Salesforce has reported positive quarterly profitability for the Data Cloud, which was introduced last year as the fastest-growing cloud among Salesforce’s core services.
Genie customer data platform (CDP) looks to be gaining traction with clients, particularly those with big current Salesforce systems and those wishing to consolidate CDP/marketing solutions. Although it is not currently generating new sales, and the technology is still a couple quarters away from the complete real-time CDP promised by Salesforce management, it has captured customers’ attention and is leading to incremental client interactions.
In the first quarter, Salesforce witnessed a substantial increase in total revenue, reaching $8.25 billion, an 11% rise compared to the previous year. Subscription and support revenues experienced an 11% surge, totaling $7.64 billion, while professional services and other revenues grew by 9% to $0.61 billion. The company achieved a 5.0% GAAP operating margin and a 27.6% non-GAAP operating margin in Q1. Furthermore, the remaining performance obligation amounted to $24.1 billion, representing a 12% increase compared to the previous year.
Regarding earnings per share, Salesforce reported a GAAP diluted EPS of $0.20 and a non-GAAP diluted EPS of $1.69 in Q1. Cash generated from operations in the same period reached $4.49 billion, marking a 22% increase from the previous year. Additionally, free cash flow reached $4.25 billion, reflecting a 21% rise. It is worth noting that operating cash flow growth was negatively impacted by restructuring. Moreover, in Q1, the company returned $2.1 billion to stockholders through share repurchases.
The sources for this piece include an article in TechCrunch.