(By Balachander) Salesforce.com Inc. (NYSE:CRM) retreated sharply in extended trading on Thursday after the enterprise cloud computing company reduced its earnings forecast for the year and guided third-quarter profit below market expectations following a wider quarterly loss.
On a non-GAAP basis, earnings per share (EPS) jumped 40 percent to 42 cents, beating Wall Street expectations of 39 cents. GAAP loss widened to $9.83 million from $4.27 million for the second quarter ended July 31 amid 32 percent rise in operating expenses.
Revenue rose 34 percent to $731.6 million versus consensus estimate of 33.40 percent growth. Subscription and support revenue increased 35 percent.
Deferred revenue jumped 43 percent.
Looking ahead for the third quarter, Salesforce.com forecasts non-GAAP EPS between 31 cents and 32 cents on revenue of $773 million to $777 million. Analysts expect EPS of 34 cents on revenue of $771.34 million.
For the full year, the company now expects non-GAAP EPS in the range of $1.48 to $1.51, down from prior expectations of $1.60 to $1.63. Revenue is now projected to be between $3.025 billion and $3.035 billion, up from $2.97 billion to $3.00 billion projected earlier. Analysts expect EPS of $1.49 on revenue of $3.02 billion.
CRM stock, which has been trading in the 52-week range between $94.09 and $164.75, ended Thursday's regular trading at $146.77.