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Salesforce Delivers Strong Quarter as Wall Street Gets Excited About AI Progress

MarketDash Editorial Team
3 days ago
Salesforce shares jumped after beating Q3 expectations and raising guidance, with analysts particularly impressed by accelerating AI momentum. Five major firms maintain bullish ratings with price targets ranging up to $400.

Salesforce Inc. (CRM) shares climbed Thursday morning after the cloud software giant delivered a solid third quarter that had Wall Street buzzing about its artificial intelligence momentum. The company beat earnings expectations, raised its outlook, and most importantly, showed real traction with its AI products.

The analyst community responded enthusiastically, with most major firms reaffirming bullish stances. Canaccord Genuity's David Hynes maintained a Buy rating with a $300 price target. JPMorgan's Mark Murphy kept his Overweight rating and $365 target. Wedbush's Dan Ives stuck with Outperform at $375. Goldman Sachs analyst Kash Rangan maintained Buy with a $385 target. Needham's Scott Berg reaffirmed Buy with the Street's highest target of $400. Guggenheim Securities' John DiFucci was the outlier, reiterating a Neutral rating.

The Numbers Tell a Steady Story

Canaccord's Hynes described the results as "pretty steady" for the fiscal fourth quarter, with total revenue landing close to guidance midpoints. Revenue came in at $10.26 billion, up 8% year-over-year in constant currency terms, essentially matching Street expectations of $10.27 billion. Some upside was offset by slower growth in MuleSoft and Tableau, Hynes noted.

The current remaining performance obligations metric, which gives insight into future revenue, grew 11% in constant currency to $29.4 billion and came in slightly ahead of expectations. This allowed Salesforce to maintain its full-year guidance on an organic basis. Total RPO climbed 12% year-over-year to $59.5 billion, supported by strong bookings and early renewals.

On the bottom line, Salesforce crushed it. Non-GAAP earnings hit $3.25 per share, well above the $2.86 consensus. That beat came from disciplined spending even as the company invests heavily in its AI initiatives. The cash flow picture looked healthy too, with $2.2 billion in free cash flow generated. The company returned $4.2 billion to shareholders through $3.8 billion in share repurchases and $395 million in dividends.

AI Momentum Accelerates

Here's where things get interesting. Data and Agentforce annual recurring revenue grew 114% year-over-year to $1.4 billion, Wedbush's Ives noted. More specifically, Agentforce ARR alone surged 330% to $540 million. Paid Agentforce deals now exceed 9,500, representing 50% sequential growth.

The company is processing over 3.2 trillion tokens through its large language model gateway, suggesting genuine customer adoption rather than just pilot programs. JPMorgan's Murphy highlighted that Salesforce delivered "one of the largest pipeline-generation quarters in recent years" and saw net new average order value growth exceed total AOV growth for the first time since fiscal 2022.

Goldman's Rangan said the strengthening AI momentum gives him confidence that Salesforce can deliver on its revenue reacceleration plans. "More importantly, the underlying trends are firing: net new annual order value growth already outpaced AOV growth, while the company saw its largest quarter of pipeline generation to date, growing double digits," he wrote.

Looking Ahead

Salesforce raised its fiscal 2026 total revenue guidance to $41.5 billion from the previous outlook of $41.2 billion. Needham's Berg pointed out that cRPO growth of 11.4% beat the company's own guidance range of 10% to 11%. Subscription revenue grew 9.5% while professional services revenue declined 5.7%.

Berg noted that net new AOV now growing faster than AOV "is a strong signal the company's revenue growth rate should remain at least stable if not see modest upward revisions if this bookings trend is sustainable."

The Skeptical View

Not everyone was impressed. Guggenheim's DiFucci, who maintains a Neutral rating, said Salesforce reported moderating growth in subscribers and total revenue. He observed "a lot of bombast around AI" and "some confusing information" related to the potential acquisition of Informatica Inc (INFA).

"CRM also disclosed a litany of Agentforce data points that don't really mean much to us, while rebranding what seems like everything as Agentforce," DiFucci wrote, suggesting some of the AI excitement might be more marketing than substance.

Salesforce shares were trading up 3.22% at $246.39 following the report.

Back to News

Salesforce Delivers Strong Quarter as Wall Street Gets Excited About AI Progress

MarketDash Editorial Team
3 days ago
Salesforce shares jumped after beating Q3 expectations and raising guidance, with analysts particularly impressed by accelerating AI momentum. Five major firms maintain bullish ratings with price targets ranging up to $400.

Salesforce Inc. (CRM) shares climbed Thursday morning after the cloud software giant delivered a solid third quarter that had Wall Street buzzing about its artificial intelligence momentum. The company beat earnings expectations, raised its outlook, and most importantly, showed real traction with its AI products.

The analyst community responded enthusiastically, with most major firms reaffirming bullish stances. Canaccord Genuity's David Hynes maintained a Buy rating with a $300 price target. JPMorgan's Mark Murphy kept his Overweight rating and $365 target. Wedbush's Dan Ives stuck with Outperform at $375. Goldman Sachs analyst Kash Rangan maintained Buy with a $385 target. Needham's Scott Berg reaffirmed Buy with the Street's highest target of $400. Guggenheim Securities' John DiFucci was the outlier, reiterating a Neutral rating.

The Numbers Tell a Steady Story

Canaccord's Hynes described the results as "pretty steady" for the fiscal fourth quarter, with total revenue landing close to guidance midpoints. Revenue came in at $10.26 billion, up 8% year-over-year in constant currency terms, essentially matching Street expectations of $10.27 billion. Some upside was offset by slower growth in MuleSoft and Tableau, Hynes noted.

The current remaining performance obligations metric, which gives insight into future revenue, grew 11% in constant currency to $29.4 billion and came in slightly ahead of expectations. This allowed Salesforce to maintain its full-year guidance on an organic basis. Total RPO climbed 12% year-over-year to $59.5 billion, supported by strong bookings and early renewals.

On the bottom line, Salesforce crushed it. Non-GAAP earnings hit $3.25 per share, well above the $2.86 consensus. That beat came from disciplined spending even as the company invests heavily in its AI initiatives. The cash flow picture looked healthy too, with $2.2 billion in free cash flow generated. The company returned $4.2 billion to shareholders through $3.8 billion in share repurchases and $395 million in dividends.

AI Momentum Accelerates

Here's where things get interesting. Data and Agentforce annual recurring revenue grew 114% year-over-year to $1.4 billion, Wedbush's Ives noted. More specifically, Agentforce ARR alone surged 330% to $540 million. Paid Agentforce deals now exceed 9,500, representing 50% sequential growth.

The company is processing over 3.2 trillion tokens through its large language model gateway, suggesting genuine customer adoption rather than just pilot programs. JPMorgan's Murphy highlighted that Salesforce delivered "one of the largest pipeline-generation quarters in recent years" and saw net new average order value growth exceed total AOV growth for the first time since fiscal 2022.

Goldman's Rangan said the strengthening AI momentum gives him confidence that Salesforce can deliver on its revenue reacceleration plans. "More importantly, the underlying trends are firing: net new annual order value growth already outpaced AOV growth, while the company saw its largest quarter of pipeline generation to date, growing double digits," he wrote.

Looking Ahead

Salesforce raised its fiscal 2026 total revenue guidance to $41.5 billion from the previous outlook of $41.2 billion. Needham's Berg pointed out that cRPO growth of 11.4% beat the company's own guidance range of 10% to 11%. Subscription revenue grew 9.5% while professional services revenue declined 5.7%.

Berg noted that net new AOV now growing faster than AOV "is a strong signal the company's revenue growth rate should remain at least stable if not see modest upward revisions if this bookings trend is sustainable."

The Skeptical View

Not everyone was impressed. Guggenheim's DiFucci, who maintains a Neutral rating, said Salesforce reported moderating growth in subscribers and total revenue. He observed "a lot of bombast around AI" and "some confusing information" related to the potential acquisition of Informatica Inc (INFA).

"CRM also disclosed a litany of Agentforce data points that don't really mean much to us, while rebranding what seems like everything as Agentforce," DiFucci wrote, suggesting some of the AI excitement might be more marketing than substance.

Salesforce shares were trading up 3.22% at $246.39 following the report.