Will Agentforce Help Salesforce Stay Ahead in the Enterprise AI Race?

Written By Michael Gary Scott

Salesforce, Inc. CRM is making a strong push to establish Agentforce as a leading enterprise artificial intelligence (AI) platform. The company is moving beyond traditional customer relationship management (CRM) solution provider by using AI agents to automate sales, service and other business tasks. Early adoption suggests Agentforce could become an important growth engine for Salesforce.

The numbers are encouraging. In the first quarter of fiscal 2027, Agentforce annual recurring revenues (ARR) reached $1.2 billion, up 205% year over year. Combined Agentforce and Data 360 ARR came in at $3.4 billion, more than doubling from the year-ago period. Salesforce also processed 28.6 trillion AI tokens, up 152% sequentially, while Agentic Work Units increased 111% to 3.8 billion. These figures show that customer engagement with its AI platform is rising rapidly.

Salesforce also has the advantage of its large installed customer base. More than 50% of Agentforce and Data 360 bookings in the first quarter came from existing customers. This gives the company an opportunity to increase spending per customer by connecting AI agents with CRM data and business applications.

The broader financial picture remains solid. Salesforce generated $11.13 billion in first-quarter revenues, up 13% year over year, while current Remaining Performance Obligation (cRPO) increased 14% to $33.6 billion. The company raised the lower end of its fiscal 2027 revenue guidance to $45.9-$46.2 billion from $45.8-$46.2 billion, reflecting confidence in continued demand.

Salesforce’s major rivals, including Microsoft Corporation MSFT and Oracle Corporation ORCL, are also investing heavily in the enterprise AI space, making competition intense. However, strong ARR growth, rising AI usage and deep CRM integration give Agentforce a credible chance to keep Salesforce near the front of the enterprise AI race. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for fiscal 2027 revenues is currently pegged at $46.09 billion, indicating year-over-year growth of about 11%.

How Salesforce’s Rivals Are Raising Stake in Enterprise AI

Microsoft is a formidable rival because it can combine Azure, Microsoft 365, Dynamics and Copilot across a huge enterprise customer base. In the fourth quarter of fiscal 2026, its total revenues grew 18% year over year to $90 billion, up 18%, while Microsoft Cloud revenues climbed 27% to $59.3 billion.

Azure and other cloud services revenues jumped 43%, while paid Microsoft 365 Copilot users topped 30 million. These figures show that Microsoft is already turning AI adoption into large-scale cloud and software revenues.

Oracle is taking a different route by combining its databases, cloud infrastructure and enterprise applications with AI capabilities. In the fourth quarter of fiscal 2026, Oracle’s total revenues increased 21% year over year to $19.2 billion.

Fourth-quarter cloud revenues jumped 47% year over year to $9.9 billion, with Oracle Cloud Infrastructure revenues soaring 93% to $5.8 billion. This rapid cloud expansion gives Oracle a strong platform for delivering AI agents to enterprise customers.

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Salesforce faces two very different but powerful rivals. Microsoft brings unmatched scale and Copilot adoption, while Oracle has strong enterprise data and cloud infrastructure. Agentforce’s success will depend on whether Salesforce can maintain its rapid adoption and convert AI usage into sustained customer spending.

Salesforce’s Price Performance, Valuation and Estimates

Shares of Salesforce have plunged 26% year to date, while the Zacks Internet – Software industry has fallen 3.5%.

Salesforce YTD Price Return Performance

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Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

From a valuation standpoint, CRM trades at a forward price-to-earnings ratio of 13.19, significantly below the industry’s average of 27.76.

Salesforce Forward 12-Month P/E Ratio

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Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Salesforce’s fiscal 2027 and 2028 earnings implies a year-over-year increase of approximately 13.1% and 9.3%, respectively. Estimates for fiscal 2027 earnings have been revised upward in the past 30 days, while estimates have been revised downward for fiscal 2028 over the same time frame.

Zacks Investment Research
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

Salesforce currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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