Earnings Results: Salesforce tops $7 billion in quarterly revenue for first time, executives focusing on Slack instead of looking for new acquisitions

The company reported a fiscal fourth-quarter loss of $28 million, or 3 cents a share, versus bet income of $267 million, or 28 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Adjusted earnings were 84 cents a share, compared with $1.04 a share in the year-ago period.

Revenue rose to $7.33 billion from $5.82 billion in the year-ago quarter.

Analysts surveyed by FactSet had estimated earnings of 75 cents a share on revenue of $7.24 billion, based Salesforce’s forecast of 72 cents to 73 cents a share on revenue of $7.22 billion to $7.23 billion.

“As we continue to see tremendous demand from customers, we’re raising our FY23 revenue guidance to $32.1 billion at the high-end of range, with non-GAAP operating margin of 20%, and operating cash flow growth of 22% year-over-year,” said Marc Benioff, Salesforce chairman and chief executive, in a statement.

Salesforce expects adjusted first-quarter earnings of 93 cents to 94 cents a share on revenue of $7.37 billion to $7.38 billion, while analysts had forecast $1 a share on revenue of $7.27 billion.

For fiscal 2023, Salesforce forecasts adjusted earnings of $4.62 to $4.64 a share on revenue of $32 billion to $32.1 billion, with analysts expecting $4.76 a share on revenue of $31.78 billion.

Over the past 12 months, Salesforce shares have declined 4%, while the iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF 
IGV,
-0.86%
has declined 8%, the S&P 500 index 
SPX,
-1.55%
 has gained 10%, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index 
COMP,
-1.59%
has slid 0.4%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average 
DJIA,
-1.76%
— which counts Salesforce as a component — has gained 6%.