Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) advanced about 2% in premarket trading on Thursday after delivering stronger-than-expected third-quarter results and raising its full-year guidance, buoyed by continued demand for its AI-powered products.
For the quarter ended October 31, the software giant posted earnings per share of $3.25, comfortably ahead of Bloomberg consensus expectations of $2.86. Revenue increased 8.6% from a year earlier to $10.3 billion, marginally beating estimates. Subscription and support revenue remained a key driver, rising 10% year-over-year.
Looking ahead, Salesforce now expects fiscal 2026 revenue between $41.45 billion and $41.55 billion, up from its prior range of $41.1 billion to $41.3 billion. Fourth-quarter guidance calls for EPS of $3.02 to $3.04 and revenue between $11.13 billion and $11.23 billion.
The updated outlook reflects the company’s optimism about expanding demand for its AI-enhanced agent platform, particularly from large enterprise customers. Adoption of AI to automate workflows and streamline operations continues to accelerate, and major tech players like Oracle have increasingly relied on Salesforce’s AI agents for task automation and decision support.
In a statement, CEO Marc Benioff said Agentforce and Data 360 have been “the momentum drivers,” generating nearly $1.4 billion in annual recurring revenue — an “explosive” 114% increase from last year.
Benioff added, “We now have over 9,500 paid Agentforce deals and 3.2 trillion tokens processed, underscoring our leadership in building the Agentic Enterprise and driving real outcomes.”
Salesforce also highlighted improvements in forward-looking financial metrics. Current remaining performance obligations (CRPO), a key indicator of future revenue, grew 11%, while operating cash flow climbed 17% to $2.3 billion.
However, analysts at BMO Capital Markets urged caution, noting that “Despite solid CRPO growth, we believe that Salesforce will remain a ’show-me’ story until the company demonstrates better aggregate portfolio revenue performance in addition to solid bookings growth, which we think is possible in the second half of fiscal 2027.”