Cisco Deal Juices Salesforce Ratings
SAN FRANCISCO (
) -- Enterprise cloud computing company
Saleforce.com
(CRM) - Get Free Report
is set to announce its third quarter results at the market close this afternoon.
Analysts expect the company to earn 16 cents per share on a revenue of $324 million, a nudge below the previous quarter's earnings of 17 cents a share on revenues of $316 million.
Nevertheless, analysts across the board have upgraded their ratings on the company. Caris & Company has revised its rating from "average" to "above average," while Piper Jaffray has raised the stock from "neutral" to "overweight."
The optimistic outlook for the company sales is partly fueled by excitement over a new product that Salesforce and
Cisco
(CSCO) - Get Free Report
will jointly release in January. With Salesforce's strength in online customer relationship management and Cisco's dominance in the networking arena, they are working to create a service that will allow call centers to connect with customers and resolve their queries over the Internet.
Since its inception in 1999, the San Francisco-based company has steadily gained a reputation for being a pioneer of software development, particularly in the area of customer service. As of July, Salesforce has managed customer information for well-known companies like Allianz Commercial, Dell, Dow Jones Newswires and Kaiser Permanente.
Shares of Salesforce have headed 3.05% lower at $64.81 in midday trading as the major indices retreat from a 13-month rally.
Bleak October economic data was announced today, with the Commerce Department publishing lower-than-expected rise in its producer price index and a disappointing industrial output announcement from the Federal Reserve. Earlier today major home-improvement retailer
Home Depot
(HD) - Get Free Report
announced lower third-quarter sales.
Cisco shares are changing hands 0.23% higher at $23.92 in early afternoon trading.
-- Reported by Andrea Tse in New York
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