Salesforce Stock Surges 8% Following Beat-and-Raise Quarter Boosted by Anthropic Gain
The enterprise cloud giant posted an 87% jump in net profit, aided by a $2.6 billion investment gain on its stake in AI firm Anthropic.
Salesforce shares rose 8% in extended trading on Wednesday after the enterprise cloud vendor posted fiscal second-quarter financial results and future guidance that topped Wall Street expectations, as reported by CNBC Business.
For its fiscal second quarter ended July 31, Salesforce recorded an 11% year-over-year growth in total revenue. Net income surged 87% to $3.53 billion, or $4.29 per share, compared to $1.89 billion, or $1.96 per share, in the corresponding quarter last year.
The company's bottom line received a major boost from non-operational investment returns, highlighting a $2.6 billion gain on strategic investments. That uptick was primarily driven by Salesforce's equity holding in artificial intelligence model developer Anthropic.
Anthropic previously announced in May that it had closed an equity financing round valuing the AI startup at $965 billion.
Looking ahead to the fiscal third quarter, Salesforce expects adjusted earnings per share between $3.42 and $3.44, with net revenue projected in the range of $11.42 billion to $11.50 billion.
The company's revenue and earnings outlook both came in above consensus estimates gathered by LSEG, where analysts had anticipated adjusted earnings of $3.38 per share on revenue of $11.41 billion.
Sources
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