Salesforce.com (CRM) Outpaces Stock Market Gains: What You Should Know

In the latest trading session, Salesforce.com (CRM) closed at $284.41, marking a +1.94% move from the previous day. The stock outpaced the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.3%.

Coming into today, shares of the customer-management software developer had gained 9.68% in the past month. In that same time, the Computer and Technology sector lost 5.35%, while the S&P 500 lost 2.37%.

Wall Street will be looking for positivity from CRM as it approaches its next earnings report date. On that day, CRM is projected to report earnings of $0.92 per share, which would represent a year-over-year decline of 47.13%. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $6.79 billion, up 25.27% from the prior-year quarter.

Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $4.40 per share and revenue of $26.3 billion. These totals would mark changes of -10.57% and +23.73%, respectively, from last year.

Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for CRM. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company's business and profitability.

Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, actionable rating system.

The Zacks Rank system ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell). It has a remarkable, outside-audited track record of success, with #1 stocks delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 2.82% higher. CRM is holding a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy) right now.

Investors should also note CRM's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 63.47. This valuation marks a premium compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 33.68.

Investors should also note that CRM has a PEG ratio of 3.79 right now. The PEG ratio is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but this metric also takes the company's expected earnings growth rate into account. The Computer - Software industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 2.87 as of yesterday's close.

The Computer - Software industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 107, which puts it in the top 43% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Be sure to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and many more, on Zacks.com.

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