salesforce.com (CRM -0.39%) reported fiscal 2019 first-quarter results on May 29. The enterprise software giant continues to expand its share of the $120 billion global customer relationship management (CRM) market, which is driving its sales and profits sharply higher.

Salesforce results: The raw numbers

Metric

Q1 2019

Q1 2018

Year-Over-Year Change

Revenue

$3.0 billion

$2.4 billion

25%

Operating cash flow

$1.46 billion

$1.23 billion

19%

Earnings per share

$0.46

$0.00

N/A

Data source: Salesforce Q1 2019 earnings release.

A person drawing an upwardly sloping line labeled sales

Image source: Getty Images.

What happened with Salesforce this quarter?

Revenue jumped 25% year over year to $3 billion, and grew 22% in constant currency. Unearned revenue -- essentially business that's been booked but not yet fulfilled -- rose 25% to $6.2 billion. And remaining transaction price -- a new metric that represents future revenue that's under contract but not yet recognized -- was $20.4 billion at the end of the first quarter, representing year-over-year growth of 36%.

Salesforce's share of the global CRM applications market rose to 19.6% in 2017, nearly as much as its four largest competitors combined. 

Salesforce market share rose to 19.6% in 2017, compared to 7.1% for Oracle, 6.5% for SAP, 4% for Microsoft, and 3.2% for Adobe.

Image source: Salesforce.

Moreover, Salesforce is expanding into new areas of the massive enterprise software market. The company recently acquired MuleSoft, a leading application integration platform. Commenting on the deal, Chairman and CEO Marc Benioff,  during a conference call with analysts. highlighted some of the benefits he expects MuleSoft will provide to Salesforce's customers:

Integration has never been more strategic. So many of the CEOs I spoke with told me that data remains locked in their legacy systems and is holding them back. With MuleSoft, we're now enabling our customers to connect all of their data across any public or private cloud and on-premise to radically enhance innovation and create incredible customer experiences.

Salesforce expects MuleSoft to contribute $315 million in revenue through the end of fiscal 2019.

All told, Salesforce's non-GAAP earnings came in at $0.74 per share, compared to $0.29 in the year-ago quarter. Additionally, operating cash flow increased 19% to $1.5 billion, while free cash flow rose 25% to $1.1 billion.

Looking forward

These strong results prompted Salesforce to raise its full-year outlook, which now includes:

  • Revenue of $13.075 billion to $13.125 billion, up from a prior forecast of $12.6 billion to $12.65 billion, and representing year-over-year growth of 24% to 25%.
  • Non-GAAP EPS of $2.29 to $2.31, up from $2.02 to $2.04.

For the second quarter, Salesforce projects that revenue will rise 25% to approximately $3.225 billion. The company also expects to generate non-GAAP EPS of $0.46 to $0.47. Unearned revenue, meanwhile, is forecast to increase 22% to 23%.

"We're well on our way to surpassing the $20 billion revenue goal faster than any other enterprise software company in history," Benioff said. "With another quarter of amazing growth, we've strengthened our position as the world's leading CRM company."