Salesforce Stock Up 13.5%, Affecting 276 ETFs

The company had a strong first quarter, but its stock remains well below its 52-week high.

Salesforce, Inc. (CRM) jumped 13.5% on Wednesday morning on the heels of better-than-expected profits from its first-quarter report. 

A whopping 276 ETFs hold CRM. The iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF (IGV) sits in the top spot, with an 8.01% weighting to the stock; followed by the Direxion Daily Software Bull 2x Shares (SWAR) with a weighting of 6.19%; the First Trust Dow Jones Internet Index Fund (FDN) with a weighting of 4.60%; the Fidelity Cloud Computing ETF (FCLD)  with an allocation of 4.43%; and the Invesco NASDAQ Internet ETF (PNQI) with a weighting in the stock of 4.07%. 

U.S.-listed ETFs in aggregate hold 76.4 million shares of CRM, and the top five positions account for roughly 50% of this number. The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) holds the top spot, with 10.45 million shares.  

Also on the list are the iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (IVV), with 8.22 million shares; the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO), with 7.58 million shares; the Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF (VTI), with 6.05 million shares; and the SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF Trust (DIA), with 5.66 million shares. 

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Actively managed ETFs are the most common strategy to hold CRM shares, with 64 funds falling into that category. Vanilla cap-weighted ETFs number almost as many, with 57 funds that hold the stock falling within that category. ESG ETFs represent 38 of the funds that hold CRM, while 24 multifactor ETFs hold the stock. Another 21 fundamentally weighted ETFs also hold CRM. 

Tuesday evening's report posted mostly impressive numbers across the board, including an adjusted earnings per share of $0.98 for fiscal year 2023, up from estimates of $0.94. Revenue posted at $7.41 billion was also slightly higher than anticipated; earlier predictions were around $7.38 billion. Company revenue also rose 24% in quarter one year-over-year. 

Salesforce boosted its profit projections for its 2023 fiscal year from $4.74 to $4.76 per share, up from $4.62 to $4.64 per share. 

In its report, Salesforce says it believes discipline and sound decision-making will boost profits, even as software companies struggle. This is likely music to investors’ ears, as CRM stock is still down significantly from its 52-week high of $311.75. 

Earlier this month, Salesforce's Chief Financial Officer Amy Weaver said the company would reduce hiring for the remainder of 2022—not due to a decrease in demand or vacant jobs, but to focus on training the employees they do bring on to execute on the company's top priorities.