Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Issues Quarterly Earnings Results

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday. The CRM provider reported $999.00 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.12 by $995.88, Zacks reports. Salesforce had a net margin of 17.96% and a return on equity of 15.38%. Salesforce updated its FY 2027 guidance to 14.060-14.120 EPS and its Q2 2027 guidance to 3.250-3.270 EPS.

Salesforce Trading Down 0.7%

Shares of Salesforce stock traded down $1.22 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $177.86. The stock had a trading volume of 12,979,221 shares, compared to its average volume of 12,875,700. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $181.63 and a 200 day simple moving average of $211.60. The company has a market capitalization of $145.53 billion, a PE ratio of 22.77, a P/E/G ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. Salesforce has a 1 year low of $163.52 and a 1 year high of $278.81.

Key Salesforce News

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Shares are moving up ahead of earnings as traders and analysts look for signs that Salesforce can stabilize growth and reassure investors that AI will support, rather than disrupt, the enterprise software model.
• Positive Sentiment: Jefferies expects an in-line quarter and sees revenue and current remaining performance obligations rising, which supports the view that underlying demand remains solid. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: BTIG reaffirmed a Buy rating and set a $255 price target, suggesting meaningful upside if the company delivers a constructive outlook. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Some bullish commentary argues Salesforce is undervalued and that AI-related products are beginning to drive stronger monetization and cash flow, which could help sentiment if the company confirms progress on the call.
• Neutral Sentiment: Traders are expecting a large post-earnings move, so the stock may stay volatile after results as investors react to guidance more than just the headline numbers.
• Negative Sentiment: Bearish AI-related research from Bank of America highlights a key investor concern: AI could be a growth risk for Salesforce if customers shift spending patterns or adoption fails to meaningfully accelerate. Article Title

Insider Activity at Salesforce

In other news, Director Laura Alber bought 2,571 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 19th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $194.58 per share, with a total value of $500,265.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 9,530 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,854,347.40. The trade was a 36.94% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director David Blair Kirk bought 2,570 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 18th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $194.62 per share, for a total transaction of $500,173.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 13,689 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,664,153.18. This represents a 23.11% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Company insiders own 3.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Compound Planning Inc. grew its position in Salesforce by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Compound Planning Inc. now owns 17,781 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $4,710,000 after acquiring an additional 135 shares in the last quarter. Birchwood Financial Partners Inc. bought a new stake in Salesforce in the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. Corient Private Wealth LLC grew its position in Salesforce by 84.9% in the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 773,553 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $204,922,000 after acquiring an additional 355,108 shares in the last quarter. Strive Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in Salesforce during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $158,000. Finally, Blue Sparrow LLC DE acquired a new position in Salesforce during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $18,862,000. 80.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on CRM. KeyCorp dropped their price target on shares of Salesforce from $400.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Salesforce from $365.00 to $320.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on shares of Salesforce from $300.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Salesforce from $235.00 to $210.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their target price on shares of Salesforce from $223.00 to $194.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have given a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $274.12.

Salesforce declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Monday, March 16th that permits the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the CRM provider to purchase up to 14.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

About Salesforce

Salesforce, founded in 1999 and headquartered in San Francisco, is a global provider of cloud-based software focused on customer relationship management (CRM) and enterprise applications. The company popularized the software-as-a-service (SaaS) model for CRM and has built a broad portfolio of products designed to help organizations manage sales, service, marketing, commerce and analytics through a unified, cloud-first platform.

Core offerings include Sales Cloud for sales automation, Service Cloud for customer support, Marketing Cloud for digital marketing and engagement, and Commerce Cloud for e-commerce.