Salesforce, Inc.'s (NYSE:CRM) AI revolution is falling short of its promise, especially when viewed through the lens of its 2025 stock performance and the company's most recent guidance.
- CRM stock is falling. See the real-time price action here.
Salesforce stock has plunged 28% so far this year, underperforming rivals like SAP, Microsoft and Oracle, which all posted strong gains in 2025.
The stark decline reflects investors' cooling confidence in Salesforce's growth narrative and its ability to monetize AI.
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Q2 Results and Q3 Guidance
Salesforce's second-quarter results provided a mixed picture. The company posted $10.24 billion in revenue, up 10% year-over-year and topping analyst expectations by a slim margin. Adjusted earnings per share came in at $2.91, also beating estimates by 4.7%.
However, despite beating on the top and bottom lines, Salesforce issued relatively weak guidance for the current quarter.
Salesforce guided for third-quarter revenue in the range of $10.24 billion to $10.29 billion, versus estimates of $10.29 billion. The company also said it anticipates third-quarter adjusted earnings of $2.84 to $2.86 per share versus estimates of $2.85 per share.
The company did raise its annual EPS forecast, but failed to inspire investors, as shares fell immediately following the print.
Several analysts lowered price targets following the company's quarterly results, weighing further on shares.
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AI Spend
Industry analysis refers to Salesforce's AI investments as "multi-billion" dollar initiatives for 2025, closely linked to the company's Agentforce and Einstein platforms, though Salesforce has not disclosed a single detailed figure for its total AI spend this year.
Salesforce has embedded AI features across its entire platform, but acknowledges that it will take time for these large-scale investments to generate measurable returns, as seen in the muted revenue growth reflected in the latest earnings reports.
Meanwhile, analysts and investors are calling for the company to show results from the multi-billion dollar AI outlays in the quarters ahead.
At the end of the day, Salesforce's AI revolution feels like a fizzle because revenue growth is flattening and AI innovations have yet to deliver a breakout impact on its bottom line.
A similar narrative emerged at Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD). The tech firm faces slowing momentum in its AI accelerator business as customer demand proves weaker than expected, analysts say.
CRM Stock Price: Salesforce shares were down 4.7% at $244.41 at the time of publication Thursday, according to data from Benzinga Pro.
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