This is not significantly enough to move the needle in this business, given the scale,” said Michael Turrin, Wells Fargo analyst, who has Salesforce’s promotions.
Hope customers pay more than AgentForce than for the official cloud, Turin said.
The big difference for Oracle is that this is one of the earlier beneficiaries AI BOOM. Known primarily for its database software sitting in large companies and government agencies, Oracle scored cloud Infrastructure obligations From Openai and Musk’s XAI.
AgentForce can become Salesforce window in AI Business if it gains craving.
“I think there was a lot of disappointments using Salesforce shares, so I think we are at the moment when investors are trying to find out if there is an opportunity to bounce a little,” Turin said.
Looking for double -digit growth
Investors also want to see an improvement in the current commitment to the permanent currency, which is expected to be expected next year. In May, the head of the operational Robin Washington said she expected the number to be 9% in the August quarter.
“The longer the metric remains above 10%, the more confident investors that this business can support a 10% growth profile at least next year,” the Turrin said.
Analysts expect revenue growth to gain very slight in the financial quarter, with a consensus estimate by 9%, LSEG reports.
Salesforce refused to comment.
The extension can occur outside. In May, SalesForce agreed to acquire a data management company Infortatica during 8 billion dollars. This is definitely the biggest deal for Salesforce since time 27.1 billion dollars Purchase Slack in 2021. At this time, Salesforce did not spend more than $ 2.5 billion on M&A, which was the chief growth driver in the past years.
At the end of 2022, investors began to go after SalesForce, dissatisfied with the Benioff’s high expenses, the lack of work of the company and its expanded labor. Activists began campaigning for a more favorable sales and profit combination, and Salesforce responded, expanding the profitability earlier than planned.
One of the main instigators, the conductive value, returned to the greater. In the second quarter firm that is first and foremost bought stock Salesforce In 2022, according to reports supply. In October 2024, Jeff Smith programmatory improved on improving Salesforce’s profitability but said he still believed “There’s a lot more there.”
Vulcan Value Partners is a shareholder Salesforce, which is convenient with the software plans. Taking a share in 2020, the volcano in the second quarter added 345,000 shares, increasing the total amount to $ 300 million.
“What we focus on is the price for the action,” said Stephen Simmons, the company’s portfolio manager. “It continues to grow. Nothing we see, says that this company is leaving soon.”
Analysts expect the stock profit to increase to $ 2.78 for the last quarter, which is $ 2.56 a year earlier, LSEG reports.
In 2020, Vulcan sold its Oracle shares, missing a steep action. The symbol said to buy again when the stock will decline.
“It’s funny as everything goes and goes around,” Symbol said. “Beniof begins Salesforce as a cloud company, and Larry into Oracle tries to transfer its customers into the cloud.”
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