Salesforce beats on earnings but posts light full-year guidance
The SaaS company posted results for the fourth quarter and full 2026 fiscal year on Wednesday.
Salesforce reported fourth-quarter earnings for fiscal year 2026 after the bell Wednesday, beating analysts’ earnings expectations but providing light full-year 2027 guidance. The company posted:
Adjusted earnings per share of $3.81, beating Wall Street’s expectation of $3.05.
Revenue of $11.2 billion, in line with the FactSet consensus estimate of $11.19 billion.
Revenue guidance for fiscal year 2027 of $45.80 billion to $46.20 billion and adjusted EPS of $13.11 to $13.19, which is potentially lower than the $46.1 billion in revenue and $13.12 EPS analysts had expected.
The stock is down over 4% after-hours.
Reflecting its “strong trajectory,” Salesforce authorized a $50 billion share buyback and increased its dividend by nearly 6% to $0.44 per share.
“Salesforce delivered a record Q4 as our customers’ shift to the Agentic Enterprise surges, fueling NNAOV acceleration in H2 FY26,” Robin Washington, Salesforce president and chief financial officer, said in the press release.
Fourth-quarter GAAP operating margins fell to 16.7% from 18.2% a year earlier, in part due to higher stock-based compensation and increased amortization of acquisition-related costs.
On the earnings call today, investors will be looking for more information on adoption of its AI offerings, which have been suffering from narrative headwinds.
After rallying last quarter, Salesforce shares have fallen about 30% year to date as investors weigh how advances in AI — including new enterprise-focused features from companies like Anthropic — could threaten parts of its core business. A number of analysts have cut price targets amid these concerns.
Still, some bulls say the sell-off is overdone. Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives has called it a buying opportunity, arguing that entrenched incumbents like Salesforce are well positioned to monetize AI among their existing user base.
Recent commentary from Anthropic’s own AI event suggests a more nuanced outcome. As Deutsche Bank wrote afterward, “We have even greater conviction that model providers are unlikely to displace software incumbents and are instead positioning themselves and their agents to be an orchestration layer on top of existing and incumbent systems.”
