Salesforce Miss Revenue Estimates, Agentforce Adoption Lags

Business software provider Salesforce forecast fiscal 2026 revenue below Wall Street expectations on Wednesday, weighed down by slower adoption of its Agentforce platform, sending shares of the company down around 5% in extended trading.

The software-as-a-service pioneer is banking heavily on AI agents to reinvigorate growth at a time when other cloud firms, including Microsoft  and Amazon, have firmly established themselves as leaders in the sector while making strides in machine learning.

The downbeat forecast indicates that the spending environment remains pressured, with enterprises withholding new financial commitments owing to still-high interest rates and economic uncertainty.

"Given how poor initial generative AI experiments were for many companies, they're not just writing blank checks until Salesforce shows them Agentforce actually works," said Rebecca Wettemann, CEO of industry analyst firm Valoir.

"The next quarter or two will be critical for Salesforce."The company expects revenue to be between $40.5 billion and $40.9 billion, compared to the average analysts' estimate of $41.35 billion, according to data compiled by LSEG.

It forecast full-year adjusted earnings per share between $11.09 and $11.17 per share, compared with analysts' estimate of $11.18 per share. Analysts have said that the company's return to double-digit growth rates hinges on the success of Agentforce — its AI agent builder platform — after it reported single-digit revenue growth in the past few quarters.

Parker Snook, senior research analyst at M Science, said that monetization for Agentforce "is maybe off to a slower start than what people have thought."The emergence of AI agents reflects a shift in the booming artificial intelligence space, as tech firms are starting to transition beyond chatbots in a move to show returns on the billions they have poured into this revolutionary technology.

The company's fourth-quarter revenue came in at $9.99 billion, missing a consensus estimate of $10.04 billion.

As reported by Reuters: Salesforce sees annual results below estimates as Agentforce adoption lags

Revenue increased 7.6% from a year ago in the quarter that ended Jan. 31, according to a statement. Net income rose to $1.71 billion, or $1.75 per share, from $1.45 billion, or $1.47 per share, a year earlier.

The top category of subscription and support revenue was service, at $2.33 billion. The figure was up about 8% and below the $2.37 billion consensus among analysts surveyed by Visible Alpha. In the sales category, Salesforce generated $2.13 billion in revenue, up 8% and also trailing Visible Alpha’s consensus of $2.17 billion.

During the quarter, the company introduced its second-generation Agentforce artificial intelligence agent technology, which answers employee questions in the Slack team communications app.

Salesforce said it has completed more than 3,000 paid deals involving Agentforce since October. Agentforce has gotten involved in 380,000 conversations through Salesforce’s help website, with humans getting involved in 2% of cases, according to the statement.

“A lot of other vendors are talking about their agent capabilities, but few are able to show that they’ve got this really running at scale,” co-founder and CEO Marc Benioff said on a conference call with analysts.

Agentforce will make a modest contribution to revenue in fiscal 2026, with a larger effect in the following year, said Amy Weaver, Salesforce’s outgoing finance chief.

Benioff referred to a forthcoming product in the area of information technology service management, where ServiceNow operates.

The U.S. Department of Government Efficiency is using Slack, Benioff said.

“We’ll work closely with the government,” he said. “We’ll do anything we can to help them succeed.”

The company called for $2.53 to $2.55 in adjusted earnings per share for the fiscal first quarter, with $9.71 billion to $9.76 billion in revenue. Analysts polled by LSEG had anticipated adjusted earnings of $2.61 per share, with $9.9 billion in revenue.

For fiscal 2026, Salesforce is targeting $11.09 to $11.17 in adjusted earnings per share on $40.5 billion to $40.9 billion in revenue, implying 7.4% growth. The LSEG consensus was for adjusted earnings per share of $11.18 on $41.35 billion in revenue.

As of Wednesday’s close, Salesforce shares are down about 8% so far in 2025, while the S&P 500 index has gained about 1%.

As reported by CNBC: Salesforce misses on revenue, issues disappointing guidance