Salesforce Announces Strong Third Quarter Fiscal 2021 Results

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Salesforce (NYSE: CRM), the global leader in CRM, today announced results for its fiscal third quarter ended October 31, 2020.

“We had another record quarter, and now we’re raising our FY21 revenue guidance to $21.11 billion at the high end and initiating FY22 guidance of $25.5 billion. No other major enterprise software company is growing at this rate,” said Marc Benioff, Chair & CEO, Salesforce. “We’re rapidly moving to an all-digital world, where work happens wherever people are. Our results are being driven by the success of our customers and the relevance of our Customer 360 Platform in this new normal."

Salesforce delivered the following results for its fiscal third quarter:

Revenue: Total third quarter revenue was $5.42 billion, an increase of 20% year-over-year, and 19% in constant currency. Subscription and support revenues for the quarter were $5.09 billion, an increase of 20% year-over-year. Professional services and other revenues for the quarter were $0.33 billion, an increase of 22% year-over-year.

Operating Margin: Third quarter GAAP operating margin was 4.1%. Third quarter non-GAAP operating margin was 19.8%.

Earnings per Share: Third quarter GAAP diluted earnings per share was $1.15, and non-GAAP diluted earnings per share was $1.74. Mark-to-market accounting of the Company’s strategic investments, required by ASU 2016-01, benefited GAAP diluted earnings per share by $0.83 based on a U.S. tax rate of 25% and non-GAAP diluted earnings per share by $0.86 based on a non-GAAP tax rate of 22%.

Cash: Cash generated from operations for the third quarter was $0.34 billion, an increase of 14% year-over-year. Total cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities ended the third quarter at $9.49 billion.

Remaining Performance Obligation: Remaining performance obligation ended the third quarter at approximately $30.3 billion, an increase of 17% year-over-year. Current remaining performance obligation ended the third quarter at approximately $15.3 billion, an increase of 20% year-over-year, 19% in constant currency.

As of December 1, 2020, the Company is initiating its revenue guidance, GAAP earnings per share guidance, non-GAAP earnings per share guidance, and current remaining performance obligation growth guidance for its fourth quarter of fiscal year 2021. As of December 1, 2020, the Company is raising its revenue guidance, GAAP earnings per share guidance, and non-GAAP earnings per share guidance previously provided on August 25, 2020 for its full fiscal year 2021. As of December 1, 2020, the Company is initiating its GAAP operating margin guidance for its full fiscal year 2021. As of December 1, 2020, the Company is maintaining its non-GAAP operating margin guidance and operating cash flow guidance previously provided on August 25, 2020 for its full fiscal year 2021. As of December 1, 2020, the Company is initiating its revenue guidance for its first quarter of fiscal year 2022 and for its full fiscal year 2022.

Management will provide further commentary around these guidance assumptions on its earnings call, which is expected to occur on December 1, 2020 at 2:00 PM Pacific Time.

Our guidance assumes no change to the value of the Company's strategic investment portfolio resulting from ASU 2016-01 as it is not possible to forecast future gains and losses. In addition, the guidance below is based on estimated GAAP tax rates that reflect the Company’s currently available information, and excludes forecasted discrete tax items such as excess tax benefits from stock-based compensation. The GAAP tax rates may fluctuate due to future acquisitions or other transactions.

⁽¹⁾ Full Year FY22 revenue guidance includes contributions from Slack Technologies, Inc. of approximately $600 million, net of purchase accounting, and assumes a closing date in late Q2 and Acumen Solutions, Inc. of approximately $150 million, net of purchase accounting, and assumes a closing date within Q2.

The following is a reconciliation of GAAP operating margin guidance to non-GAAP operating margin guidance for the full year:

⁽¹⁾ GAAP operating margin is the proportion of GAAP income from operations as a percentage of GAAP revenue. Non-GAAP operating margin is the proportion of non-GAAP income from operations as a percentage of GAAP revenue.

⁽²⁾ The percentages shown above have been calculated based on the midpoint of the low and high ends of the revenue guidance for full year FY21.

The following is a per share reconciliation of GAAP diluted earnings per share to non-GAAP diluted earnings per share guidance for the next quarter and the full year:

⁽¹⁾ The Company's GAAP tax provision is expected to be approximately 33% for the three months ended January 31, 2021, and approximately (73%) for the year ended January 31, 2021. The GAAP tax rates may fluctuate due to discrete tax items and related effects in conjunction with certain provisions in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, future acquisitions or other transactions. The Company changed its international corporate structure, which included the consolidation of certain intangible property, resulting in a $2 billion net tax benefit related to foreign deferred tax assets in the second quarter, and this is reflected in the full year GAAP EPS guidance. This change had no impact on Non-GAAP earnings per share, as the Company utilizes a fixed long-term projected Non-GAAP tax rate which generally excludes effects for discrete events.

⁽²⁾ The Company's projected GAAP and Non-GAAP diluted earnings per share assumes no change to the value of our strategic investment portfolio resulting from ASU 2016-01 as it is not possible to forecast future gains and losses. While historically the Company's strategic investment portfolio has had a positive impact on the Company's financial results, that may not be true for future periods, particularly in periods of significant market fluctuations that affect the publicity traded companies within the Company's strategic investment portfolio. The impact of future gains or losses from the Company's strategic investment portfolio could be material.

⁽³⁾ The Company’s Non-GAAP tax provision uses a long-term projected tax rate of 22.0%, which reflects currently available information and could be subject to change.

For additional information regarding non-GAAP financial measures see the reconciliation of results and related explanations below.

Chief Financial Officer Retirement

Salesforce also announces today that Mark Hawkins, Salesforce President and CFO, will retire. Hawkins will serve in his current role until January 31, 2021, at which time he will transition to an advisory role as our CFO Emeritus through October 2021. Effective February 1, 2021, Amy Weaver, Salesforce’s current President and Chief Legal Officer, will become President and CFO.

“Mark has been an incredible leader, helping to guide our unprecedented growth over the past six years,” said Marc Benioff. “While we are happy for Mark as he charts his next chapter, we are fortunate to have another great leader and seasoned operator to turn to in Amy as our next CFO. Mark and Amy have been incredibly effective partners in the operations of the company, and with Mark staying on as an advisor for an extended period we expect to have a very smooth transition.”

Quarterly Conference Call

Salesforce will host a conference call at 2:00 p.m. (PT) / 5:00 p.m. (ET) to discuss its financial results with the investment community. A live webcast and replay details of the event will be available on the Salesforce Investor Relations website at www.salesforce.com/investor.

About Salesforce

Salesforce is the global leader in Customer Relationship Management (CRM), bringing companies closer to their customers in the digital age. Founded in 1999, Salesforce enables companies of every size and industry to take advantage of powerful technologies—cloud, mobile, social, internet of things, artificial intelligence, voice and blockchain—to create a 360-degree view of their customers. For more information about Salesforce (NYSE: CRM), visit: www.salesforce.com.

"Safe harbor" statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: This press release contains forward-looking statements about the Company's financial and operating results, which may include expected GAAP and non-GAAP financial and other operating and non-operating results, including revenue, net income, earnings per share, operating cash flow growth, operating margin improvement, expected revenue growth, expected current remaining performance obligation growth, expected tax rates, stock-based compensation expenses, amortization of purchased intangibles, shares outstanding, market growth, environmental, social and governance goals, expected capital allocation, including mergers and acquisitions (such as the proposed acquisition of Slack Technologies, Inc.), capital expenditures and other investments, expectations regarding closing contemplated acquisitions and contributions from acquired companies. The achievement or success of the matters covered by such forward-looking statements involves risks, uncertainties and assumptions. If any such risks or uncertainties materialize or if any of the assumptions prove incorrect, the Company’s results could differ materially from the results expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements it makes.

The risks and uncertainties referred to above include -- but are not limited to -- risks associated with our ability to consummate the proposed Slack Technologies, Inc. transaction on a timely basis or at all; the satisfaction of the conditions precedent to consummation of the proposed transaction; our ability to secure regulatory approvals on the terms expected, in a timely manner or at all; our ability to successfully integrate Slack Technologies, Inc.’s operations; our ability to implement its plans, forecasts and other expectations with respect to Slack Technologies, Inc.’s business after the completion of the transaction and realize expected synergies; our ability to realize the anticipated benefits of the proposed transaction, including the possibility that the expected benefits from the proposed transaction will not be realized or will not be realized within the expected time period; the impact of Slack Technologies, Inc.’s business model on our ability to forecast revenue results; disruption from the transaction making it more difficult to maintain business and operational relationships; the negative effects of the announcement or the consummation of the proposed transaction on the market price of our common stock or on our operating results; significant transaction costs; unknown liabilities; the risk of litigation or regulatory actions related to the proposed transaction; the effect of the announcement of the merger on the ability of Salesforce or Slack Technologies, Inc. to retain and hire key personnel and maintain relationships with customers, suppliers and others with whom we or Slack Technologies, Inc. do business, or on our or Slack Technologies, Inc.’s operating results and business generally; the impact of, and actions we may take in response to, the COVID-19 pandemic, related public health measures and resulting economic downturn and market volatility; our ability to maintain service performance and security levels meeting the expectations of our customers, and the resources and costs required to avoid unanticipated downtime and prevent, detect and remediate performance degradation and security breaches; the expenses associated with our data centers and third-party infrastructure providers; our ability to secure and costs related to additional data center capacity; our reliance on third-party hardware, software and platform providers; the effect of evolving domestic and foreign government regulations, including those related to the provision of services on the Internet, those related to accessing the Internet, and those addressing data privacy, cross-border data transfers and import and export controls; current and potential litigation involving us or our industry, including litigation involving acquired entities such as Tableau, and the resolution or settlement thereof; regulatory developments and regulatory investigations involving us or affecting our industry; our ability to successfully introduce new services and product features, including any efforts to expand our services beyond the CRM market; the success of our strategy of acquiring or making investments in complementary businesses, joint ventures, services, technologies and intellectual property rights; our ability to realize the benefits from strategic partnerships, joint ventures and investments; our ability to successfully integrate acquired businesses and technologies; our ability to compete in the market in which we participate; the success of our business strategy and our plan to build our business, including our strategy to be a leading provider of enterprise cloud computing applications and platforms; our ability to execute our business plans; our ability to continue to grow unearned revenue and remaining performance obligation; the pace of change and innovation in enterprise cloud computing services; the seasonal nature of our sales cycles; our ability to limit customer attrition and costs related to those efforts; the success of our international expansion strategy; the demands on our personnel and infrastructure resulting from significant growth in our customer base and operations, including as a result of acquisitions; our dependency on the development and maintenance of the infrastructure of the Internet; our real estate and office facilities strategy and related costs and uncertainties; fluctuations in, and our ability to predict, our operating results and cash flows; the variability in our results arising from the accounting for term license revenue products; the performance and fair value of our investments in complementary businesses through our strategic investment portfolio; the impact of future gains or losses from our strategic investment portfolio including gains or losses from overall market conditions that may affect the publicly traded companies within our strategic investment portfolio; our ability to protect our intellectual property rights; our ability to develop our brands; the impact of foreign currency exchange rate and interest rate fluctuations on our results; the valuation of our deferred tax assets and the release of related valuation allowances; the potential availability of additional tax assets in the future; the impact of new accounting pronouncements and tax laws; uncertainties affecting our ability to estimate our tax rate; uncertainties regarding our tax obligations in connection with potential jurisdictional transfers of intellectual property, including the tax rate, the timing of the transfer and the value of such transferred intellectual property; uncertainties regarding the effect of general economic and market conditions; the impact of geopolitical events; uncertainties regarding the impact of expensing stock options and other equity awards; the sufficiency of our capital resources; risks related to our 2023 and 2028 senior notes, revolving credit facility and loan associated with 50 Fremont; our ability to comply with our debt covenants and lease obligations; and the impact of climate change, natural disasters and actual or threatened public health emergencies, including the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Further information on these and other factors that could affect the Company’s financial results is included in the reports on Forms 10-K, 10-Q and 8-K and in other filings it makes with the Securities and Exchange Commission from time to time. These documents are available on the SEC Filings section of the Investor Information section of the Company’s website at www.salesforce.com/investor.

The Investor Information section of the Company’s website at www.salesforce.com/investor contains a significant amount of information about Salesforce, including financial and other information for investors. Salesforce encourages investors to visit this website from time to time, as information is updated and new information is posted.

Salesforce.com, inc. assumes no obligation and does not intend to update these forward-looking statements, except as required by law.

No Offer or Solicitation

This communication is not intended to and shall not constitute an offer to buy or sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy or sell any securities, or a solicitation of any vote or approval, nor shall there be any sale of securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such jurisdiction. No offering of securities shall be made, except by means of a prospectus meeting the requirements of Section 10 of the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended.

Additional Information about the Merger and Where to Find It

In connection with the proposed transaction, the Company intends to file with the SEC a registration statement on Form S-4 that will include a proxy statement of Slack Technologies Inc. and that also constitutes a prospectus of the Company. Each of the Company and Slack Technologies Inc. may also file other relevant documents with the SEC regarding the proposed transaction. This document is not a substitute for the proxy statement/prospectus or registration statement or any other document that the Company or Slack Technologies Inc. may file with the SEC. The definitive proxy statement/prospectus (if and when available) will be mailed to stockholders of Slack Technologies Inc. INVESTORS AND SECURITY HOLDERS ARE URGED TO READ THE REGISTRATION STATEMENT, PROXY STATEMENT/PROSPECTUS AND ANY OTHER RELEVANT DOCUMENTS THAT MAY BE FILED WITH THE SEC, AS WELL AS ANY AMENDMENTS OR SUPPLEMENTS TO THESE DOCUMENTS, CAREFULLY AND IN THEIR ENTIRETY IF AND WHEN THEY BECOME AVAILABLE BECAUSE THEY CONTAIN OR WILL CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT THE PROPOSED TRANSACTION. Investors and security holders will be able to obtain free copies of the registration statement and proxy statement/prospectus (if and when available) and other documents containing important information about the Company, Slack Technologies Inc. and the proposed transaction, once such documents are filed with the SEC through the website maintained by the SEC at http://www.sec.gov. Copies of the documents filed with the SEC by the Company will be available free of charge on the Company’s website at www.salesforce.com/investor or by contacting the Company’s Investor Relations department at [email protected]. Copies of the documents filed with the SEC by Slack Technologies Inc. will be available free of charge on Slack’s website at investor.slackhq.com or by contacting Slack Technologies Inc.’s Investor Relations department at [email protected].

Participants in the Solicitation

The Company, Slack Technologies Inc. and certain of their respective directors and executive officers may be deemed to be participants in the solicitation of proxies in respect of the proposed transaction. Information about the directors and executive officers of the Company, including a description of their direct or indirect interests, by security holdings or otherwise, is set forth in the Company’s proxy statement for its 2020 Annual Meeting of Stockholders, which was filed with the SEC on May 1, 2020, and the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended January 31, 2020, which was filed with the SEC on March 5, 2020, as well as in a Form 8-K filed by the Company with the SEC on June 1, 2020. Information about the directors and executive officers of Slack Technologies Inc., including a description of their direct or indirect interests, by security holdings or otherwise, is set forth in Slack Technologies Inc.’s proxy statement for its 2020 Annual Meeting of Stockholders, which was filed with the SEC on May 5, 2020, and Slack’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended January 31, 2020, which was filed with the SEC on March 12, 2020. Other information regarding the participants in the proxy solicitations and a description of their direct and indirect interests, by security holdings or otherwise, will be contained in the proxy statement/prospectus and other relevant materials to be filed with the SEC regarding the proposed transaction when such materials become available. Investors should read the proxy statement/prospectus carefully when it becomes available before making any voting or investment decisions. You may obtain free copies of these documents from the Company or Slack Technologies Inc. using the sources indicated above.

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salesforce.com, inc. Consolidated Statements of Operations (in millions, except per share data) (Unaudited)
	Three Months Ended October 31,										Nine Months Ended October 31,
	2020					2019					2020					2019
Revenues:
Subscription and support	$	5,085				$	4,239				$	14,500				$	11,480
Professional services and other		334					274					935					767
Total revenues		5,419					4,513					15,435					12,247
Cost of revenues (1)(2):
Subscription and support		1,060					870					3,039					2,275
Professional services and other		334					264					920					740
Total cost of revenues		1,394					1,134					3,959					3,015
Gross profit		4,025					3,379					11,476					9,232
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