ABOUT THE EXAM
The Salesforce Certified Platform Developer I exam has the following characteristics:
Content: 60 multiple-choice/multiple-select questions
Time allotted to complete the exam: 110 minutes
Passing Score: 65%
The Salesforce Certified Platform Developer I exam is intended for an individual who has
experience developing and deploying basic business logic and user interfaces using the
programmatic capabilities of the Lightning Platform, including practical application of the
skills and concepts noted in the exam objectives below.
The Salesforce Certified Platform Developer I generally has one to two years of experience as
a developer and at least six months of experience on the Lightning Platform.
The Salesforce Certified Platform Developer I candidate has the experience, skills, and
knowledge outlined below:
Can use the fundamental programmatic capabilities of the Lightning Platform to
develop custom interfaces to extend Salesforce capabilities and develop custom
business logic.
Can extend the Lightning Platform using Apex and Visualforce, and understands
Lightning Components.
Is familiar with, and able to leverage relevant declarative capabilities of the platform,
where appropriate.
Knows when to use declarative vs. programmatic methods.
Is familiar with the development lifecycle from development to testing, and has
knowledge of the available environments.
Is familiar with the Salesforce Mobile app capabilities and the basics of the Lightning
framework.
Knows when to use the Lightning Process Builder vs. an Apex trigger.
Has experience with object-oriented languages such as Java, JavaScript, C#, Ruby,
and .NET.
Has experience with data-driven applications and relational databases.
Has experience with Model View Controller (MVC) architecture and componentbased architecture.
Has invested time in studying the resources listed in this exam guide and the
additional required study materials provided by Salesforce.
EXAM OUTLINE
The Salesforce Certified Platform Developer I exam measures a candidates knowledge and
skills related to the following objectives. A candidate should have hands-on experience
developing custom applications on the Lightning Platform and have demonstrated the
application of each of the features/functions below.
SALESFORCE FUNDAMENTALS
Describe the considerations when developing in a multi-tenant environment.
Describe how the Salesforce platform features map to the MVC pattern.
Describe the capabilities of the core CRM objects in the Salesforce schema.
Identify the common scenarios for extending an application's capabilities using
the AppExchange.
Identify common use cases for declarative customization of the Lightning
Platform, and customization and features of the Heroku platform.
DATA MODELING AND MANAGEMENT
Given a set of requirements, determine the appropriate data model.
Describe the capabilities of the various relationship types and the implications
of each on record access, user interface (UI), and object-oriented
programming.
Describe the impact of schema design and modifications on Apex
Development.
Describe how to visualize and create entity relationships.
Describe the options for and considerations when importing and exporting
data into development environments.
LOGIC AND PROCESS AUTOMATION
Describe how to programmatically access and utilize the object schema.
Describe the capabilities and use cases for formula fields.
Describe the capabilities and use cases for roll-up summary fields.
Describe the capabilities of the declarative process automation features.
Describe when to use declarative automation features vs. Apex classes and
triggers.
Describe how to declare variables and constants in Apex and how to assign
values using expressions.
Describe the primitive and complex Apex data types and when to use them.
Describe how to use and apply Apex control flow statements.
Describe how to write and when to use Apex classes and interfaces.
Describe how to use basic SOSL, SOQL, and DML statements when working
with objects in Apex.
Describe the basic patterns used in triggers and classes to process data
efficiently.
Describe when to use and how to write triggers.
Describe the implications of governor limits on Apex transactions.
Describe the relationship between Apex transactions, the save order of
execution, and the potential for recursion and/or cascading.
Describe how to implement exception handling in Apex.
Describe how to write Visualforce controllers.
Describe when and how to use standard Visualforce controllers vs. Apex
custom controllers and controller extensions.
Describe the programmatic techniques to prevent security vulnerabilities in
Apex and Visualforce.
Describe how Apex impacts the ability to make declarative changes.
USER INTERFACE
Describe how to display Salesforce data using a Visualforce page.
Describe the types of web content that can be incorporated into Visualforce
pages.
Describe how to incorporate Visualforce pages into Lightning Platform
applications.
Describe the benefits of the Lightning Component framework.
Describe the resources that can be contained in a Lightning Component.
TESTING
Describe the testing framework and requirements for deployment.
Describe how to write unit tests for triggers, controllers, and classes.
Describe when and how to use various sources of test data.
Describe how to execute one or multiple test classes.
Describe the differences between invoking Apex in execute anonymous vs. unit
tests.
DEBUG AND DEPLOYMENT TOOLS
Describe how to monitor and access various types of debug logs.
Describe the capabilities and security implications of the Developer Console,
Workbench, and Force.com IDE.
Describe the different processes for deploying metadata and business data.
Describe how the different environments are used in the development and
deployment process.
Salesforce Certified Platform Developer I Salesforce Salesforce pdf
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Salesforce Certified Platform Developer I (SU18)
http://killexams.com/pass4sure/exam-detail/DEV-450 Question: 30
Which two statements are correct regarding an approval process? (Choose two.)
A. An approval action defines the result of record approval or rejection.
B. An assignment rule defines the approver for each process step.
C. The approval history related list can be used to track the process.
D. A delegated approver can reassign approval requests. Answer: AC Question: 31
Which circumstance will prevent a system administrator from deleting a custom field?
A. The field is used in a page layout.
B. The field is used in a report.
C. The field is part of a field dependency.
D. The field is used in a workflow field update. Answer: D Question: 32
Universal Containers has activated Web-to-Case on their corporate website. IT configured Auto-Response to thank the customer
for logging the case and activated Assignment Rules based on the state (USA) in which the customer resides. Case ownership is
therefore determined and routed to the corresponding queue North, South, East, or West. Customer Cases that do not meet the
existing criteria should be assigned to Queue World.
What solution will satisfy this requirement?
A. Using a Trigger, change the owner of Cases outside the US to Queue World.
B. In Case Support Settings, change Default Case Owner to Queue World.
C. In an Active Case Flow, change the name of the Queue to World.
D. Using a Workflow Rule, change the owner of new Cases outside the US to Queue World. Answer: B Question: 33
The sales team at Universal Containers wants an easy solution to gather customer requirements and share presentations with
their customers.
Which two actions should an administrator take to help the sales team achieve this goal? (Choose two.)
A. Create opportunity teams for customers.
B. Use Chatter files to share presentations.
C. Add customers to libraries.
D. Add customers to private Chatter group. Answer: BD Question: 34
Universal Containers wants sales reps to see the industry, annual revenue, and account owner at a glance on their mobile device.
This information should be located at the top of the account record.
What feature should the Administrator configure to meet this requirement?
A. Page Layout
B. Mobile Card
C. Field Set
D. Compact Layout Answer: D Question: 35
An opportunity record, created with a close date of July 30, meets the criteria of a time-dependent workflow rule. The time-
dependent action is scheduled for July 23.
What happens if the opportunity is edited before July 23 and no longer meets the criteria?
A. The time-dependent action is automatically removed from the queue.
B. The time-dependent action will execute on July 30.
C. The time-dependent action is put on hold.
D. The time-dependent action will execute on July 23. Answer: A Question: 36
What must an administrator do when creating a record type?
A. Add the record type to the required user records.
B. Assign the record type to the appropriate profiles.
C. Create a new page layout for the record type.
D. Set the field-level security for the record type. Answer: B
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Salesforce said it would no longer divulge the individual revenue numbers of acquired companies including Slack and Tableau in its quarterly earnings filings and instead focus on percentage changes.
Initial signs of the new reporting standard came Wednesday when the customer-relationship giant released earnings for the quarter ended April 30.
The change reflects a “standard approach for acquired companies at this stage,” a Salesforce spokesperson told GeekWire in an email Thursday.
In the past, Salesforce provided separate financial figures for Slack, MuleSoft, and Tableau in its regular financial reports. However, in the most latest filings, the revenue from each company was consolidated under Salesforce’s professional services, subscription, and support revenue categories. The company also combines Tableau and MuleSoft revenue under the “data” category.
Earlier this year, activist investors criticized Salesforce executives for the company’s string of pricey acquisitions. Salesforce bought Tableau for $15.7 billion, whereas Slack was acquired for $28 billion. The company disbanded the board’s M&A committee in March, in part to signal its effort to increase profitability.
Salesforce has conducted a number of cost-cutting measures in response to activist pressure and a broader market slowdown. The company announced in January a plan to lay off 10% of its employees.
In February, Fortune reported that Slack is ditching its headquarters and moving into Salesforce’s office tower in San Francisco. Salesforce confirmed last week that it would put Tableau’s headquarters building in Seattle on the sublease market.
Fri, 02 Jun 2023 06:04:00 -0500en-UStext/htmlhttps://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/salesforce-stops-reporting-individual-revenue-figures-for-slack-and-tableau/ar-AA1c35HdBetter Buy: Adobe vs. SalesforceNo result found, try new keyword!Its Acrobat PDF and e-signature apps are also widely used by its enterprise customers alongside its other cloud-based e-commerce, marketing, and analytics services. Salesforce owns the world's ...Mon, 29 May 2023 00:36:00 -0500text/htmlhttps://www.nasdaq.com/articles/better-buy%3A-adobe-vs.-salesforceSalesforce Shares Fall as Customers Watch Spending
Salesforce shares dropped as CapEx spending rises and customer behavior changes.
Salesforce's quarterly earnings, revenue, and current quarter outlook exceeded forecasts.
Despite the stock price's decline on Thursday, shares were up about 60% for 2023.
CONSTELLATION BRANDS, INC.
Salesforce (CRM) was the worst-performing stock in the Dow in early trading on Thursday after the cloud-based enterprise software provider reported higher-than-expected spending and warned of changes in customer buying behavior.
Shares dropped even though Salesforce posted strong fiscal 2024 first quarter results, with earnings per share (EPS) of $1.69 and revenue up 11.3% to $8.25 billion. Both were better than forecasts. The company also raised its profit outlook for the full year and gave current quarter guidance that exceeded analysts’ estimates.
However, Salesforce said capital expenditures (CapEx) jumped 35.8% to $243 million, almost $40 million more than anticipated. In addition, COO Brian Millham noted that clients were continuing to look closely at deals, and are taking more time to close them than in the past. He noted that the company’s professional services business began to see less demand for multiyear transformations, and in some cases, they delayed projects.
CFO Amy Weaver added that along with pressure on professional services, more customers are choosing to contract on the time and material basis.
Salesforce shares were down 4.5% as of 11:16 a.m. ET on Thursday, though they were still up about 60% year-to-date.
Salesforce has presented its Q1 results. Notable highlights include an 11% year-over-year increase in revenue, totaling $8.25 billion, along with a 13% constant currency increase. The GAAP operating margin for the quarter reached 5.0%, while the non-GAAP operating margin stood at 27.6%.
The remaining performance obligation also rose to $24.1 billion, representing a 12% year-over-year growth. The company reported GAAP diluted earnings per share of $0.20, with non-GAAP diluted EPS at $1.69.
Stockholders received a generous return of $2.1 billion in share repurchases during the first quarter. Salesforce’s second-quarter FY24 revenue guidance predicts a range of $8.51 billion to $8.53 billion, marking a nearly 10% year-over-year increase.
The company maintained a full-year FY24 revenue guidance of $34.5 billion to $34.7 billion
Marc Benioff, Chair and CEO of Salesforce, expressed his satisfaction with the company’s outstanding performance, highlighting the significant 1,000 basis points year-over-year increase in non-GAAP margin for the quarter.
In response, Salesforce has revised its FY24 non-GAAP operating margin guidance, anticipating a substantial 550 basis point growth compared to the previous year. Innovation remains at the forefront of Salesforce’s endeavors, particularly in CRM.
Benioff emphasized their pioneering role in integrating trusted and secure generative AI, utilizing tools like Einstein GPT, Slack GPT, and Tableau GPT across their product portfolio.
What else to know about the report
The GAAP operating margin for the quarter was 5.0%, whereas the non-GAAP operating margin reached 27.6%. The GAAP diluted earnings per share stood at $0.20, with the non-GAAP diluted EPS at $1.69. Cash generated from operations reached $4.49 billion, representing a 22% year-over-year increase, while free cash flow amounted to $4.25 billion, up by 21% year-over-year.
Salesforce’s remaining performance obligation witnessed an 11% year-over-year increase, totaling $46.7 billion. The remaining performance obligation amounted to $24.1 billion, reflecting a 12% year-over-year growth.
Looking ahead, Salesforce maintains its full-year FY24 revenue guidance while updating its GAAP and non-GAAP EPS, GAAP and non-GAAP operating margin, and operating cash flow guidance. To find out more, check out this official press release from Salesforce.
Wed, 31 May 2023 23:05:00 -0500entext/htmlhttps://www.techzine.eu/news/analytics/106736/salesforce-achieves-12-growth-year-over-year/Inactive, unmaintained Salesforce sites vulnerable to threat actors
Improperly deactivated and unmaintained Salesforce sites are vulnerable to threat actors who can gain access to sensitive business data and personally identifiable information (PII) by simply changing the host header. That’s according to new research from Varonis Threat Labs, which explores the threats posed by Salesforce “ghost sites” that are no longer needed, set aside, but not deactivated. These sites are typically not maintained or tested against vulnerabilities, while admins fail to update security measures according to newer guidelines. However, they can still pull fresh data and are easily exploitable by malicious actors, the researchers said.
The research follows a latest report from Okta, which warned that inactive and non-maintained accounts pose significant account takeover security risks with cybercriminals adept at using information stolen from forgotten or otherwise non-upheld accounts to exploit active accounts. Meanwhile, Google announced that it is updating its inactivity policy for Google Accounts to two years on security grounds, meaning that if a personal account has not been used or signed into for at least two years, it may delete the account and its contents. Google stated that abandoned accounts are at least ten-times less likely than active accounts to have multifactor authentication set up and typically rely on password reuse, making them particularly vulnerable to compromise.
What are Salesforce ghost sites?
Salesforce ghost sites are typically created when companies use custom domain names instead of unappealing internal URLs so partners can browse them, Varonis Threat Labs wrote. “This is accomplished by configuring the DNS record so that “partners.acme.org” [for example] points to the lovely, curated Salesforce Community Site at “partners.acme.org. 00d400.live.siteforce.com.” With the DNS record changed, partners visiting “partners.acme.org” will be able to browse Acme’s Salesforce site. The trouble begins when Acme decides to choose a new Community Site vendor, the researchers said.
Like any other technology, companies might replace a Salesforce Experience Site with an alternative. “Subsequently, Acme modifies the DNS record of “partners.acme.org” to point toward a new site that might run in their AWS environment,” Varonis Threat Labs added. From the users’ viewpoint, the Salesforce Site is gone, and a new Community page is available. The new page might be completely disconnected from Salesforce, not running in the environment, and no obvious integrations are detectable.
However, the researchers discovered that many companies stop at just modifying DNS records. “They do not remove the custom domain in Salesforce, nor do they deactivate the site. Instead, the site continues to exist, pulling data and becoming a ghost site.”
Attackers can exploit Salesforce ghost sites by changing the host header
As a ghost site remains active in Salesforce, the siteforce domain still resolves, meaning it’s available under the right circumstances, the researchers said. “A straightforward GET request results in an error — but there is another way to gain access. Attackers can exploit these sites by simply changing the host header.” This tricks Salesforce into believing that the site was accessed correctly, and Salesforce would serve the site to the attacker, they added.
Although these sites are also accessible using the full internal URLs, these URLs are difficult for an external attacker to identify, the researchers pointed out. “However, using tools that index and archive DNS records — such as SecurityTrails and other similar tools — makes identifying ghost sites much easier.” Adding to the risk is the fact that old, obsolete sites are less maintained and therefore less secure, increasing the ease of an attack.
Salesforce ghost sites found to host sensitive business data, PII
The Varonis researchers said they found many inactive sites with confidential data, including sensitive business data and PII, that was not otherwise accessible. “The exposed data is not restricted to only old data from when the site was in use; it also includes new records that were shared with the guest user, due to the sharing configuration in their Salesforce environment.”
Sites that are no longer in use should be deactivated, the researchers advised, along with highlighting the importance of tracking all Salesforce sites and their respective users’ permissions — including both community and guest users. Varonis Threat Labs has also created a guide for protecting active Salesforce Communities against recon and data theft.
(Bloomberg) -- Salesforce Inc. tumbled the most in almost six months after the software company signaled it isn’t growing as fast as it used to while shifting its focus to generating higher profits.
CONSTELLATION BRANDS, INC.
The shares slipped 4.7% to $212.90 at the close Thursday in New York, the steepest one-day decline since Dec. 5. Salesforce on Wednesday gave a lackluster outlook for future sales and maintained, rather than raised, its annual revenue forecast. The stock drop came despite the company reporting revenue, earnings and operating profit margin in the fiscal first quarter that topped analysts’ estimates.
Even with Thursday’s fall, the shares have rallied 61% this year, making it one of the best-performing stocks in the S&P 500.
After a tumultuous six months that included job cuts, executive departures, board director changes and public pressure from multiple activists investors, Salesforce had been winning back the faith of many shareholders. During its March 1 earnings report, the San Francisco-based company, the top maker of customer relations management software, signaled an emphasis on profit and announced market-pleasing steps, including doubling stock buybacks and disbanding its committee on mergers and acquisitions.
But amid the new focus, some are debating “the company’s ability to dramatically expand operating margin without impacting its ability to grow,” Brad Zelnick, an analyst at Deutsche Bank, wrote ahead of earnings.
Salesforce said growth in current remaining performance obligations, or contracted sales, will slow to 10% in the current quarter ending in July, falling short of analysts’ average estimate of more than 11%. The company also repeated its earlier fiscal-year forecast that revenue would increase 10% to about $34.6 billion — by far its slowest rate of expansion on record.
The forecast implies reflects a cautious outlook about customer information technology budgets, Anurag Rana, an analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, wrote after the results. The failure to increase the annual sales guidance “may drive the stock lower in the near-term,” wrote Citibank’s Tyler Radke.
The contracted sales outlook fell short of estimates because customers are looking for smaller consulting projects, said Mike Spencer, Salesforce executive vice president of investor relations. Pressure on revenue growth is due to broad economic factors rather than company cost cuts, he said, and the forecast doesn’t assume improvement or worsening of customer behavior.
Executives are betting that interest around artificial intelligence could boost sales. “There’s only one thing that customers want to talk about and that’s artificial intelligence — and specifically generative AI,” Chief Executive Officer Marc Benioff said on a conference call after the results were released.
The company is working on bringing its generative and data integration tools into all of its products, said Chief Operating Officer Brian Millham. “We’re perfectly positioned to help our customers harness the phenomenal power of AI,” he said. The current revenue outlook doesn’t factor in any of the potential benefits from AI, Spencer said.
Like many of its peers, Salesforce has integrated AI features into its sales, marketing and workplace communication programs. It also launched a $250 million venture fund for generative AI startups.
Salesforce’s profitability continues to climb. The company raised its already-aggressive operating profit margin 1 percentage point to 28% for the fiscal year ending in January. Millham said the company is focusing on employee productivity measures, including return-to-office rules. Chief Financial Officer Amy Weaver said Salesforce is offsetting dilution from stock-based compensation with share buybacks.
In the fiscal first quarter, which ended April 30, revenue increased 11% to $8.25 billion, topping the $8.18 billion average projected by analysts. Adjusted profit was $1.69 a share, compared with an estimate of $1.61. Operating margin was 27.6%. For the current quarter ending in July, sales will grow 10% to about $8.52 billion, the company said. Analysts, on average, estimated $8.49 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
The quarter “represented another strong step forward as we accelerate our transformation and profitable growth strategy,” Weaver said in the statement.
(Updates with closing share price in the second paragraph.)
Thu, 01 Jun 2023 08:10:58 -0500en-UStext/htmlhttps://www.msn.com/en-us/money/other/salesforce-gives-forecast-for-slowing-sales-growth-in-push-for-profit/ar-AA1bXiZUSalesforce raises guidance but sees pressure as customers back away from big consulting deals
Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff attends the TIME100 Gala at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York on April 26, 2023.
Dimitrios Kambouris | Getty Images
Salesforce reported an earnings and revenue beat and lifted its full-year earnings guidance, but the stock dropped as much as 7% in extended trading as capital costs were higher than analysts expected.
Here's how the company did:
Earnings: $1.69 per share, adjusted, vs. $1.61 per share as expected by analysts, according to Refinitiv.
Revenue: $8.25 billion, vs. $8.18 billion as expected by analysts, according to Refinitiv.
Capital expenditures in the quarter totaled $243 million, up about 36% and above the $205 million consensus among analysts polled by StreetAccount.
Concerns about costs overshadowed the company's 11% increase in revenue for the quarter that ended on April 30. Net income totaled $199 million, or 20 cents per share, up from $28 million, or 3 cents per share, in the year-earlier quarter.
For the fiscal second quarter, Salesforce expects earnings of $1.89 to $1.90 per share on an adjusted basis and revenue of $8.51 billion to $8.53 billion. Analysts surveyed by Refinitiv had expected $1.70 in adjusted earnings per share and $8.49 billion in revenue.
Salesforce raised its earnings forecast for the 2024 fiscal year but left its revenue forecast intact. It's now calling for $7.41 to $7.43 in adjusted earnings per share on $34.5 billion to $34.7 billion in revenue. In March, Salesforce's projected adjusted earnings of $7.12 to $7.14 per share. Analysts polled by Refinitiv had been looking for adjusted earnings of $7.14 per share and fiscal-year revenue of $34.65 billion.
CEO Marc Benioff said in the statement that the company "significantly exceeded" its operating margin target for the quarter. Salesforce is now calling for an adjusted operating margin of 28% for the 2024 fiscal year, up 1 percentage point from the 27% forecast it gave in March.
But there are challenges facing Salesforce. Clients are still looking carefully at deals, which are taking longer to close than they were in the past, Chief Operating Officer Brian Millham said on a conference call with analysts. Now, the company is looking at how to automate the selling process on the low end of the market and make its salespeople more productive, he said.
During the quarter, "our professional-services business started to see less demand for multiyear transformations and in some cases, delayed projects as customers focus on quick wins and fast time-to-value," Millham said.
The company expects those issues to remain, said Amy Weaver, Salesforce's finance chief.
"One of the things that we are seeing right now is not only professional services as a whole seeing pressure, but more customers are choosing to contract on the time and materials basis," she said.
During the quarter, Salesforce announced Einstein GPT generative artificial intelligence technology designed to help salespeople, marketers and customer-service agents do their jobs more efficiently. Many other software makers have been embedding generative AI into their products since OpenAI's ChatGPT went viral after its November launch.
Also in the quarter, Elliott Investment Management said it would not move forward with its director nominations after the activist firm disclosed a Salesforce stake.
Prior to the drop after hours, Salesforce shares were up 67% so far this year, outperforming the S&P 500, which has edged up 9% in the same period.
Wed, 31 May 2023 23:18:00 -0500entext/htmlhttps://www.cnbc.com/2023/05/31/salesforce-crm-earnings-q1-earnings-report-2024.htmlBetter Buy: Adobe vs. Salesforce
Adobe(ADBE-0.50%) and Salesforce(CRM-1.49%) are both bellwethers of the cloud software market. Adobe's Photoshop, Illustrator, and Premiere Pro -- all housed in its Creative Cloud -- are industry-standard tools for media professionals. Its Acrobat PDF and e-signature apps are also widely used by its enterprise customers alongside its other cloud-based e-commerce, marketing, and analytics services.
Salesforce owns the world's largest cloud-based customer relationship management (CRM) platform. Like Adobe, it also expanded that ecosystem with additional cloud-based marketing, data analytics, and collaboration services.
Image source: Getty Images.
I compared these two cloud stocks back in Sept. 2021 and concluded that Salesforce's more balanced growth and lower valuation made it the better buy. But since I made that call, Salesforce's stock declined 25% as Adobe's stock slumped 33%. Both stocks lost their luster as the macro headwinds curbed their near-term growth and interest rates deflated their frothy valuations. But could either of these out-of-favor cloud kings be worth buying again before a new bull market starts?
Adobe continues to face tough macro headwinds
Adobe expects its revenue to rise only 9% in fiscal 2023 (which will end in early December) compared to its 12% growth in fiscal 2022 and 23% in fiscal 2021.
It blames that slowdown on the macro headwinds that forced many companies to rein in their software spending. However, it expects its adjusted earnings per share (EPS) to grow 12%-14% in fiscal 2023, which would represent an acceleration from its 10% growth in fiscal 2022, as it streamlines its spending to cope with its slower sales growth.
However, Adobe's revenue and earnings outlook for fiscal 2023 doesn't include any gains from its planned $20 billion takeover of the design software start-up Figma, which competes against Adobe's own XD platform in the user interface (UI) and user experience (UX) design markets. Adobe insists it can close that massive half-cash, half-stock deal by the end of fiscal 2023 but hasn't cleared all the regulatory hurdles yet. Adobe's critics claim that acquiring Figma would further solidify the company's control of the digital media and design markets.
Meanwhile, Adobe is still spending a large portion of its free cash flow (FCF) on big buybacks. It reduced its outstanding share count by more than 4% over the past three years, and it still has $5.2 billion remaining in its current $15 billion buyback authorization -- which will last through the end of fiscal 2024. Adobe's stock still looks reasonably valued at 24 times forward earnings, and its growth will likely accelerate again once the macroeconomic environment improves.
Salesforce is cutting costs to cope with the downturn
Salesforce expects its revenue to rise 10% in fiscal 2024 (which ends next January), which would also mark a slowdown from its 18% growth in fiscal 2023 and 25% in fiscal 2022. That deceleration was mainly caused by macroeconomic and currency-related headwinds.
But unlike Adobe -- which only let 100 employees go last December and doesn't plan to execute any mass layoffs -- Salesforce abruptly laid off about 8,000 employees, or 10% of its workforce, at the beginning of this year. It also hinted at additional layoffs throughout the rest of the year as it focuses on boosting its operating margins. It even launched its first buyback plan last year, then doubled that authorization from $10 billion to $20 billion earlier this year.
As a result, Salesforce expects its adjusted EPS to rise 36% in fiscal 2024 compared to its 10% growth in fiscal 2023 and 3% decline in fiscal 2022. That accelerating earnings growth could appease the activist investors who ramped up their pressure on Salesforce over the past year. Still, there's a risk that it could toss out its babies with the bathwater and weaken its own defenses against Microsoft, Oracle, and SAP in the CRM market.
Moreover, investors should recall it already lost a long list of top leaders -- including co-CEO Bret Taylor, Chief Strategy Officer Gavin Patterson, Chief Marketing Officer Stephanie Buscemi, Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield, and Tableau CEO Mark Nelson -- as it streamlined its sprawling business.
Salesforce's stock looks a bit pricier than Adobe's at 27 times forward earnings, but it's also growing faster and has no unresolved acquisitions hanging over its stock.
The better buy: Salesforce
Salesforce's aggressive cost-cutting measures seem risky, but they were long overdue after years of big acquisitions and hiring sprees. If it successfully streamlines its business this year, it could emerge as a leaner, more profitable tech giant that generates more predictable returns. Adobe is still a good long-term investment, but its slower growth and massive commitment to Figma could make it a less appealing investment than Salesforce for the rest of the year.
Leo Sun has positions in Adobe and Salesforce. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Adobe, Microsoft, and Salesforce. The Motley Fool recommends the following options: long January 2024 $420 calls on Adobe and short January 2024 $430 calls on Adobe. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Mon, 29 May 2023 00:28:00 -0500Leo Sunentext/htmlhttps://www.fool.com/investing/2023/05/29/better-buy-adobe-vs-salesforce/
