Salesforce.com results beat Street

The company said it seemed to have weathered the effects of Superstorm Sandy and fears among its clients surrounding the fiscal cliff as it projected sales for the current quarter, ending Jan. 31, of between $825 million and $830 million, roughly in line with analysts' average forecast of $829.9 million.

The fiscal cliff refers to U.S. government spending cuts and tax rises due to be implemented under existing law in early 2013 that may cut the federal budget deficit but also tip the economy back into recession.

Shares rose 1.8 percent to $148.59 in extended trade.

In light of the macro environment and a pretty poor third-quarter for tech and software companies, investors have to be pleased, said Israel Hernandez, a managing director at MKM Partners. Salesforce is looking at momentum across its various businesses and feeling very good about the trajectory to guide the way they did.

Salesforce, which sells marketing and sales services to companies like Kimberly-Clark Corp and General Electric , has seen its shares soar 44 percent this year, although they have sagged in recent weeks, along with the wider Nasdaq index, on doubts whether businesses will pull back on information technology spending.

But analysts say CEO Marc Benioff appears to have buttressed his company's market position by expanding Salesforce's product offerings before the end of the year, when major companies

... contd.