Salesforce (CRM 1.05%) is at it again, beating analyst estimates and raising its outlook for full-year revenue. Even more, the software-as-a-service customer relationship management company is on pace to grow revenue at a faster rate in fiscal 2019 than it did in fiscal 2018. The company's solid third-quarter earnings release paired with the stock's sharp jump this week has the company back in the Street's limelight.
But many investors may want more than an update on the company's latest top- and bottom-line results and revenue outlook. To get a more holistic picture of how the company is doing, investors should turn to Salesforce's third-quarter earnings call, where management provided useful background on its business and shared additional key metrics.
Salesforce chairman and Co-CEO Marc Benioff. Image source: Salesforce.
Here are three key quotes from the earnings call.
Einstein is making 4 billion predictions a day
One way Salesforce is making its products more useful to its clients is through its artificially intelligent assistant Einstein. Both the assistant's improving relevance and clients' increasing use of this technology are clear from the sharp growth in predictions Einstein is making every day.
Salesforce Co-CEO Marc Benioff explained:
I told you Einstein was delivering 3 billion predictions and insights every day in the last quarter. Now, a few months later, we are doing 4 billion Einstein predictions every single day, exceeding our expectations. ... All of our products having Einstein built in that Einstein is at the heart at the customer's success platform, making it more powerful and more capable every day.
An update on Salesforce's acquisition of MuleSoft
Salesforce closed its biggest acquisition ever earlier this year, acquiring information technology company MuleSoft in a $6.5 billion deal.
Fortunately for investors, the acquisition is off to a running start. Salesforce is already seeing a "great" return on its investment for its MuleSoft acquisition, said Salesforce Co-CEO Keith Block.
Block continued:
And speaking of MuleSoft, integration has become a strategic imperative for all of our customers. It has captured the attention of c-level executives in virtually every conversation I have. ... [I] Just love MuleSoft because MuleSoft is able to unlock data from legacy systems and accelerate their digital transformations.
There is still big upside for big deals
While many of the biggest companies in the world are already using Salesforce's products, there's still more meaningful upside for Salesforce to land more large deals. To this end, Co-CEO Keith Block said that he's met with more than 100 CEOs and world leaders since the end of September -- an initiative that has helped drive "more strategic relationships than ever."
Block added:
In fact, in Q3 the number of deals generating more than $1 million was up 46% over last year. And the number of $20 million plus relationships we have continues to grow significantly.
As both Salesforce's third-quarter results and its earnings call show, investors have plenty of reason to expect more strong growth from this tech giant. In addition, strategic acquisitions and the rapid deployment of AI across its business should only fortify Salesforce's leadership position in customer relationship management.
