Salesforce shares tumble as soft cloud demand hurts forecasts

Shares dropped by more than 16% after the bell

Salesforce's forecast pointed to clients scaling back spending as the possibility of higher-for-longer interest rates and elevated inflation prompt them to keep costs under control. (Photo illustration by Nikolas Kokovlis/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Salesforce forecast second-quarter profit and revenue below Wall Street estimates due to weak client spending on its cloud and enterprise business products, sending its shares down more than 16% after the bell.

It expects revenue between $9.20bn (€8.5bn) and $9.25bn (€8.56bn) compared with estimates of $9.37bn (€5.68bn), according to LSEG data.