SALESFORCE gave a fiscal-year revenue forecast that fell short of estimates, dimming optimism that the company’s new artificial intelligence (AI) product would spur faster sales growth.
Revenue will be US$40.5 billion to US$40.9 billion in the year ending January 2026, the San Francisco-based company said on Wednesday (Feb 26). Analysts, on average, estimated US$41.5 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Adjusted operating margin will be about 34 per cent compared with an average analyst estimate of 33.9 per cent.
The top maker of customer management software has focused on pushing “Agentforce”, which is meant to complete tasks such as customer service without needing direction from a person. Salesforce launched the product in October, and faces competition from software companies such as Microsoft and ServiceNow, which are pursuing similar visions.
The new product is expected to create a modest contribution to revenue in fiscal year 2026 and a “more meaningful” contribution in the following year, chief financial officer Amy Weaver said on a call with analysts after the results.
Still, Salesforce said it already had 3,000 paying customers for Agentforce. Chief executive officer Marc Benioff touted that performance and cited its use by customers such as Pfizer, Singapore Air, and the gym chain Equinox.
The company also said that its business segment including Data Cloud and Agentforce hit US$900 million in recurring revenue, more than doubling since the same period a year prior. While Salesforce’s revenue guidance was slightly weaker than anticipated, the AI data points shared by the company were strong, wrote Raimo Lenschow, an analyst at Barclays.
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For the fiscal fourth quarter that ended Jan 31, revenue rose 7.6 per cent to US$9.99 billion. It marked the third consecutive quarter of single-digit sales growth for the software company, which had long enjoyed quicker expansion.
Remaining performance obligations, a measure of bookings, were US$63.4 billion, exceeding estimates. Profit, excluding some items, was US$2.78 per share, compared with an average estimate of US$2.61.
The shares slipped about 4 per cent in extended trading after closing at US$307.33 in New York. The stock had gained 2.3 per cent over the past 12 months, trailing many software peers.
Investors have flagged some uncertainty from changes in the company’s rank of top executives. Weaver, the longtime CFO, and chief operating officer Brian Millham are each leaving their roles. Robin Washington, a technology industry veteran who has been on Salesforce’s board since 2013, will assume a newly created role of chief financial and operations officer.
Chief revenue officer Miguel Milano will now lead the company’s sales operations, Benioff said. Executives who lead technical departments, including chief technical officer Steve Fisher and Srini Tallapragada, chief engineering and customer success officer, will also report directly to Benioff.
Salesforce is developing a suite of products for the pharmaceutical industry to compete with former partner Veeva Systems. Benioff said that Pfizer plans to use the new Life Sciences Cloud.
Earlier this month, Salesforce cut more than 1,000 roles as it allocates spending towards AI-focused initiatives. It also awarded a US$2.5 billion cloud contract to Alphabet’s Google, expanding infrastructure beyond its traditional partner of Amazon.com’s Amazon Web Services. BLOOMBERG
