Despite Cloud Slowdown, Salesforce Predicts Double-Digit Growth This Year -- Time to Buy the Stock?

It's been a tumultuous year for cloud software pioneer Salesforce (NYSE: CRM), capped off by an especially tumultuous last few months. After enduring fast-rising interest rates due to the U.S. Federal Reserve, a subsequent rapid run-up in the value of the dollar, inflation and recessionary fears biting into customers' budgets, and a slew of executives leaving, Salesforce has now been dealing with activist investors pressuring it to aggressively cut costs and focus attention on profitability. 

Despite the odds, co-founder and CEO Marc Benioff delivered the goods in typically grandiose fashion. The stock was up by a double-digit percentage following the company's quarterly update Wednesday. Shares have now rebounded over 42% so far in 2023. Is it still time to buy Salesforce stock?  

Salesforce delivered exceptional results for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2023 (the three months ended January 2023) amid a general economic slowdown that has even begun to clobber the hot cloud computing market. Revenue was up 14% year over year to $8.38 billion, or up 17% when excluding currency exchange rates due to the negative impact of the U.S. dollar's record rise (more on that in a moment).  

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Source Fool.com