Salesforce’s latest earnings report turned a nervy year for CRM investors into a genuine “AI is working” moment on 3 December 2025, as the cloud giant delivered record third‑quarter fiscal 2026 results, raised its full‑year outlook and credited its Agentforce and Data 360 AI platforms for the momentum. [1]
According to reports from CNBC and Bloomberg, Salesforce’s revenue guidance for the current quarter and fiscal year came in ahead of Wall Street expectations, a sign that customers are finally buying into the company’s AI tools at scale. [2]
Salesforce Q3 2026 Earnings: By the Numbers
For the quarter ended 31 October 2025 (Salesforce’s fiscal Q3 2026), the company reported: [3]
- Total revenue: About $10.3 billion, up 9% year over year
- Subscription & support revenue: $9.7 billion, up 10% year over year
- Adjusted (non‑GAAP) EPS: $3.25, versus analyst estimates broadly in the $2.58–$2.86 range, delivering a sizable beat
- GAAP EPS: Around $2.66, which missed one consensus estimate by $0.19 per share, underlining the gap between GAAP and adjusted profitability [4]
- GAAP operating margin: 21.3%
- Non‑GAAP operating margin: 35.5%
- Operating cash flow: $2.3 billion, up 17%
- Free cash flow: $2.2 billion, up 22%
A key forward‑looking metric, current remaining performance obligation (cRPO) – essentially contracted future revenue due within 12 months – climbed to $29.4 billion, 11% higher than a year ago. Total remaining performance obligation rose to $59.5 billion, up 12%. [5]
The company also continued to lean into shareholder returns, sending $4.2 billion back to investors in the quarter, mostly via $3.8 billion of share repurchases, with the rest paid as dividends. [6]
AI Bets Begin to Pay Off: Agentforce and Data 360
If Q3 had a starring role, it wasn’t just revenue — it was AI. Salesforce has spent the last two years repositioning itself as “the world’s #1 AI CRM” and pitching the idea of the “agentic enterprise”, in which AI agents automate workflows across sales, service, marketing and more. [7]
The latest results suggest that narrative is finally matching the numbers: [8]
- Agentforce + Data 360 ARR (annual recurring revenue) reached nearly $1.4 billion, growing about 114% year over year
- Agentforce alone surpassed $500 million in ARR, up roughly 330% year over year
- Salesforce has now closed over 18,500 Agentforce deals, including more than 9,500 paid deals, with paid accounts up around 50% quarter on quarter
- Agentforce has processed over 3.2 trillion tokens through Salesforce’s large‑language‑model gateway
- Data 360 ingested about 32 trillion records in the quarter, up more than 100% year over year, with particularly explosive growth in “Zero Copy” data ingestion and unstructured data processing
Roughly half of Agentforce and Data 360 bookings came from existing Salesforce customers expanding their usage, a critical proof‑point that AI is deepening relationships rather than simply attracting new pilots. [9]
That traction matters because investors have been openly skeptical in 2025. CRM shares were down close to 29–30% year to date heading into this report, and analysts repeatedly questioned whether Salesforce’s AI story was more hype than revenue. [10]
Raised 2026 Outlook Signals Confidence
The second big headline from 3 December: Salesforce raised its full‑year fiscal 2026 guidance.
From the company’s updated outlook and multiple analyst summaries: [11]
- FY26 revenue guidance increased to $41.45–$41.55 billion, implying 9–10% growth and edging past prior guidance and consensus forecasts
- The guidance includes an estimated 0.8 percentage‑point contribution from the recently acquired Informaticadata‑management business
- FY26 non‑GAAP operating margin guidance was maintained at about 34.1%, while GAAP margin guidance ticked up to around 20.3%
- Operating cash‑flow growth for the full year is now projected at 13–14%
- For Q4, Salesforce expects revenue of roughly $11.1–$11.2 billion, above analysts’ roughly $10.9–$11.0 billionrange
- Management also guided to double‑digit growth in cRPO in Q4, around 15%, comfortably ahead of earlier expectations [12]
This is the piece Bloomberg zeroed in on: the strong revenue outlook for the current period topped analyst estimates, suggesting that customers are moving from pilot projects to production‑scale AI deployments, especially around Agentforce. [13]
How the Stock Reacted: Relief Rally After a Brutal Year
Wall Street, which had largely left CRM “for dead” in AI‑winner conversations this year, reacted quickly.
- Shares climbed about 5–6% in after‑hours trading, with some reports pegging the post‑market price around $251–252, after closing the regular session in the high‑$230s. [14]
- Even after the pop, the stock remains nearly 30% below where it started 2025, reflecting months of skepticism around growth and AI execution. [15]
Some outlets, including MarketBeat, emphasised that on a GAAP EPS basis Salesforce actually missed consensus by $0.19, highlighting that the earnings “beat” narrative rests primarily on the stronger‑than‑expected adjusted results and outlook. [16]
Still, for investors who had watched CRM underperform the wider market and other perceived AI leaders, a clean quarter on cash flow, margins and forward guidance was exactly the kind of catalyst they’d been waiting for.
Why This Quarter Matters for Salesforce’s AI Narrative
Going into the print, a wave of previews framed Q3 as a “low‑bar but high‑stakes” test: growth expectations were modest, but the credibility of Salesforce’s AI story was on the line. TechStock²+2TradingView+2
Several dynamics make this quarter especially important:
- From AI hype to AI revenue
- Earlier in 2025, commentaries questioned whether the agentic AI market was getting crowded and whether Salesforce’s Agentforce adoption was underwhelming relative to its huge installed base. [17]
- Crossing $500M in Agentforce ARR and nearly $1.4B including Data 360 gives Salesforce concrete numbers to point to, not just demos and conference slides. [18]
- Proof that the “agentic enterprise” vision resonates
- Tech analysts have described Salesforce’s strategy as moving from classic SaaS to a “service‑as‑software” model in which AI agents deliver full business outcomes, not just features. [19]
- The rapid growth in Data 360 records and Agentforce tokens processed suggests customers are starting to plug real workloads – and real data – into that stack. [20]
- Margin story still intact
- Even as growth stays in the high‑single‑digit range, Salesforce continues to deliver mid‑30s non‑GAAP operating margins and rising free cash flow, reinforcing its long‑term framework of reaching $60+ billion in organic revenue and a combined growth‑plus‑margin “rule of 50” by FY2030. [21]
In short, Q3 doesn’t magically restore Salesforce to its hyper‑growth days, but it does show that the AI strategy can move the needle on both top line and sentiment.
Key Risks Still on the Radar
Despite the upbeat tone from CNBC, Bloomberg and others, today’s numbers don’t erase all concerns. Analysts and investors will still be watching several pressure points closely: [22]
- Slowing core growth: Revenue is growing at around 8–10%, far from the 20%+ clip Salesforce used to enjoy. Critics worry AI may not be enough to re‑accelerate growth meaningfully.
- Competitive AI landscape: Microsoft, Oracle, Adobe and a swarm of startups are also pushing agentic and data‑centric AI offerings, often deeply integrated with their own clouds.
- Execution risk on Agentforce deployments: Turning thousands of pilots into high‑value, repeatable production projects requires deep services work and partner alignment — areas where delays could quickly cool momentum.
- Integration of Informatica: While the acquisition boosts data and AI capabilities (and adds a bit to revenue guidance), it also adds integration complexity and potential culture and product overlap. [23]
What to Watch Next
For investors, customers and partners, the Q3 2026 report sets up several clear milestones over the next few quarters: [24]
- Agentforce adoption curve
- Growth in paid Agentforce deals and ARR will be a primary indicator of whether AI becomes a durable second engine of growth or just a helpful add‑on.
- Data 360 consumption and ecosystem
- Watch how quickly customers increase data volumes, and how partners build on top of Data 360 and Agentforce. High‑margin platform revenue here could offset slower growth in legacy CRM modules.
- cRPO and large‑deal momentum
- With guidance calling for faster cRPO growth in Q4, any slowdown in multi‑year, multi‑cloud deals could signal macro pressure or competitive wins by rivals.
- Margins vs. reinvestment
- Management has promised both strong margins and renewed innovation. How aggressively Salesforce chooses to reinvest AI gains into R&D and go‑to‑market will influence medium‑term EPS trajectories.
- Market sentiment shift
- CRM has lagged many AI‑branded peers through most of 2025. If this quarter marks a sustained rerating — rather than a one‑day relief rally — it could change the narrative from “left behind” to “late but real AI winner.” [25]
For now, though, the verdict from 3 December is clear: Salesforce beat the earnings bar, raised the outlook and finally put hard numbers behind its AI ambitions.
References
1. investor.salesforce.com, 2. www.linkedin.com, 3. investor.salesforce.com, 4. www.marketbeat.com, 5. investor.salesforce.com, 6. investor.salesforce.com, 7. siliconangle.com, 8. investor.salesforce.com, 9. investor.salesforce.com, 10. www.marketwatch.com, 11. investor.salesforce.com, 12. fintel.io, 13. www.bloomberg.com, 14. fintel.io, 15. www.marketwatch.com, 16. www.marketbeat.com, 17. www.salesforceben.com, 18. investor.salesforce.com, 19. siliconangle.com, 20. investor.salesforce.com, 21. investor.salesforce.com, 22. www.tradingview.com, 23. www.investors.com, 24. investor.salesforce.com, 25. 247wallst.com
