BUZZ-PREVIEW: Salesforce seen posting 14% quarterly EPS growth

Shares of Salesforce CRM.N are up 1.3% on Weds ahead of the company's Q4 earnings report expected after the closing bell

Cloud-based relationship management co is expected to post adj EPS of $2.61, up 13.9% year-on-year, on rev of $10.04 bln, compared with $9.29 bln in the year-ago qtr, according to LSEG

With exception of Q3 miss reported on Dec 3, CRM has beaten EPS estimates every qtr going back to at least Q1 2019, per LSEG

On Feb 4, co announced COO Brian Millham would retire; named Robin Washington as President and COO/CFO

On Dec 3, CRM beat Q3 revenue estimates due to robust client demand; co is betting big on its new AI enabled Agentforce product to reinvigorate growth

Of the 53 analysts covering CRM, 41 rate stock "buy" or stronger, 10 recommend "hold" and 2 "strong sell" ratings - LSEG

The 12-mo median price target on the stock is $410, down from $414 a month ago; stock was last at $310.03

Including the session move, CRM shares are off about >7% YTD vs a >2.5% gain in the Dow .DJI over the same time period

CRM options imply a 9.1% swing for the shares, in either direction by Friday, per Trade Alert data; the stock has logged an avg move of 7.9% the day after results, over the last eight qtrs