Salesforce

Salesforce’s stock rose 5% on Friday, extending a 13% gain over five days after the company posted Q3 adjusted earnings of $3.25 per share (vs. $2.86 estimate) and revenue of $10.26 billion, just below forecasts. CEO Marc Benioff emphasized AI as a growth driver, highlighted acquisitions of Regrello and Waii, and pointed to the Agentforce platform, whose ARR jumped 330% to $540 million. Analysts are optimistic about Salesforce’s AI‑enhanced roadmap, cost discipline, and potential to lead the cloud‑software sector.

U.S. equities were flat as mixed labor data left markets cautious and overbought. Meta jumped ~4% after cutting its metaverse unit to focus on ads and AI, while Costco’s comparable sales fell slightly, keeping its valuation high despite solid same‑store growth. Salesforce beat earnings but missed revenue forecasts, flagging AI‑driven pressure on its licensing model. Cramer highlighted Snowflake, Five Below, Hormel, PayPal and Kroger as potential movers, and his charitable trust remains long on META, CRM and COST. Trade alerts face mandatory 45‑minute and 72‑hour waiting periods before execution.

Salesforce’s fiscal Q3 beat EPS expectations ($3.25 vs. $2.86) with $10.26 bn revenue, an 8.6% YoY rise, and net income up to $2.09 bn aided by a $263 m investment gain. The company highlighted accelerated cloud adoption for Tableau and MuleSoft, and forecast FY Q4 revenue of $11.13‑$11.23 bn with adjusted EPS of $3.02‑$3.04. Growth is driven by AI‑focused acquisitions (Regrello, Waii), the new Agentforce platform, and the $8 bn Informatica deal. Despite a 29% stock decline this year, free cash flow grew 22% to $2.18 bn, though below consensus.

This Monday’s focus is on Salesforce (CRM) and Goldman Sachs (GS). Analysts have mixed views on Salesforce’s future due to concerns about AI’s impact, despite reaffirming “Buy” ratings. CRM’s stock is down 29% YTD, highlighting investor uncertainty. Goldman Sachs is dominating M&A, capturing a 34% market share and advising on significant deals. GS is on track for its best M&A performance in 25 years, with its stock up nearly 35% YTD. The key is if GS can maintain dominance amidst evolving economic conditions.

HubSpot appointed Meta’s Clara Shih, a business AI expert, to its Board, signaling a renewed focus on AI integration. Shih, formerly CEO of Salesforce AI, brings extensive experience in developing AI-powered business tools. This move comes as HubSpot aims to demonstrate AI’s transformative potential to investors amid concerns about AI’s disruptive impact and decelerating revenue growth. HubSpot has also introduced AI tools and acquired XFunnel, reinforcing its commitment to AI-driven marketing and sales solutions. The appointment underscores HubSpot’s strategic push to leverage AI for efficiency and sustained expansion.

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff apologized after suggesting the National Guard for San Francisco security, a proposal sparked by concerns raised by President Trump and amplified by a *New York Times* article. The initial comments drew criticism from local officials, Governor Newsom, and led to Ron Conway’s resignation from the Salesforce Foundation board, citing value misalignment. This ignited debate about federal intervention and San Francisco’s progressive values, intensified by comments from David Sacks and Elon Musk, highlighting Silicon Valley’s intersection with national politics. Benioff now affirms safety is the city’s responsibility.

Salesforce is aggressively countering growth concerns with an ambitious long-term financial roadmap presented at Dreamforce. The company projects $60 billion in annual revenue for fiscal year 2030 and aims for at least 10% average annual organic revenue growth between fiscal years 2026 and 2030. Key to this strategy is leveraging AI, particularly through Agentforce, and focusing on core offerings. While some analysts remain cautious, others have reiterated buy ratings, reflecting renewed investor optimism in Salesforce’s ability to navigate the evolving tech landscape and achieve its targets.

Salesforce projects revenue exceeding $60 billion by 2030, aiming to reassure investors amid growth concerns. This excludes the Informatica acquisition, expected to enhance data integration. While targeting over 10% organic growth, Salesforce faces skepticism due to AI code generation tools. CEO Benioff downplays AI’s imminent takeover, emphasizing human expertise. The company is focusing on its Agentforce software to automate customer service, despite slow early adoption. Partnerships with Anthropic and OpenAI aim to bolster Agentforce’s AI capabilities, showcased at Dreamforce with implementations at companies like FedEx and PepsiCo.

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff highlighted the company’s focus on generative AI at the World Economic Forum in Davos, 2025. Salesforce is strengthening its generative AI strategy by partnering with prominent AI developers. This move aims to alleviate investor anxieties regarding increasing competition in the AI sector and the significant impact of artificial intelligence on business.

Salesforce is aggressively pursuing generative AI partnerships with companies like OpenAI and Anthropic to integrate AI models into its Agentforce 360 software. This aims to address investor concerns about AI competition impacting Salesforce’s core business. The integration enhances customer service capabilities by automating interactions and providing real-time insights. Despite these efforts, Salesforce shares have underperformed. Other companies like Atlassian and Microsoft are also forging similar AI partnerships. Salesforce plans to facilitate transactions within ChatGPT and focus Anthropic collaboration on regulated industries.