Salesforce.com Among Today’s Trending Stocks As Investors Remain Cautiously Bullish On The Market

Wednesday’s session saw both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite close at new record highs. Meanwhile, the Dow Jones Industrial Average marked its fourth straight positive session on the day – though it has yet to breach the record it set for itself last week. 

By Thursday, the Department of Labor’s new weekly jobless report claimed a total of 353,000 new claims for the week ending August 21. That brings the most recent week’s claims up 5,000 from the previous report. Meanwhile, a second look at the second quarter’s GDP found that growth was actually slightly faster than estimates, with an annual increase of 6.6%. 

And as investors remain cautiously bullish on the market, many look toward the Federal Reserve’s Friday remarks to guide their optimism.  

Q.ai runs daily factor models to get the most up-to-date reading on stocks and ETFs. Our deep-learning algorithms use Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology to provide an in-depth, intelligence-based look at a company – so you don’t have to do the digging yourself. 

Sign up for the free Forbes AI Investor newsletter here to join an exclusive AI investing community and get premium investing ideas before markets open.

Salesforce.com, Inc (CRM)

Salesforce.com, Inc nicked up 0.5% Wednesday to $260.85 per share, closing out the day with 9.7 million trades on the docket. On Thursday, the stock rose an additional 2.7%, adding $6.94 to its per-share price and nearly doubling its daily trade volume to 19 million. By the bell, Salesforce had climbed up 20.3% YTD to trade at 70x forward earnings. 

Salesforce is trending this week after the enterprise software marker blew analyst expectations out of the water with its Q2 2022 earnings and updated forward guidance. The company reported 23% revenue growth YOY for a total of $6.34 billion, with an operating cash flow of $386 million and diluted earnings per share of 56 cents. 

The results led management to raise FY2022 guidance to $26.2 billion in revenue, with a full-year operating cash flow between 14-15% YOY growth. For the upcoming quarter, Salesforce expected revenue up to $6.79 billion, or a 25% increase YOY. 

Over the last three fiscal years, Salesforce has seen revenue growth over 68%, climbing from $13.3 billion to over $21.2 billion. In the same period, per-share earnings have soared 232% to $4.38 compared to $1.43, while return on equity grew from 8.5% to 10.8%. That said, operating income fell substantially in the period from $535 million to $455 million. 

At this time, Salesforce is expected to see around 10.5% revenue growth in the next year. Our AI rates this tech company B in Quality Value, C in Technicals and Growth, and D in Low Volatility Momentum. 

Western Digital Corporation (WDC)

Western Digital Corporation closed up 7.8% on Wednesday, trading 17.78 million shares to a final price of $65.50, before falling almost $3 per share by Thursday’s bell. The stock sits up around 18% for the year and trades at 6.2x forward earnings. 

Western Digital Corporation is a tech company that primarily manufactures computer hard disk drives and operates within the data storage space. The company is trending this week – alongside rivals Seagate Technology

STX
and Micron Technology

MU
– amid rumors that Western Digital may merge with Japanese-owned Kioxia (formerly Toshiba Memory). 

Kioxia, a privately-owned company, is reported to have been in talks with Western Digital to arrange an all-stock deal worth upwards of $20 billion. Should the merger go through, the combination would create a powerful data storage competitor while also reducing relative costs and increasing total scale. 

However, the news should be regarded lightly at this time, as neither Kioxia nor Western Digital have publicly commented on the rumors. 

Over the last three fiscal years, Western Digital’s revenue has grown from $16.57 billion to more than $16.92 billion for total growth of 2.1%. In the same period, operating income surged over 428% to $1.17 billion compared to $222 million, while per-share earnings rose from $2.58 to $2.66. Additionally, return on equity inched up from 7% to 8%. 

All told, our AI rates Western Digital as a poor investment at this time, with an A in Growth, C in Technicals, and Ds in Low Volatility Momentum and Quality Value. 

Wells Fargo & Company (WFC)

Wells Fargo & Company jumped 1.9% Wednesday, trading 21.36 million shares in the session to close out the day at $49.29 per share. Currently, the stock sits around $1 over the 22-day price average and trends up 63.3% for the year. Wells Fargo is trading at…