WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Cloud computing company Salesforce.com (CRM) Thursday reported a slip to loss in the second quarter, hurt mainly by expenses and the absence of tax gains recorded a year ago. Adjusted earnings and revenue, however, topped Wall Street estimates.
Salesforce.com detailed its guidance for the third quarter, in line with analysts' estimates and lifted its outlook for the full year 2015.
Salesforce.com, which competes with bigger rivals Oracle Corp. (ORCL) and Sap AG (SAP), has been posting quarterly losses due to expenses, despite managing to boost revenue.
Salesforce.com, based in San Francisco, California, posted a second-quarter net loss of $61 million or $0.10 per share, compared with net income of $76.6 million or $0.12 per share last year.
Excluding stock-based compensation expense and other items, adjusted earnings for the quarter were $0.13 per share, compared with $0.09 per share a year ago.
On average, 34 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected earnings of $0.12 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.
Expenses for the quarter increased to $1 billion from $779 million last year. The prior year included a tax benefit of $133 million.
Revenue for the second quarter rose 38 percent to $1.32 billion from $957 million in the prior year. Thirty-one analysts had a consensus revenue estimate of $1.29 billion for the quarter.
Revenue at its key subscription and support segment rose 37 percent from last year, and professional services increased 58 percent.
For the third quarter, Salesforce.com projects adjusted earnings of $0.12 to $0.13 per share and revenue of about $1.37 billion. Analysts estimate earnings of $0.13 per share on revenue of $1.37 billion.
For the full year 2015, the company now expect adjusted earnings of $0.50 to $0.52 per share and revenue of $5.34 billion to $5.37 billion. The earlier projection for earnings were $0.49 to $0.51 per share and revenue of $5.30 billion to $5.34 billion.
Analysts currently expect earnings of $0.51 per share on revenue of $5.34 billion for the year.
In July, Salesforce.com announced strategic investments in Germany, and the opening of data centers in the United Kingdom and France.
Salesforce.com stock closed Thursday at $55.71, up $0.32 or 0.58%, on a volume of 7.9 million shares on the NYSE. In after hours, the stock gained $0.21 or 0.38%, trading at $55.71.
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