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There's No Way to Sugar Coat It, salesforce.com's (CRM) Growth is Slowing - Analyst

November 18, 2011 9:51 AM EST
Get Alerts CRM Hot Sheet
Price: $301.18 -0.07%

Rating Summary:
    45 Buy, 19 Hold, 2 Sell

Rating Trend: = Flat

Today's Overall Ratings:
    Up: 13 | Down: 11 | New: 11
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While most of Wall Street is out defending salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM) following Q3 results after the close, one wasn't.

In a somewhat scathing report, JPMorgan slashed its price target on the CRM leader from $125 to $116 in a report entitled "Slowing Business Momentum." The firm maintained their Neutral rating.

The firm straightforwardly said that the weak billings indicate slowing business momentum. "While there were several reasons for this given on the call, it seems to us that the apparent conclusion is probably the right one – business momentum slowed," said John DiFucci.

While he still considers CRM a well run company, there are clear signs that "growth is waning". Citing examples of this, DiFucci noted new subscription billings growth dropped dramatically to 12% versus the 34% growth implied in consensus numbers. Total subscription billings growth declined to 28% versus the 37% growth implied in consensus.

Sending a message to investors, DiFucci said the stock is not priced for this slowing growth.

For an analyst ratings summary and ratings history on salesforce.com click here. For more ratings news on salesforce.com click here.

Shares of salesforce.com are down 9.7 percent early Friday to $113.92.


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