Salesforce stock fell Thursday after the enterprise software maker reported fourth-quarter earnings that topped estimates while revenue slightly missed. Revenue guidance for fiscal 2026 also came in below expectations, despite the ramp of new artificial intelligence products.
The January-quarter Salesforce earnings report was released after the market close on Wednesday. Salesforce earnings rose 19% to $1.78 per share on an adjusted basis. Also, the San Francisco-based enterprise software firm said revenue climbed 10% to $9.9 billion.
CRM stock analysts expected Salesforce to report earnings of $2.61 a share on sales of $10.04 billion.
While AI initiatives are underway, revenue growth slowed for core products, noted Jefferies analyst Brent Till in a report. In Q4, "Sales Cloud" sales growth slowed to 9% year-over-year from 11% in the October quarter, while "Service Cloud" sales growth slowed to 9% from 10%.
On the stock market today, Salesforce stock fell about 3% to near 298.
Salesforce Stock: Fiscal 2026 Guidance
A key financial metric, current remaining performance obligations, known as CRPO bookings, edged by views. In Q4, CRPO rose 9% to $30.2 billion vs. estimates of $30.125 billion. CRPO bookings are an aggregate of deferred revenue and order backlog.
For full-year fiscal 2026, Salesforce said it expects revenue of $40.7 billion at the midpoint of guidance, up 7.5%, versus estimates of $41.39 billion, or 9% growth.
The software maker didn't provide a CRPO outlook for fiscal 2026.
Before the Salesforce earnings release, CRM stock was down about 7% so far this year.
Some analysts expected conservative guidance amid management changes.
In January, Salesforce named Robin Washington as its new chief financial officer. Washington has been a member of Salesforce's board of directors since 2013. She had been CFO of Gilead Sciences from 2008 to 2019.
Artificial Intelligence Product Ramp
Salesforce offers access to business software applications based on a subscription model. Its software helps businesses organize and handle sales operations and customer relationships. In addition, the company has expanded into marketing, customer services and e-commerce.
Analysts do not expect revenue growth related to artificial intelligence product upgrades to kick in until calendar 2026.
Further, Salesforce said it has closed 5,000 Agentforce deals since October, including more than 3,000 paid Agentforce deals.
"The company expects Data Cloud to be a tailwind to fiscal 2026 subscription and support revenue growth, with Agentforce also contributing modestly to results and building throughout the year," said Terry Tillman, a Truist Securities analyst in a report. "In fiscal 2027 we assume a more meaningful contribution from Agentforce in reported results."
In late 2024, Salesforce and other software makers began shifting marketing strategy away from generative AI "copilots" to autonomous, goal-driven AI "agents."
Copilots, basically conversational chatbot interfaces, aim to improve worker productivity but rely on human prompts. Agents execute multistep tasks on behalf of users by solving problems and taking action.
Salesforce Stock Technical Ratings
Salesforce is incorporating AI agent technology into its broad array of customer management, customer service and marketing automation products.
According to IBD Stock Checkup, CRM stock holds an IBD Composite Rating of 90 out of a best possible 99. IBD's Composite Rating combines five separate proprietary ratings into one easy-to-use rating.
In addition, Salesforce stock has an Accumulation/Distribution Rating of D-minus. The rating, on an A+ to E scale, measures institutional buying and selling in a stock. A+ signifies heavy institutional buying; E means heavy selling.
Follow Reinhardt Krause on Twitter @reinhardtk_tech for updates on artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and cloud computing.
