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what it is
Salesforce sells the software your job uses to track customers, handle support, and now pitch AI helpers.
how it gets paid
Last year Salesforce made $41.5B in revenue. Service Cloud was the main engine at $8.7B, or 21% of sales.
why it's growing
Revenue grew 9.6% last year. The company’s relatively new agentforce and data 360 products appear to be resonating well with customers.
what just happened
The last big takeaway was simple: Salesforce printed $10.259B in quarterly revenue and still beat on earnings.
At a glance
A balance sheet — strong enough to weather a downturn
25/100 earnings predictability — expect surprises
29.1x trailing p/e — priced about right
0.8% dividend yield — cash in your pocket every quarter
13.5% return on capital — fine, not “hypergrowth SaaS royalty”
xvary composite: 80/100 — above average
What they do
Salesforce sells the software your job uses to track customers, handle support, and now pitch AI helpers.
Once your sales team, support team, and customer data live inside Salesforce, leaving is painful. The company did $41.5 billion in annual revenue, and 66% came from the Americas alone. CRM → customer relationship management → the system that stores your company relationships, so switching can break daily work.
How they make money
$41.5B
annual revenue · their business grew +9.6% last year
Service Cloud
$8.7B
+10.0%
Sales Cloud
$8.2B
+9.0%
Platform & Other
$7.7B
+12.0%
Integration & Analytics
$6.6B
+14.0%
Marketing & Commerce
$5.3B
+5.0%
Data
$5.0B
+7.0%
The products that matter
customer relationship software platform
Sales Cloud
$41.5B company revenue · +9.6% growth
the revenue table does show segment dollars (e.g. Sales Cloud ~$8.2B)—this card is the core CRM stack label, not “no data.” What matters is simpler: the company did $41.5B overall and grew 9.6% last year.
core platform
AI and data upsell layer
Agentforce + Data 360
early adoption signal
management says these newer products are landing with customers. This page still does not map Agentforce/Data 360 to their own revenue lines—treat them as upside to the $41.5B base until the filing splits them out.
watch adoption
margin and cash return story
operating discipline
~20.4% net margin · 0.8% yield
this is not a literal product, but it is part of the investment case. healthier margins, buybacks, and a small dividend are doing more work now that revenue growth sits at 9.6%, not the old software dream rate.
the rerating lever
Key numbers
7.0%
projected sales growth
That is the key mismatch. Your company is forecast to grow slower than its 16.0% history, but the stock still wants growth-company treatment.
20.1%
operating margin
Operating margin → profit left after running the business → so what, Salesforce is now more about efficiency than raw expansion.
$42B
fy2026 revenue
That estimate says Salesforce is already huge. Adding another 10% now means finding about $4 billion more sales, which gets harder at this size.
13.5%
return on capital
Return on capital → profit from money invested in the business → so what, this is solid, but it is not software royalty territory.
Financial health
A
strength
- balance sheet grade A — very strong financial position
- risk rank 3 — safer than 50% of stocks
- price stability 50 / 100
- long-term debt $8.4B (4% of capital)
- net profit margin 20.4% — keeps 20 cents of every dollar in revenue
- return on equity 15% — $0.15 profit for every $1 investors have put in
A — among the top-rated companies for balance sheet quality.
Total return vs. market
You invested $10,000 in CRM 3 years ago → it's now worth $15,380.
The index would have given you $14,770.
source: institutional data · total return
What just happened
beat estimates
The last big takeaway was simple: Salesforce printed $10.259B in quarterly revenue and still beat on earnings.
Fiscal third-quarter revenue rose about 9% vs. prior year. EPS came in at $2.19, and gross margin was 77.7%—all on the same Q, not FY totals.
$10.259B
revenue (Q)
$2.19
eps (Q)
77.7%
gross margin (Q)
the number that mattered
The 9% revenue growth matters most because it shows the business is still growing, just nowhere near the 16.0% pace investors got used to.
-
salesforce shares recently traded near a 52-week low.
-
over the past three months, the stock is down roughly 10% in value, as investors continued to express little enthusiasm for software-based cloud operators amidst a surging appetite for AI-related growth companies.indeed, the stock performed poorly in 2025, and is down from its high-water mark of nearly $370 per share. that said, from a financial standpoint, salesforce continued to report impressive quarterly results (discussed below), which suggests that the prolonged selloff may be getting a little long in the tooth. in fact, our timeliness ranking system pegs the stock as a yearahead market outperformer, with solid quarterly showings potentially acting as a catalyst for a near-term share-price rebound.
-
fiscal third-quarter results were good.
-
revenues of $10.259 billion rose 9% vs. prior year, while earnings of $2.19 per share came in better than expected, improving 39% versus the previous-year figure.the company’s relatively new agentforce and data 360 products appear to be resonating well with customers, while demand for more-traditional cloud services has been resilient.
-
meanwhile, healthier operating margins and stock buybacks are supporting the bottom line.all told, respectable vs. prior year revenue and earnings growth is probably in the cards for this fiscal year and the next.
source: company earnings report, 2026
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What could go wrong
the risk here is not that salesforce suddenly stops being important. it's that a $41.5B software franchise growing 9.6% gets judged like a mature platform while microsoft keeps showing up in the same spending conversation.
med
microsoft bundle pressure
salesforce sells into the same enterprise software budget that microsoft already touches every day. if customers decide "good enough" CRM inside a broader microsoft contract is close enough, pricing power gets tested quickly.
this risk sits against the full $41.5B revenue base. if growth slips materially from 9.6%, the stock will react before management finishes explaining why.
med
AI monetization stays more story than numbers
Agentforce and Data 360 sound promising. the hard part is turning customer interest into paid, repeatable expansion revenue. this page does not show product-level dollars yet, so your conviction should stay tied to evidence, not slogans.
if the AI layer does not help push revenue above 9.6%, investors are left paying a 29.1x trailing multiple for a slower but still solid software company.
med
margin gains do most of the heavy lifting
recent EPS growth of 39% versus 9% revenue growth is impressive. It also tells you efficiency carried much of the quarter. that's great until there are fewer easy costs left to trim.
18.6% net margin gives management room today. if revenue slows and margin expansion cools at the same time, the earnings story gets less forgiving fast.
med
low predictability meets premium expectations
earnings predictability is 25 / 100. that means a large, profitable business can still produce messy quarters, guidance resets, and stock reactions that feel bigger than the operating miss.
with the stock rated in the top 5% on short-term outlook, the setup is simple: when expectations are already high, disappointments travel faster.
29.1x trailing earnings can hold if growth stays near 9.6% and margins keep improving. if growth drops well below that pace while microsoft pressure gets louder, the premium multiple is the first thing at risk.
source: institutional data · regulatory filings · risk analysis
Pay attention to
metric
revenue growth versus 9.6%
this is the cleanest line in the sand. if the company cannot hold something close to last year's growth rate, the software premium gets harder to defend.
calendar
next earnings print
watch whether revenue and EPS stay on the current script: roughly 9% top-line growth and much faster bottom-line growth.
risk
microsoft in the same budget line
listen for customer commentary on bundling, pricing pressure, or slower seat expansion. that is where a software moat starts getting negotiated.
trend
institutional seller count
1,480 sellers versus 1,318 buyers is not catastrophic. it does tell you big money has been more cautious than enthusiastic.
Analyst rankings
short-term outlook
top 5%
momentum score 1 — the highest rating. in human-speak, analysts think CRM has a better near-term setup than almost everything else.
risk profile
average
stability score 3 means middle-of-the-road risk. not especially safe, not especially chaotic.
chart momentum
average
technical score 3 says the chart is not doing the thesis for you. the business still has to earn the rerating.
earnings predictability
25 / 100
this is the warning label. the company is large and profitable, but the quarterly path can still surprise you.
source: institutional data
Institutional activity
1,318 buyers vs. 1,480 sellers in 3q2025. total institutional holdings: 0.8B shares.
source: institutional data
Price targets
3-5 year target range
$188
$384
$227
current price
$286
target midpoint · +26% from current · 3-5yr high: $600 (+165% · 24% ann'l return)
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