Salesforce, Inc., once at the center of the "software crisis" narrative, posted stronger-than-expected results for the fourth quarter last year. But the stock fell as its full-year sales outlook for this year missed Wall Street expectations.
Salesforce, Inc. said on the 25th (local time) that revenue for the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2026 (Nov. 2025–Jan. 2026) rose 12% from a year earlier to $11.201 billion (about 16 trillion won). Operating profit for the same period increased 2.7% to $1.869 billion (about 2.6607 trillion won). Adjusted earnings per share (EPS) were $3.81, beating the market estimate of $3.04.
Salesforce, Inc. is the world's No. 1 company in enterprise customer relationship management (CRM) software. It has been a prime example of the recent "SaaSpocalypse" ("software as a service" + "apocalypse") fear-driven sell-off on concerns that artificial intelligence (AI) will replace enterprise software.
However, contrary to market concerns, Salesforce, Inc. delivered solid results last year. The company's annual revenue last year was $41.5 billion (about 59 trillion won), up 10% from the previous year and a record high. Operating profit was $8.331 billion (11.87 trillion won), up 20.1% over the same period.
Salesforce, Inc. said performance improved on the back of rapid growth across its AI-integrated software portfolio. Annual recurring revenue (ARR) for its AI agent platform "Agentforce" and its enterprise data integration platform "Data 360" surged more than 200% year over year to about $2.9 billion. Of that, ARR for "Agentforce" was $800 million, up 169% year over year, and ARR for Informatica's cloud products, for which the acquisition was completed last year, also reached $1.1 billion, the company said.
Marc Benioff, Salesforce, Inc. chief executive officer (CEO), said, "Agentic AI has established itself as Salesforce's new growth engine," adding, "We are steadily progressing toward our 2030 annual revenue target of $63 billion (about 90 trillion won)."
However, it projected fiscal year 2027 revenue of $45.8 billion to $46.2 billion (about 65.4 trillion–65.9 trillion won). The figure is slightly below market expectations, and Salesforce, Inc. at one point fell nearly 5% in after-hours trading immediately after the results were released. Pressured by the software crisis narrative, Salesforce, Inc.'s share price has fallen about 27% so far this year based on Wednesday's close.
In response, Benioff said on the earnings conference call that "the current share price is quite low," and announced a new $50 billion (about 71 trillion won) share repurchase and a 6% increase in the quarterly dividend to 44 cents per share. The company said the move "demonstrates the corporations' commitment to creating shareholder value."
Benioff said, "Salesforce, Inc. has shifted to an 'agent enterprise (an enterprise centered on AI work tools)' operating model that connects people and AI agents on a single trusted platform," adding, "We are connecting humans and AI agents on a trusted unified platform."