Author Archives: Scalper1

Salesforce.com Meets And Beats On Q4, Stock Jumps On Outlook

Salesforce.com ( CRM ) matched analyst forecasts on earnings and beat them on revenue with a record fourth quarter, but shares soared in late trade after the enterprise cloud pioneer raised its forecast for sales growth. Announcing earnings after the market close Wednesday, Salesforce said adjusted fourth-quarter earnings rose 36% to 19 cents per share on revenue that rose 25% to $1.81 billion. Earnings were right on the money, according to estimates from analysts polled by Thomson Reuters, but sales were better than the $1.79 billion revenue they had anticipated. The No. 1 developer of customer relationship management software, Salesforce raised full fiscal 2017 revenue guidance to a range of $8.08 billion to $8.12 billion, up from $8.0 billion to $8.1 guided after its third-quarter release. For its first fiscal quarter of 2017, which ends in April, Salesforce said it expects earnings per share of 23-24 cents, up 47% at the midpoint and ahead of analysts’ 21-cent consensus view. That’s on revenue up 25% to $1.89 billion, where analysts expected $1.86 billion, up 23%. Its results seemed to strengthen hope that Salesforce might trigger an upturn in software stocks, reversing  Tableau Software ‘s ( DATA ) profitable but softer fourth quarter and weak guidance that triggered a 49.5% collapse in Tableau stock Feb. 5. Tableau’s misfortune also precipitated a 15% plunge in the entire IBD Computer Software-Database industry group, where legacy software developer Oracle ( ORCL ) also resides. Salesforce stock also fell 13% at the time, and the IBD Computer Software-Enterprise industry group where it lives fell 8%. Neither group has recovered, the most notable exception being steady Oracle, up slightly Wednesday to 36.63, 19% off a six-month high set June 17. Days after the Tableau debacle, Salesforce set a 16-month low at 52.60 on Feb. 8, before rising 19.5% through Tuesday’s close at 63.98.  Salesforce ended the regular session down 0.6% to 62.50  in the stock market today . That was 24% off the stock’s all-time high of 82.90, hit Nov. 19, when Salesforce reported fiscal-third-quarter earnings up 50%. After Wednesday’s earnings release, Salesforce jumped more than 8% to 67.95 in after-hours trading. “By any measure, this was a spectacular finish to the year with 27% revenue growth in constant currency for the fourth quarter and for the full year,” Chief Executive Marc Benioff said in the earnings release. “We are raising our fiscal year 2017 revenue guidance to $8.12 billion at the high end of our range — unprecedented growth for a company of our size and scale.” Chief Financial Officer Mark Hawkins said its adjusted operating margin rose by 177 basis points, driving full-year operating cash flow up 37% to $1.6 billion during the fourth quarter. Said President and Chief Operating Officer Keith Block: “We hit an all-time high in large transactions in fiscal 2016,” adding that Salesforce’s cloud platform is growing sales “across every region, every cloud and every industry.” For full fiscal 2016, revenue rose 24% to $6.67 billion where analysts expected $6.65 billion. Salesforce said subscription and support revenue grew 24% to $6.21 billion and professional services and other revenue rose 28% to $462 million. The full-year adjusted earnings matched Wall Street at 75 cents. Salesforce managed to take a fourth-quarter unadjusted loss of 4 cents, better than the 6-cent loss expected by Wall Street. Beyond predicting Salesforce’s first $8 billion year in fiscal 2017, Benioff repeatedly assures that the company is “well on the path to reach $10 billion faster than any other enterprise software company.” RBC Capital Markets analyst Ross MacMillan said in a recent note to clients that the firm’s Salesforce1 platform for mobile-application development is driving fresh growth, although “there are many avenues to sustain growth, including service and marketing, the platform, and international and future initiatives.” MacMillan went on to say: “We think Salesforce can continue to drive premium growth for its size, and it remains an important strategic asset.” RBC maintains an outperform rating on Salesforce.com stock, with a price target of 80, as “one of the best positioned companies in large-cap software.” Image provided by Shutterstock .

Alternative ETFs To Gain On First Solar’s Q4 Beat

Leading U.S. solar-panel manufacturer First Solar (NASDAQ: FSLR ) reported its fourth-quarter 20 15 results after the closing bell yesterday. The company beat our estimates on earnings and revenues, but lowered its sales guidance for 20 16 that remains much above our estimate. Earnings per share came in at $ 1.60, which comfortably surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 80 cents, but declined 15.3% from the year-ago quarter. Revenues decreased 6.5% year over year to $942 million, but edged past our estimate of $93 1 million. For 20 16, the company maintained its earnings per share guidance of $4.00-4.50, but slashed its revenue outlook to $3.8-4.0 billion from $3.9-4. 1 billion. The midpoints of both the guided earnings and revenues are much higher than the current Zacks Consensus Estimate of $4. 10 and $3.78 billion, respectively. Shares of this thin-film solar PV maker rose 2.9% in the after-market hours. The stock currently has a Zacks #3 (Hold) with a solid Value Style Score of B and a robust industry rank in the top 6%, suggesting a bright near term. ETFs in Focus Following the earnings beat, the ETFs having larger allocations to this solar giant have been in focus and could make great plays over the coming days. Below we have highlighted them: Market Vectors Solar Energy ETF (NYSEARCA: KWT ) This fund manages $ 14.4 million in its asset base and provides global exposure to 29 solar stocks by tracking the Market Vectors Global Solar Energy Index. Here, FSLR takes the top spot with a 10% allocation. In terms of country exposure, U.S. and China account for the top two countries with 34.9% and 24.9% share, respectively, closely followed by Taiwan ( 18.3%). The product has an expense ratio of 0.65% and sees a paltry volume of about 2,000 shares a day. The ETF has lost 23% in the year-to-date time frame. First Trust NASDAQ Clean Edge Green Energy Index ETF (NASDAQ: QCLN ) This fund provides exposure to the U.S. clean energy companies across a wide range of industries, including solar power, biofuels, advanced batteries, as well as the installation of new technological systems. It tracks the NASDAQ Clean Edge Green Energy Index and manages assets worth $65.5 million. It charges 60 bps in fees per year while the volume is light at nearly 24,000 shares. In total, the product holds 45 securities with FSLR being the top firm, accounting for 9.6% of its basket. From a sector look, technology firms dominate this ETF, accounting for nearly 30% of assets while oil & gas companies take another one-fourth share. QCLN has shed 16% so far this year and has a Zacks ETF Rank of 3 with a High risk outlook. Market Vectors Global Alternative Energy ETF (NYSEARCA: GEX ) This ETF provides global exposure to stocks that are primarily engaged in the business of alternative energy by tracking the Ardour Global Index. The fund holds about 3 1 stocks in its basket with an AUM of $84. 1 million while charging 62 bps in fees per year. Average daily volume is paltry for this fund at around 8,000 shares. First Solar occupies the fourth position in the basket with an 8.6% share. From a sector perspective, industrials takes the largest share at 47. 1% while information technology (29.7%) and utilities ( 13.4%) round off the next two spots. In terms of country exposure, the fund is skewed toward the U.S. with a 50.8% share followed by Denmark and China. The ETF has lost 12.4% in the same period. iShares S&P Global Clean Energy Index ETF (NASDAQ: ICLN ) This fund provides global exposure to 3 1 clean energy stocks, including solar, wind and other renewable sources, by tracking the S&P Global Clean Energy Index. Out of these, FSLR occupies the top spot at 7.62% of assets and charges 48 bps in annual fees and expenses. It has amassed just $75.3 million in its asset base while volume is also light at about 38,000 shares. U.S. and China take the top two spots in terms of country exposure with 24.7% and 23.5% share, respectively. The ETF is down about 16.4% in the year-to-date time frame. Guggenheim Solar ETF (NYSEARCA: TAN ) This ETF follows the MAC Global Solar Energy Index, holding 29 stocks in the basket. First Solar occupies the top position with 7.7% share. American firms dominate the fund’s portfolio with nearly 55.9% share, followed by China ( 17.9%) and Hong Kong ( 15%). The product has amassed $22 1.6 million in its asset base and trades in solid volume of more than 196,000 shares a day. It charges investors 70 bps in fees per year. The fund has lost 28.3% in the year-to-date time frame and has a Zacks ETF Rank of 3 or “Hold” rating with a High risk outlook. Original post

Facebook Looks Beyond ‘Like’ With ‘Angry’ Button, A Brand Strategy

Facebook ( FB ) has unveiled a new feature that lets its users show how they really feel about posts or ads on the site. Instead of a plain vanilla “Like” in reaction to a post or ad, users of Facebook’s new Reactions feature can add faces that emote “Like,” “Love,” “Haha,” “Wow,” “Sad” or “Angry.” The move adding more expressive emojis comes as Facebook is competing against Apple ( AAPL ), Google parent Alphabet ( GOOGL ), Microsoft ( MSFT ), microblog Twitter ( TWTR ) and others to attract more advertisers. Advertisers and brands have said that extending a wider range of reactions will give advertisers a better understanding of what Facebook users think. Armed with that knowledge, brands can improve targeting and deliver better ads. “They’ll provide greater feedback,” J.R. Rigley, president and CMO at packaged-goods company J.R. Watkins, said about the expanded sentiment options last fall, according to AdWeek . “We will know more about how viewers feel about the brand, which could be helpful to us. The con is that they might not like the content. But some of that could be good, too.” The Reactions sentiment-options feature had been in testing since October in Ireland and Spain, and was made available to all Facebook’s 1.59 billion users globally on Wednesday. “We’ve been listening to people and know that there should be more ways to easily and quickly express how something you see in News Feed makes you feel. That’s why today we are launching Reactions, an extension of the Like button, to give you more ways to share your reaction to a post in a quick and easy way,” wrote Facebook product manager Sami Krug in a blog post on Wednesday. To add a reaction, users must hold down the “Like” button on their mobile device — or hover above the “Like” button on a desktop computer to see the reaction image options — then tap buttons to add one of the expanded range of emojis. Early this month, Facebook announced that it had doubled the length of video ads on Instagram to 60 seconds, and Wednesday revealed that it has over 200,000 advertisers on the photo- and video-sharing service. Facebook derives more than 96% of total revenue from advertising, with video ads deriving a premium price. Facebook has about 2.5 million advertisers overall, of which 75% are outside the U.S. Facebook stock lifted from a morning dip to close up 1.4% in the stock market today , at 106.88. Apple stock closed up 1.5%. Alphabet and Microsoft rose fractionally and Twitter stock dropped 1.6%. A top-rated big-cap tech stock, Facebook carries the highest IBD Composite Rating of 99, putting it among the top 1% of all companies across key metrics such as revenue and earnings growth and stock-price gains.