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Dell promotes Salesforce.com, eager for a taste of consulting cash

Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM) has a new champion: Dell (NASDAQ: DELL). The PC manufacturer is promoting the online sales force-enablement platform as a way to gain access to the hefty sums available in the technology services business. The deal would give Salesforce.com access to Dell's clients in the small and medium-sized business categories. Dell would sell Salesforce.com products and provide consulting services to help clients integrate the solution with their other enterprise applications. The dollars and cents of this union weren't disclosed.

Dell sees the margins of the services business and wants a piece of the action, particularly since the PC sector is low margin. Also, sales have been hit pretty hard as a result of the financial crisis. With PCs accounting for 60% of Dell's top-line, a bit of diversity isn't a bad idea. Currently, services account for only around 10% of Dell's sales.

Continue reading Dell promotes Salesforce.com, eager for a taste of consulting cash

Entrepreneur's Journal: Getting buzz by doing your own PR

One of the best ways for your business to get exposure and credibility is through public relations. Yet, hiring a PR firm can be expensive, easily running $5,000 to $10,000 per month.

Despite this, it's possible to do PR on your own. Keep in mind that a key to success is having an active and passionate founder or CEO who makes media relations a priority. This has been the case with many great leaders, such as Howard Schultz at Starbucks (NYSE: SBUX) and Marc Benioff at Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM).

So, let's take a look at some of the steps you can take to improve your PR.

Continue reading Entrepreneur's Journal: Getting buzz by doing your own PR

Salesforce.com (CRM): Profits in the clouds

"Run properly, as Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM) does, a cloud computing network also offers greater security, greater reliability, and lower costs (thanks to efficiencies of scale)," explains Timothy Lutts.

In The Cabot Stock of the Month report, he suggests, "Salesforce.com is very well managed, and in our mind its leadership in cloud computing gives it a fundamental advantage that should translate into growing market share gains and steady revenue flows for years to come."

"The company was founded a decade ago by a former Oracle executive, and today it's a leading vendor of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) services.

Continue reading Salesforce.com (CRM): Profits in the clouds

Cloud computing: Amazon, Salesforce.com and Rackspace

"The term cloud computing is nothing particularly new or complicated; it simply means that instead of having software on your home, office or notebook computer, you run applications over the Internet," explains Gregg Early.

In Personal Finance says, "It's the way of the future as computing becomes increasingly mobile." Here, he looks at a trio of plays on this trend: Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN), Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM), and Rackspace Hosting (NYSE: RAX).

"I would point out that I'm writing this article on Google Docs. This document is stored on a Google server farm, not on my office computer.

Continue reading Cloud computing: Amazon, Salesforce.com and Rackspace

Earnings highlights: B&N, Deere, Heinz, Home Depot, HP, Sears, Target ...

Here are some highlights from last week's earnings coverage from BloggingStocks:

Continue reading Earnings highlights: B&N, Deere, Heinz, Home Depot, HP, Sears, Target ...

Salesforce.com's super quarter

Marc Benioff, the founder and CEO of Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM), has a new book coming out in November: Behind the Cloud: The Untold Story of How Salesforce.com Went from Idea to Billion-Dollar Companyand Revolutionized an Industry.

I actually got an advance copy of it -- and it is awesome. In great detail he provides the strategies for building a game-changing company. And based on Salesforce.com's latest earnings report, the momentum seems unstoppable, despite the recession and tight information technology (IT) budgets.

Continue reading Salesforce.com's super quarter

Cloud computing: Advantages and disadvantage

Cloud computing is a type of on-demand hosting services on the internet. Not only a necessity for mainstream e-commerce sites, it also increases efficiency, is scalable, and lowers expenses. The monetary savings may be misleading to consumers and businesses who do not fully understand the potential risks involved.

With a pay-as-you-go type structure, users are only charged for the amount of traffic, bandwidth, and memory used. Online businesses become more efficient by only utilizing the storage and space needed, while also being assured capacity for any usage increases. The buzz has been building for years, so cloud computing has attracted a diverse customer base, ranging from popular social networks such as Twitter and Facebook, to educational websites of Arizona State and Northwestern University.

Continue reading Cloud computing: Advantages and disadvantage

Earnings highlights: Dell, GM, Lowe's, Heinz, Smucker, Washington Post and more

Here are some highlights from this past week's earnings coverage from BloggingStocks:

Continue reading Earnings highlights: Dell, GM, Lowe's, Heinz, Smucker, Washington Post and more

Salesforce.com joins the billion-dollar club

Recession? What recession? Some companies seem to find ways to grow in any environment.

How? Part of it is the team; another part is the product; and finally, it helps if there is a big change in the marketplace.

Well, all this applies to Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM), which has achieved an incredible milestone: $1 billion in annual revenues.

Started in 1999, the company has transformed the business applications market. Salesforce.com sells its software on a subscription basis; access is through the Net; and there is a diverse platform where customers can build their own applications.

Continue reading Salesforce.com joins the billion-dollar club

The week in preview: Eye on Marvel, KBR, First Solar, Deckers and more

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expected the parade of earnings declines to continue into the final week of February, with Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc. (NYSE: MSO), Nordstrom Inc. (NYSE: JWN), Home Depot Inc. (NYSE: HD), Wynn Resorts Ltd. (NASDAQ: WYNN), Macy's Inc. (NYSE: M), DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc. (NYSE: DWA), Limited Brands Inc. (NYSE: LTD), Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT), Royal Bank Of Canada (NYSE: RY), Del Monte Foods Co. (NASDAQ: DLM), Kohl's Corp. (NYSE: KSS), Washington Post Co. (NYSE: WPO), Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL), Gap Inc. (NYSE: GPS), Campbell Soup Co. (NYSE: CPB), RadioShack Corp. (NYSE: RSH), and H.J. Heinz Co. (NYSE: HNZ) all expected to post lower earnings for the most recent quarter. Office Depot Inc. (NYSE: ODP), Saks Inc. (NYSE: SKS), and Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. (NYSE: CTB) are expect to have swung to a loss.

Continue reading The week in preview: Eye on Marvel, KBR, First Solar, Deckers and more

Earnings highlights: HP, Campbell, Deere, Tiffany, Xerox, Borders and others

Here are some highlights from this past week's earnings coverage from BloggingStocks:

Upcoming earnings releases include Sears (NASDAQ: SHLD), Staples (NASDAQ: SPLS), Aeropostale (NYSE: ARO), Del Monte Foods (NYSE: DLM), Guess (NYSE: GES), Novell (NASDAQ: NOVL), Toll Brothers (NYSE: TOL), Big Lots (NYSE: BIG), Royal Bank of Canada (NYSE: RY).

Visit AOL Money & Finance for more earnings coverage.

Salesforce.com continues to sell, sell, sell

I recently attended Salesforce.com's (NYSE: CRM) annual conference, Dreamforce. The place was packed, with nearly 10,000 people. The atmosphere was certainly an antidote to the grimness in the tech community.

Then again, this week Salesforce.com announced its quarterly results -- and they were particularly strong (especially in light of the size of the company). Revenues came to $276 million, up 43% over the past year. Earnings spiked 60% to $0.08 per share and there were 4,100 new customers.

At the conference, the big message was "the cloud" (in fact, Salesforce.com refers to itself as " the enterprise cloud computing company"). Essentially, the company is positioning itself as the key platform for business software, which is completely web-based.

Interestingly enough, this appears to be attractive to cash-strapped customers. After all, there are no large up-front costs. Moreover, there are no ongoing costs for things like servers. Another key benefit is customization (which is done through Force.com).

Continue reading Salesforce.com continues to sell, sell, sell

Earnings highlights: Target, Heinz, Barnes & Noble, Pepsi, Disney and others

Here are some highlights from this past week's earnings coverage from BloggingStocks:

Continue reading Earnings highlights: Target, Heinz, Barnes & Noble, Pepsi, Disney and others

Earnings highlights: Home Depot, Lehman, Hewlett-Packard, Gap, BJ's and others

Here are some highlights from this past week's earnings coverage from BloggingStocks:

For more highlights from this week, see: Hershey, Heinz, Burger King, Foot Locker, Saks and others

Upcoming quarterly reports include Big Lots (NYSE: BIG), Borders (NYSE: BGP), Rio Tinto (NYSE: RTP), Tivo (NASDAQ: TIVO), Novell (NASDAQ: NOVL), Dell (NASDAQ: DELL), Sears (NASDAQ: SHLD), and Tiffany (NYSE: TIF).

Visit AOL Money & Finance for more earnings coverage.

Investors selling Salesforce.com (CRM)

By all accounts, Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM) is on its way to being a legendary software company. Based on the latest quarterly results, announced Wednesday after the close, the revenues are on track to reach $1 billion.

The company also continues to grow at a blistering rate. In Q2, revenues surged 49% to $263.1 million. Net income came to $10 million, or $0.08 per share. Actually, for the past 12 months, Salesforce.com generated about $270 million in operating cash flow. In all, there is $823 million in the bank.

Q2 saw the addition of roughly 4,100 new customers for a total of 47,700. What's more, Salesforce.com continues to get traction with its existing major customers, such as Dell (NASDAQ: DELL), Citi (NYSE: C) and Canon. It certainly helps that the company has a highly customizable platform (known as force.com).

Something else: Salesforce.com announced the acquisition of InStranet, which develops knowledge-based management systems for call centers. There has been much demand for such offerings, so why not buy a leading company in the space? Salesforce.com considers the market opportunity to be about $3 billion.

The issue? Well, the deal will mean a 5 cents charge per share for the full-year.

That's not appetizing to Wall Street. So far in today's trading, Salesforce.com's shares are down 15% to $55.31.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Edgar Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements. He also operates MergerBook.com.

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Last updated: November 11, 2009: 01:27 PM

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