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Salesforce to Gain From Adoption of New Accounting Standards

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Salesforce.com, Inc. (CRM - Free Report) yesterday revised its first-quarter and fiscal 2019 outlook reflecting the impact of the adoption of new Accounting Standards Codification ("ASC") 606 and ASC 340-40 using full retrospective method.

For the fiscal first quarter, Salesforce expects revenues between $2.935 billion and $2.945 billion, up from the earlier projection of $2.925-$2.935 billion. Similarly, the GAAP earnings per share (EPS) range projection has been revised upward to 12-13 cents from 9-10 cents. The non-GAAP EPS is estimated to be 46-47 cents, up from the previous range of 43-44 cents.

For fiscal 2019, Salesforce now projects revenues between $12.66 billion and $12.71 billion, revising the prior forecast of $12.60-$12.65 billion upward. The GAAP EPS projection has been raised to 91-93 cents from 61-63 cents. Similarly, non-GAAP EPS is now predicted to be $2.25-$2.27, up from the earlier forecast of $2.02-$2.04.

Per the new accounting standards, Salesforce will have to amortize costs related to attaining new revenue contracts on a straight-line basis, over a period of four years. This apart, with the adoption of the rule, the company needs “to amortize capitalized costs for renewals and success fees paid to partners over two years.” As a result, the company now expects higher revenues and earnings for the current quarter and fiscal year.

Recent change in the company’s reporting methodology is in the wake of the expiration of the deadline of implementing the aforementioned accounting standards which is due in 2019.

In 2014, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) issued guidelines on how to recognize revenues from contracts with customers. Private companies were given a time of five years to implement these rules in their reporting methodology.

The adoption of new accounting standards will result in following a single revenue-recognition model across the globe, thereby improving comparability.

Currently, Salesforce has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

The stock has outperformed its industry in the year-to-date period. During this period, Salesforce has gained 12.8%, while the industry recorded growth of 5.4%.


 

Some other top-ranked stocks in the same space are ACI Worldwide, Inc. (ACIW - Free Report) , VMware, Inc. and Blackbaud, Inc. (BLKB - Free Report) , all sporting a Zacks Rank of 1.

Long-term earnings growth rates for ACI Worldwide, VMware and Blackbaud are projected to be 12%, 12.3% and 9.6%, respectively.

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