Salesforce raises FY26 forecast to $41.3bn as AI CRM and Agentforce gains momentum

Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE: CRM) has once again exceeded Wall Street expectations in its first quarter of fiscal year 2026, reporting revenue of $9.8 billion—an 8% year-over-year (YoY) increase in both reported and constant currency terms. The San Francisco-based cloud software giant also raised its full-year guidance by $400 million, now forecasting between $41.0 billion and $41.3 billion in total revenue, as demand for its enterprise-grade artificial intelligence (AI) solutions continues to rise.

Chair and CEO Marc Benioff underscored Salesforce’s deepening AI integration, calling it a “unified enterprise AI platform” built on foundational elements like Agentforce, Data Cloud, Tableau, Slack, and its Customer 360 applications. The quarter marked a turning point in how Salesforce monetizes AI, with over 8,000 Agentforce deals closed since launch—half of which are paid—and AI-related annual recurring revenue crossing the $1 billion threshold, up over 120% YoY.

In a broader context, Salesforce’s earnings reflect the sector-wide acceleration in AI adoption within enterprise software, a trend mirrored in the performance of companies like Microsoft, Oracle, and ServiceNow. As businesses globally recalibrate their digital transformation playbooks, Salesforce’s investments in metadata-driven architectures and data orchestration tools are enabling it to retain competitive leadership in the high-growth AI CRM segment.

Why Did Salesforce Stock Climb After Q1 FY26 Earnings?

Following the earnings announcement, Salesforce stock (NYSE: CRM) closed at $263.12 on May 28, 2025, climbing 2.4% in after-hours trading. The movement reflected a confident market response to the company’s revenue beat, increased cRPO of $29.6 billion, and an upward revision of full-year guidance.

The stock has gained approximately 18% year-to-date and currently trades about 11% below its 52-week high of $296.20, suggesting both headroom for further upside and a reasonable entry point for long-term investors. Institutional flows post-earnings turned positive, with hedge funds and active managers taking new positions or adding to existing ones, particularly following buy-side upgrades from Jefferies and Barclays.

Analysts noted the encouraging revenue composition—especially the continued strength in subscription and support revenue, which totaled $9.3 billion for Q1. Salesforce’s non-GAAP operating margin of 32.3% and GAAP margin of 19.8% also highlighted its ability to scale efficiently while funding aggressive AI-driven R&D efforts.

How Is Agentforce Transforming Salesforce’s Business Model?

Agentforce is now central to Salesforce’s shift toward enterprise-grade agentic automation. Designed to function as an AI-powered digital labor force, Agentforce integrates with enterprise workflows to automate tasks, resolve tickets, and interact with systems across Salesforce’s ecosystem.

The platform has already processed more than 750,000 customer support requests internally, reducing case volume by 7% YoY. Externally, it played a role in nearly 60% of Salesforce’s top 100 Q1 deals—an indicator of growing customer trust in AI-first automation.

From a product architecture standpoint, Agentforce’s integration with Slack, Tableau, and Data Cloud allows Salesforce to offer a seamless, cross-application experience—something rival platforms have yet to match with such depth. This move aligns with enterprise CIO and CTO mandates around reducing vendor complexity while boosting operational agility.

What Role Does Data Cloud Play in Salesforce’s Growth Strategy?

Salesforce’s Data Cloud remains the invisible engine behind its AI evolution. During Q1, the system ingested over 22 trillion records, marking a 175% YoY increase and serving as a signal of both scale and adoption. More than half of Salesforce’s large enterprise deals now involve six or more clouds, indicating bundling strength and deep integration.

By harmonizing structured and unstructured data across clouds in real time, Data Cloud enables Salesforce AI models to operate on cleaner, actionable data pipelines. This is critical for industries such as healthcare, financial services, and government, where compliance and accuracy cannot be compromised.

With AI and Data Cloud annual recurring revenue surpassing $1 billion, Salesforce is setting a new benchmark for what it means to be an AI-native CRM ecosystem—one that doesn’t just augment workflows, but intelligently automates and orchestrates them.

How Does the Informatica Acquisition Fit Into Salesforce’s AI Vision?

The announced acquisition of Informatica Inc. is Salesforce’s boldest bet yet on owning the enterprise data layer. Informatica’s tools—centered on Master Data Management (MDM), data quality, and governance—will provide the metadata infrastructure that Salesforce needs to scale its AI deployment securely across verticals.

Though the deal is not expected to close until early FY27 and doesn’t affect FY26 guidance, it is strategically complementary. Informatica’s strengths in regulated industries such as finance and healthcare can help Salesforce deepen its penetration into compliance-heavy customer segments.

Market analysts have welcomed the move. Several institutional research desks have interpreted the deal as an “AI stack completion” move, enabling Salesforce to compete more holistically with hyperscale cloud players like Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services in enterprise data orchestration.

What Do the FY26 Guidance Numbers Reveal About Future Performance?

Salesforce now expects Q2 FY26 revenue in the range of $10.11 billion to $10.16 billion, representing 8%–9% YoY growth. For the full fiscal year, it projects revenues between $41.0 billion and $41.3 billion. Subscription and support revenue is expected to rise 9.5%, with free cash flow projected to grow 9%–10%.

The company also reaffirmed its non-GAAP operating margin guidance of 34.0% and GAAP margin of 21.6%. Non-GAAP EPS is forecast to land between $11.27 and $11.33 for the year, while GAAP EPS is expected to be in the $7.15 to $7.21 range. These figures reflect Salesforce’s margin expansion ambitions even as it aggressively expands its AI and data platforms.

Notably, the updated guidance now includes a modest FX tailwind due to the weakening U.S. dollar—factored into the topline uplift.

What’s the Investment Outlook for Salesforce Stock?

The broader investor sentiment around Salesforce stock has shifted toward bullish territory. Short interest remains low at just 1.3% of float, and recent options market data shows a 1.6:1 call-to-put ratio—implying higher conviction in upward price movement.

Major institutional holders like Vanguard Group and BlackRock continue to maintain significant ownership, while newer entrants are emerging post-earnings as Salesforce strengthens its AI monetization metrics. Analyst consensus has shifted toward a 12-month price target range of $285 to $315, aligning with expectations of continued product adoption and improving operational efficiency.

Buy/Sell/Hold Outlook: With Salesforce trading at ~23x forward earnings, the stock presents an attractive entry for long-term investors seeking exposure to AI-native enterprise software. Analysts are widely rating CRM as a “Buy on dips,” citing the AI revenue ramp, strong cRPO visibility, and capital return program as strong tailwinds.

Salesforce stock reflects a bullish institutional consensus supported by improved earnings visibility, strong AI monetization signals, and buy-side rotation into AI-native SaaS leaders. However, the valuation still prices in some execution risk, making it best suited for medium to long-term investors who can tolerate AI sector volatility.

Outlook: AI, Automation, and Enterprise Expansion

Heading into the second half of FY26, Salesforce is expected to continue iterating on its triannual release cycle, bringing new capabilities in low-code AI development, AI agent configurability, and predictive workflow integration. Expansion into Asia-Pacific and EMEA will remain strategic, particularly as governments adopt cloud-first public service models.

With $6.3 billion in free cash flow, proven cross-cloud synergy, and a defensible AI roadmap, Salesforce is positioning itself not just as a CRM leader—but as the foundational AI and data operating system for modern enterprises.