CRM: AI Questions Not Yet Fully Answered
Here's our initial take on Salesforce's (NYSE: CRM) fourth-quarter financial report.
Key Metrics
Metric | Q4 2024 | Q4 2025 | Change | vs. Expectations |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Revenue | $9.2 billion | $9.9 billion | 7.6% | Missed |
Earnings per share | $2.29 | $2.78 | 21.4% | Beat |
Remaining performance obligations | $56.9 billion | $63.4 billion | 11% | n/a |
Free cash flow | $9.5 billion | $12.4 billion | 31% | n/a |
Strong Quarter, but Guidance Disappoints
Salesforce posted nearly 8% revenue growth and 21% growth in earnings per share in the last three months of its fiscal 2025, but the revenue number fell a bit short of expectations. The company, a maker of a range of customer management and related corporate software tools, said it was the highest-cash-flow-quarter in corporate history.
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Much of the focus these days is on Agentforce, Salesforce's AI-powered tools that are designed to solve multistep problems without human supervision. The company said since the product's rollout in October, it has closed 5,000 Agentforce deals, including more than 3,000 paid, and said that data cloud and AI annual recurring revenue was up 120% year over year.
But that surge of business does not appear to be enough to meet analyst expectations for the year to come. Salesforce guided for $40.5 billion to $40.9 billion in revenue for the fiscal year ending January 2026, slightly below the $41.5 billion Wall Street consensus.
Immediate Market Reaction
The outlook appeared to weigh heavily on investors, with Salesforce shares down as much as 6% in after-market trading immediately following the earnings release. The stock had recouped most of that decline heading into the company's call with investors.
What to Watch
Coming into earnings season, all of the attention on Salesforce was focused on the company's rollout of AI agents. Although the initial customer numbers are impressive, investors are likely to view the slightly worse-than-expectations guidance as a potential worry that the AI products are not yet delivering the revenue growth the market had hoped for.
Expect a lot of questions about the initial success of Agentforce and other AI tools and forecasts about how quickly those tools can hit the bottom line. There is also likely to be commentary about recent changes in the executive ranks and Salesforce's move earlier this month to cut about 1,000 workers.
Salesforce remains a powerful force in the world of corporate software, but investors might have to wait a few more quarters for some key initiatives to spark the company higher from here.
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Lou Whiteman has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Salesforce. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
