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Friday December 13, 2024

Finances

Finances
 

Salesforce Posts Quarterly Report

Salesforce, Inc. (CRM) posted its quarterly earnings report for the third quarter on Tuesday, December 3. The business software producer reported increased revenue and earnings for the quarter, causing the company’s stock to increase more than 10% following the earnings release.

The San Francisco-based company reported revenue of $9.44 billion, up 8% from $8.72 billion in revenue at this time last year. This exceeded analysts’ expected revenue of $9.34 billion for the quarter.

"We delivered another quarter of exceptional financial performance across revenue, margin, cash flow, and cRPO,” said Salesforce CEO, Marc Benioff. “Agentforce, our complete AI system for enterprises built into the Salesforce Platform, is at the heart of a groundbreaking transformation. The rise of autonomous AI agents is revolutionizing global labor, reshaping how industries operate and scale. With Agentforce, we are not just witnessing the future—we are leading it, unleashing a new era of digital labor for every business and every industry."

Salesforce posted net income for the quarter of $1.53 billion or $1.58 per adjusted share. During the same quarter last year, the company reported net income of $1.22 billion or $1.25 per adjusted share.

Salesforce’s subscription and support revenue grew year-over-year to $8.88 billion. The company’s professional services and other revenues experienced a decline to $565 million from the year prior. For the fourth quarter, Salesforce anticipates revenue to range between $9.90 to $10.10 billion. For the full fiscal year 2025, Salesforce raised its earnings forecast to $6.15 to $6.20 per adjusted share on revenue of $37.8 to $38.0 billion.

Salesforce.com, Inc. (CRM) shares ended the week at $361.99, up 9% for the week.

Chewy Announces Earnings

Chewy, Inc. (CHWY) released its third quarter earnings report on Wednesday, December 4. Despite reporting increased quarterly revenue, the online pet supply company’s stock remained relatively unchanged in after-hours trading.

The company reported net sales of $2.88 billion for the quarter. This was up 4.8% from $2.75 billion in the same quarter last year and beat analysts’ expectations of $2.86 billion.

“Our third quarter results continued to build on the positive momentum we observed in Q2,” said Chewy CEO, Sumit Singh. “We delivered topline growth exceeding the high-end of our net sales guidance range, a sequential increase in active customers, continued adjusted EBITDA margin expansion, and robust free cash flow generation. These results underscore the durability of our business model, and our team’s relentless focus on high-quality execution and operational discipline.”

The company reported net income of $3.93 million this quarter or $0.01 per adjusted share. This was an improvement from a net loss of $35.37 million or $0.08 per adjusted share during the same time last year.

Chewy reported a slight decrease of 0.5% in active customers but retained over 20 million active customers in the quarter compared to this time last year. The company’s net sales per active customer increased to $567, reflecting an increase of more than 4% in the quarter. Chewy’s autoship subscription program, which allows customers to automatically reorder and deliver products, increased by almost 9% to $2.30 billion for the third quarter.

Chewy, Inc. (CHWY) shares ended the week at $31.58, down 6% for the week.

Dollar Tree Announces Earnings

Dollar Tree, Inc. (DLTR) reported its third quarter earnings on Wednesday, December 4. The discount retailer’s stock rose 6.4% after reporting net sales for the quarter that surpassed expectations.

The retail chain reported revenue that reached $7.57 billion during the quarter. This was up 3.5% from $7.31 billion in revenue at this time last year and exceeded analysts’ expectations of $7.45 billion.

“Our Dollar Tree and Family Dollar merchandising efforts produced tangible results, and our third quarter sales came in at the high-end of our expected range,” said Dollar Tree Interim CEO, Mike Creedon. “As an organization, our top priorities remain accelerating the growth of the Dollar Tree segment, completing the Family Dollar strategic review process, and unlocking value for Dollar Tree shareholders.”

The company posted net income of $233.3 million or $1.08 per adjusted share. This was up from $212.0 million or $0.97 per adjusted share during the same quarter last year.

Dollar Tree opened 249 new Dollar Tree stores and six Family Dollar stores during the quarter, ending the quarter with a total of 16,590 stores throughout North America. Dollar Tree stores were responsible for $4.3 billion in net sales during the quarter, up from $4.0 billion last year. Family Dollar stores generated $3.2 billion in net sales during the third quarter, down from $3.3 billion in the same quarter last year. The company anticipates net sales for the fourth quarter to be in the range of $8.1 billion to $8.3 billion.

Dollar Tree, Inc. (DLTR) shares ended the week at $71.87, remaining relatively unchanged for the week.

The Dow started the week of 12/2 at 44,926 and closed at 44,643 on 12/6. The S&P 500 started the week at 6,040 and closed at 6,090. The NASDAQ started the week at 19,255 and closed at 19,860.

 

Treasury Yields Vary

U.S. Treasury yields trended higher early in the week as investors responded to the latest economic data collected by the Federal Reserve. Yields fell at the end of the week as unemployment claims reveal a steady labor market to close out the year.

On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve released its latest Beige Book which compiles a survey of current economic conditions across the country. The survey revealed that most of the Fed’s 12 districts had slight growth. While two regions reported flat or slight decline in activity, this was offset by three regions that experienced modest or moderate growth. The data collected indicated that inflation increased modestly, while companies faced difficulty imparting higher costs to price-conscious consumers. Hiring remained subdued with low turnover, however, layoffs remained limited.

“Though growth in economic activity was generally small, expectations for growth rose moderately across most geographies and sectors,” according to the report. “Business contacts expressed optimism that demand will rise in coming months. Consumer spending was generally stable.”

The benchmark 10-year Treasury note yield opened the week of December 2 at 4.18% and traded as high as 4.28% on Wednesday. The 30-year Treasury bond opened the week at 4.36% and traded as high as 4.45% on Wednesday.

On Thursday, the U.S. Department of Labor reported that initial claims for unemployment increased by 9,000 to 224,000 for the week ending November 30. This surpassed analysts’ expectations of 214,000 claims for the week. Continuing unemployment claims decreased by 25,000, reaching 1.87 million. On Friday, the Labor Department released its monthly jobs report for November which showed an increase of 227,000 jobs, higher than 214,000 jobs economists expected.

"Claims remain low by long-run standards, but still high enough to perpetuate the rising trend in the unemployment rate, given very modest hiring," said chief U.S. economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, Samuel Tombs.

The 10-year Treasury note yield ended the week of 12/2 at 4.17%, while the 30-year Treasury note yield closed at 4.34%.

 

Mortgage Rates Continue to Drop

Freddie Mac released its latest Primary Mortgage Market Survey on Thursday, December 5. The report showed mortgage rates falling to their lowest levels since October.

This week, the 30-year fixed rate mortgage averaged 6.69%, down from last week’s average 6.81%. Last year at this time, the 30-year fixed rate mortgage averaged 7.03%.

The 15-year fixed rate mortgage averaged 5.96% this week, down from 6.10% last week. At this time last year, the 15-year fixed rate mortgage averaged 6.29%.

“This week, mortgage rates decreased to their lowest level in over a month,” said Freddie Mac’s Chief Economist, Sam Khater. “Despite just a modest drop in rates, consumers clearly have responded as purchase demand has noticeably improved. The responsiveness of prospective homebuyers to even small changes in rates illustrates that affordability headwinds persist.”

Based on published national averages for the week of 11/18, the national savings rate was 0.43%. The one-year CD finished at 1.84%.

Editor’s Note: The publicly available financial information is offered as a helpful and informative service to our friends. This article is not an endorsement of any company, product or service.


Published December 6, 2024

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