Salesforce topped Wall Street's second-quarter revenue and profit targets and raised its full-year forecast as demand for its AI-powered Agentforce tools grew. The company also deepened its ties with Anthropic through a new "Claudeforce" partnership that embeds Claude across its platform.
Salesforce shares popped 13% higher in extended trading on Wednesday after the software giant beat Wall Street's earnings estimates on growing demand for its agentic-AI tools. The company also unveiled an expanded partnership with Anthropic that pushes Claude deeper into its platform.
AI tools drive the quarterly beat
Salesforce posted $11.35 billion of revenue for the second quarter of fiscal 2027, growing 11% from a year before and surpassing Wall Street's estimate of $11.33 billion. Annual recurring revenue from the company's Agentforce and Data 360 products grew over 210% from a year earlier, to just shy of $3.9 billion.
According to MarketWatch: "AI is delivering value across every layer of our platform," Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff said in a statement.
Anthropic stake lifts adjusted earnings
Adjusted earnings per share of $5.90 cleared the $3.27 consensus estimate, boosted by a large paper gain on Salesforce's strategic investment in Anthropic. Stripping out that gain, adjusted earnings would be $3.37 a share. Salesforce has held the stake since investing in the AI company's Series C funding round in 2023.
The companies also expanded their relationship through a strategic partnership called "Claudeforce," which integrates Anthropic's Claude models directly into Salesforce's workplace applications, building on a June partnership that added an AI agent to Salesforce's Slack app.
Guidance points to a stronger back half
Salesforce guided for third-quarter revenue between $11.42 billion and $11.5 billion, above the $11.415 billion analysts had expected. It raised full-year guidance to a range of $46.1 billion to $46.4 billion, up from its prior outlook of $45.9 billion to $46.2 billion. Current remaining performance obligations, the value of signed contracts expected to convert into revenue within a year, reached $33.5 billion, above analysts' estimate of $33.4 billion.
The shares are down 23% so far this year, but they've risen 33% from their recent low at the end of July as stock market investors take a second look at the AI bear thesis that has gripped software names.
Sources: MarketWatch.com, Investing.com
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