Salesforce revenue forecast disappoints amid AI disruption fears

Salesforce revenue forecast disappoints amid AI disruption fears Juby Babu Wed, May 27, 2026 at 10:08 PM GMT+2 2 min read CRM ANTH. PVT By Juby Babu May 27 (Reuters) - Salesforce forecast second-quarter revenue below Wall Street estimates on Wednesday, as concerns over AI-driven disruption to ‌traditional software demand overshadowed its stronger-than-expected performance in the first ‌quarter. Shares of the business software provider were marginally down in volatile extended trading.

They have ​declined nearly 33% so far this year, after falling more than 20% in 2025. Like its peers, Salesforce is also contending with growing investor concerns that rapidly evolving AI tools could pull enterprise clients away from traditional software ‌by taking over tasks ⁠once done by their products. Advanced coding tools by Anthropic and OpenAI have contributed to a recent selloff in software ⁠stocks, ushering in what Wall Street is calling a "SaaSpocalypse" — a term reflecting the gloom around software-as-a-service companies.

Salesforce expects second-quarter revenue to be between $11. 27 billion and $11. 35 ​billion, below ​analysts' average estimate of $11.

36 billion, according ​to data compiled by LSEG. "The ‌next few quarters will be critical to Salesforce, both to show the value its core customers are getting from per-seat licenses and its Agentforce customers are getting from AI," said Rebecca Wettemann, CEO of industry analyst firm Valoir. Salesforce is trying to reinvent itself as an AI-agent company through ‌its Agentforce autonomous agent platform — still a ​small business.

It posted an adjusted per-share profit ​of $3. 88 during the first ​quarter, beating the estimate of $3. 12.

Salesforce reported revenue of $11. 13 billion for ‌the quarter ended April 30, ​surpassing the estimate of $11. 05 ​billion, supported by strong adoption of its AI-powered business software.

The company secured 98 new deals with over $1 million in annual contract value ​in the quarter, ‌CEO Marc Benioff said on a post-earnings call. Quarterly subscription and support ​revenue grew 14%, also topping expectations.