Needham & Company Maintains a 'Hold' on salesforce.com (CRM); Just A Hair Shy Of A Great Qtr, So Likely Not Good Enough

Needham & Company maintains a 'Hold' on salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM).

Needham analyst says, "Billings growth was solid but missed expectations (29% y/y growth vs. street estimates of 32-35%) and decelerated in the quarter (y/y growth rates down 800 BP q/q). While we’re not overly concerned about the direction of trends and opportunities ahead given our checks, we wouldn’t be surprised to see the billings miss overly spook some looking for clearer signs around the macro resiliency/momentum of the business...Despite the billings deceleration, management was repeatedly emphatic that business momentum and competitive positioning continue to be as strong as ever across product areas and geographies. Our sense is that larger, more strategic, wall to wall, social enterprise opportunities could be driving more pronounced seasonality of the business." (Needham lowers FY13 EPS estimate from $1.78 to $1.70)

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 closed at $126.09 yesterday.

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