Salesforce's “Herd Of Unicorns”

Today is Thursday, August 26, 2021

Salesforce Lifted By “A Herd Of Unicorns”

Shares of Salesforce (NYSE: CRM) jumped by more than 2% in after-hours trading after the software giant released strong second-quarter results on Wednesday that surpassed expectations.

Data: Revenue increased 23% year-over-year and GAAP operating margin was 5.2%. Revenue guidance in the next quarter is also up 25%.

Quote: Salesforce CEO and Chairman Marc Benioff said that the company's Customer 360 platform “is now fueled by a herd of unicorns,” including data visualization company Tableau, integration platform Mulesoft, and communication platform Slack.

Big Picture: Salesforce continues to benefit from the rise of work from home/work from anywhere. The stock is up 18% in 2021.

Final Thoughts: Salesforce doesn’t exist in a vacuum and it still has to compete against other big software rivals such as Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) and Oracle (NYSE: ORCL). All of these companies are benefiting from recent work trends. Can all of them continue to succeed at the same time?

Notables

Notable Earnings Today:  Dollar General (NYSE: DG), Burlington Stores (NYSE: BURL), J.M. Smucker (NYSE: SJM), Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE: ANF), VMware (NYSE: VMW), Gap (NYSE: GPS), Workday (Nasdaq: WDAY), Marvell Technology (Nasdaq: MRVL), HP (NYSE: HPQ), TD Bank Group (NYSE: TD).

Notable IPOs Today: Cascadia Acquisition Corp. Unit (Nasdaq: CCAIU), RenovoRx, Inc. Common Stock (Nasdaq: RNXT), Minority Equality Opportunities Acquisition Inc. Units (Nasdaq: MEOAU), Biotricity, Inc. Common Stock (Nasdaq: BTCY), Springwater Special Situations Corp. Unit (Nasdaq: SWSSU), IceCure Medical Ltd. Ordinary Shares (Nasdaq: ICCM).

Notable Equity Crowdfunding Campaigns Ending Today: Moonray (Republic), mySongBird (Wefunder).

Notable Economic Events Today: Gross Domestic Product (8:30 a.m.), Initial Jobless Claims (8:30 a.m.), Kansas Fed Manufacturing Activity (11:00 a.m.).

Why SEC Might Grant Bitcoin Futures ETF By October

A pair of Bloomberg analysts speculated this week that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission could approve of a Bitcoin futures exchange-traded fund (ETF) by October.

Definition: Similar to other commodities, a Bitcoin futures ETF allows investors to speculate on the future price of the cryptocurrency.

Fine Print: The analysts, Eric Balchunas and James Seyffart, say that the SEC is looking into a Bitcoin ETF after the recent withdrawals of Ether futures ETFs last week. This includes a timeline of 75 days later, which goes until the end of October.

Financial Institutions: A report this week indicated that Citigroup (NYSE: C) wants to launch a Bitcoin Futures ETF. Valkyrie Investments is also looking into this.

Final Thoughts: With a futures ETF, investors can bet on Bitcoin without actually buying any cryptocurrency.

Investors Benefit From Crowdfunding, SPAC Booms

There’s no question that startups benefit from both special-purpose acquisition companies (or SPACs) and the emergence of equity crowdfunding, but it turns out that investors are benefiting as well.

Equity Crowdfunding: With changes in regulations over the past few years, startups are able to raise funds through retail investors.

SPACs: Additionally, the rise of SPACs, which is when a shell company merges with a private company to take it public, made it easier for private companies to enter the public markets.

Win, win: In both instances, investors benefit from the increased opportunity. Thanks to equity crowdfunding, investors have access to invest in a startup during its early stages. And thanks to SPACs, investors can get more access to companies in the public markets.

Final Thoughts: In the past 12 months, there have been more SPACs and more equity crowdfunding than ever.

Trends to Watch

To Die For: ‘Death cross’ in 10-year Treasury yields signals that bond yields may plumb new depths and prices rally (MarketWatch)

Beautiful: Ulta shares rise after beauty retailer posts 60% gain in revenue, as makeup sales recover (CNBC)

Boxed In: Box Posts Strong July Quarter Amid Proxy Battle (Barron’s)

Let It Snow: Snowflake Stock Wavers As Analysts Mull Revenue Beat, Growth (Investor’s Business Daily)

Rocket Man: Rocket Lab CEO Sees Consolidation in the Space Industry (Bloomberg)

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