The Reason I'm Worried About Workday

By Tim Beyers – Nov 27, 2012 at 8:00PM

NYSE: CRM

Salesforce

Market Cap

$265B

Today's Change

(-7.28%) -$21.42

Current Price

$272.90

Price as of April 15, 2024, 4:00 p.m. ET

A key competitor has had five years to study this up-and-comer.

As a group, new offerings have outperformed the broader market this year -- up 14% versus an 11.8% return for the S&P 500. Workday (WDAY -1.54%) deserves some credit for the win. The cloud-based provider of human resources and financial management software has seen its shares soar from its $28 issue price.

Foolish investors have yet to get behind the stock, and I can't blame them. The company is courting competition from the likes not only of NetSuite (N) in financial management and Informatica (INFA) in integration but also one of its signature customers: salesforce.com (CRM -7.28%). Find out more in the following video.

Fool contributor Tim Beyers is a member of the Motley Fool Rule Breakers stock-picking team and the Motley Fool Supernova Odyssey I mission. He owned shares of salesforce.com at the time of publication. Check out Tim's Web home and portfolio holdings or connect with him on Google+, Tumblr, or Twitter, where he goes by @milehighfool. You can also get his insights delivered directly to your RSS reader.

The Motley Fool owns shares of Microsoft and salesforce.com and has created a synthetic short position on salesforce.com. Motley Fool newsletter services have recommended buying shares of salesforce.com, Informatica, and Netsuite, as well as creating a synthetic covered call position in Microsoft. We Fools don't all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.