Shares of Salesforce (CRM) rallied more than 7% Thursday after the cloud-based software company boosted its full-year sales forecast as the pandemic-led shift to remote work continues to fuel demand for its products. The stock is up about 24% so far this year.
The company now expects fiscal full-year 2022 sales between $26.25 billion and $26.35 billion, up from its previous forecast of $26.2 billion to $26.3 billion.
Salesforce also raised its revenue outlook for fiscal year 2023 as it bets that the rise of automation and artificial intelligence will continue to support its bottom line.
The company is forecasting revenue of $31.65 billion to $31.80 billion, topping analysts’ estimates of $31.47 billion.
The bullish new outlook coincides with Salesforce’s annual Dreamforce conference in San Francisco, which was dramatically scaled back this year due to the pandemic. The event, which usually attracts roughly 200,000 people, was reduced to about 1,000 in-person attendees with the majority of the audience joining virtually.