Shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE: CRM) rose in early trading on Thursday, after the company reported upbeat third-quarter results on Wednesday.
Here are some key analyst takeaways:
- Canaccord Genuity analyst David Hynes maintained a Buy rating and price target of $300.
- JPMorgan analyst Mark Murphy reiterated an Overweight rating and price target of $365.
- Wedbush analyst Dan Ives reaffirmed an Outperform rating and price target of $375.
- Goldman Sachs analyst Kash Rangan maintained a Buy rating and price target of $385.
- Needham analyst Scott Berg reaffirmed a Buy rating and price target of $400.
- Guggenheim Securities analyst John DiFucci reiterated a Neutral rating on the stock.
Canaccord Genuity: Salesforce reported "pretty steady" results for the fiscal fourth quarter, with total revenue close to the midpoint of the guidance, Hynes said in a note. Revenue upside was negated by slower growth in MuleSoft and Tableau, he added.
cRPO (current remaining performance obligations) was slightly ahead of expectations, which enabled Salesforce to reiterate its full-year guidance on an organic basis, the analyst stated. The company generated $2.2 billion in free cash flows and returned $4.2 billion to shareholders, "which includes $3.8B in share repurchases and $395M in dividends," he further wrote.
JPMorgan: Salesforce's cRPO grew 11% in constant currency terms to $29.4 billion, Murphy said. Total RPO rose 12% year-on-year to $59.5 billion, supported by strong bookings and early renewals, he added.
The company delivered "one of the largest pipeline-generation quarters in recent years and net new AOV (average order value) growth exceeding total AOV growth for the first time since FY22," the analyst wrote. The company raised its fiscal 2026 total revenue guidance to $41.5 billion, from the prior outlook of $41.2 billion, he further stated.
Wedbush: Salesforce reported total revenue of $10.26 billion, up 8% year-on-year in constant currency terms, which came roughly in line with Street expectations of $10.27 billion, Ives said. Data and Agentforce ARR (annual recurring revenue) grew 114% year-on-year to $1.4 billion, "as the company sees improving deal metrics across data and AI," he added.
"More customers are turning to Agentforce with the company processing over 3.2 trillion tokens through its LLM gateway," the analyst wrote. Salesforce reported non-GAAP earnings of $3.25 per share, beating Street expectations of $2.86 per share, backed by disciplined spending despite investing into its Data and AI opportunity, he further stated.
Goldman Sachs: The strengthening AI momentum adds confidence around Salesforce delivering on its revenue reacceleration plan, Rangan said. Agentforce ARR grew 330% to $540 million, while Data 360 & Agentforce grew 114% to $1.4 billion, he added.
Paid Agentforce deals surpassing 9,500, representing 50% sequential growth, the analyst stated. "More importantly, the underlying trends are firing: NNAOV (net new annual order value) growth already outpaced AOV growth, while the company saw its largest quarter of pipeline generation to date (growing double digits)," he further wrote.
Needham: Salesforce reported better-than-expected third-quarter results, with 11.4% cRPO growth versus its guidance of 10%-11%, Berg said.
Total revenue grew 8.6% year-on-year, with subscription revenue up 9.5% and professional services revenue down 5.7%, the analyst stated. "Net New AOV is now growing faster than AOV which is a strong signal the company’s revenue growth rate should remain at least stable if not see modest upward revisions if this bookings trend is sustainable," he further wrote.
Guggenheim Securities: Salesforce reported moderating growth in subscribers and total revenue, DiFucci said. There was "a lot of bombast around AI" as well as "some confusing information" related to the acquisition of Informatica Inc (NYSE INFA) in the quarter, he added.
"CRM also disclosed a litany of Agentforce data points that don't really mean much to us, while rebranding what seems like everything as Agentforce," the analyst further wrote.
CRM Price Action: Salesforce shares were up 3.22% at $246.39 at the time of publication on Thursday, according to Benzinga Pro data.