What's going on?

It�s no Jedi mind trick. It�s another better-than-expected quarter from the American software giant valued at $112 billion, Salesforce.

What does this mean?

Revenues were 27% higher than the same time last year, and profit shot up too, exceeding forecasts. Salesforce�s cloud segments (which make up most of its sales) continued their ascent. Demand for cloud computing services has also been propelling growth at rivals Amazon and Microsoft (it seems a strong wind lifts all clouds). And the company�s acquisition of cloud computing company MuleSoft in March should help it shoot toward its sales target of $20 billion sooner than it previously thought (last year�s sales were around $10 billion).

Why should I care?

For markets: A Salesforce encore but leaves investors wanting more.

Salesforce has built a bit of a reputation for itself � investors generally expect it to exceed the targets it sets out, as it�s made a habit of doing in the past. But in doing so again, perhaps the company�s made a rod for its own back. Despite raising its expectations for its sales and profit for the year as a whole, Salesforce�s forecast for its next quarter�s profit is below what investors had hoped, which may explain the stock�s 2% fall on Wednesday.

The bigger picture: Silicon Valley tech firms are having a moment in the sun.

On Tuesday, Hewlett Packard Enterprise reported better sales and profit than investors expected for the last quarter, helping its stock rise by 4% on Wednesday. HP�s been focused on trimming the fat � cutting 10% of its staff in order to lower costs � and trying to do more business in areas like �networks� � things like security for mobile and internet-of-things devices (similarly to social networks, they generally require fewer upkeep costs once installed, compared to selling physical machinery like servers) which are higher margin � i.e. sales in that segment translate to higher profit.