Salesforce Inc.’s stock jumped 8.7% in extended trading Wednesday after the company reported strong quarterly earnings.
“We had another strong quarter of executing on our profitable growth plan we set in motion last year, delivering $8.7 billion in revenue and again raising our operating-margin guidance for this fiscal year,” Salesforce Chief Executive Marc Benioff said in a statement announcing the results.
The software company
CRM,
reported fiscal third-quarter net income of $1.22 billion, or $1.25 a share, compared with net income of $210 million, or 21 cents a share, in the year-ago quarter. Adjusted earnings were $2.11 a share.
Revenue was $8.72 billion, compared with $7.84 billion a year ago.
Analysts surveyed by FactSet had expected on average net earnings of $2.05 a share on revenue of $8.72 billion.
Salesforce offered fourth-quarter revenue guidance of between $9.18 billion and $9.23 billion. FactSet analysts are modeling fourth-quarter revenue of $9.2 billion.
Salesforce’s stock has surged 74% this year as it aggressively pursues an AI strategy. The broader S&P 500 index
SPX
is up 18.5%.