Customer relationship management software giants Salesforce.com Inc. and Workday Inc. pulled successful quarters out of the bag today, delivering first-quarter results that topped expectations.

Nonetheless, the companies were forced to revise their outlook downward for the coming quarter, and the market reacted accordingly as both stocks fell slightly in after-hours trading.

Salesforce delivered a fiscal first-quarter profit before certain costs such as stock compensation of 70 cents per share on revenue of $4.87 billion, up 30% from a year ago. Wall Street had been looking for a 69-cent profit on revenue of $4.85 billion.

Subscription and support revenue, a key metric for investors that helps gauge future quarters, came to $4.57 billion, up 31% from the same period one year ago. Professional services and other revenues came to $290 million, up 20%.

Breaking down Salesforce’s subscription revenue by segment, the company said Sales Cloud delivered $1.2 billion, up 16% year over year, while Service Cloud generated $1.3 billion, up 22%. Marketing and Commerce Cloud revenue came to $700 million, and Salesforce platform and other revenue added $1.4 billion more to the total.

Constellation Research Inc. analyst Holger Mueller told SiliconANGLE that today’s results show how Salesforce is now, first and foremost, a platform company.

“Platform revenue eclipsed Service Cloud, with Sales Cloud in third place,” Mueller said. “Certainly, it’s an inflection point for Salesforce and its acquisition strategy.”

Mueller did however question Salesforce’s strategy on research and development, noting that it doubled its R&D investments in the quarter to $166 million, up from $81 million a year ago.

“That is a good sign, but the big question now is, what is the massive investment that Salesforce is building towards that justifies this amount?” Mueller asked.

“Our results, amidst this global crisis, demonstrated our ability to execute at speed, innovate at scale and the strength of our business model,” Salesforce Chief Executive Marc Benioff (pictured) said in a statement. “The pandemic showed us that digital is an imperative for every company, and we’re confident Salesforce will continue to accelerate as we bring our customers into the new normal.”

Despite that confident statement, Salesforce felt compelled to reduce guidance for fiscal 2021. Executives said they now expect full-year earnings of between $2.93 and $2.95 per share on revenue of $20 billion. That’s lower than the company’s initial full-year forecast of between $21 billion to $21.2 billion in revenue.

For the next quarter, the company has forecast earnings of 66 to 67 cents per share on revenue of about $4.9 billion. Wall Street had forecast a much better quarter, a profit of 75 cents per share on $5.03 billion in revenue.

Salesforce’s stock was down more than 3% after-hours. Pund-IT Inc. analyst Charles King said Salesforce was in an oddly unenviable position.

“Despite delivering results that are in line with analysts’ expectations, the company’s cautionary outlook appears to rankling investors hoping for or demanding good news despite obvious continuing uncertainties,” he said. “It’s a bit like being harassed for acting like the grown-up in the room. However, I believe Salesforce’s decision to act responsibly is a better and more sustainable position than plastering on a false happy face.”

Salesforce, which saw the departure of co-CEO Keith Block in the quarter just gone, added that it’s giving “temporary financial flexibility” to customers most impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

It was a similar story at Workday, which also beat expectations while revising its subscription revenue guidance for the next three-month period.

The company, which sells financial management and human capital management software to large enterprises, reported a profit before certain costs such as stock compensation of 44 cents per share on revenue of $1.02 billion, up 23% from a year ago. Wall Street had expected the company to report a 37-cent profit on revenue of $1.003 billion for the period.

“Amidst the current environment, we are pleased with our strong Q1 results, which include several new Fortune 500 customers as well as many virtual go-lives,” said Workday co-founder and CEO Aneel Bhusri. “Our employees never cease to amaze me and despite this entirely new way of remote working, they delivered our most recent release with more than 400 new features and moved Workday Extend to general availability.”

Workday’s stock initially jumped more than 6% in the after-hours session, only to see those gains wiped out after lowering its subscription revenue guidance. The company said it expects 2021 subscription revenue of between $3.67 billion and $3.69 billion.

“While we believe we remain well-positioned for the long term, we are reducing our fiscal 2021 subscription revenue guidance to account for the near-term impact from COVID-19,” Workday Chief Financial Officer Robynne Sisco said in a conference call.

Mueller told SiliconANGLE that Workday was showing its resilience in an adverse environment, though its quarterly growth of just 20% was its weakest in five years.

“That is still very good growth, but taking away full year guidance, Workday has worried investors,” Mueller said. “Now it comes back to Workday to show value to its customers during the Covid-19 pandemic, especially with continued implementations of its ERP Suite.”

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