Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) delivered stronger-than-expected fiscal second-quarter results on Wednesday, but shares dropped in after-hours and further in pre-market trading on Thursday as CEO Marc Benioff told Jim Cramer that investors are focusing too much on guidance instead of the company's AI-driven transformation.
Salesforce Beats Q2 Estimates With Strong Revenue And Profit
The cloud software giant reported revenue of $10.24 billion, topping Wall Street's consensus of $10.14 billion. Adjusted earnings came in at $2.91 per share, beating estimates of $2.78. Revenue rose 10% year-over-year, while adjusted operating margin reached 34.3%.
Salesforce ended the quarter with remaining performance obligations of $29.4 billion, up 11% from a year ago. The company also returned capital to shareholders, buying back $2.2 billion worth of stock and paying $399 million in dividends.
Cash and equivalents stood at $10.37 billion as of July 31.
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Benioff Pushes Back On Concerns About Guidance
Despite raising its full-year outlook, Salesforce's conservative third-quarter guidance weighed on investor sentiment. The company forecast third-quarter revenue between $10.24 billion and $10.29 billion, compared to estimates of $10.29 billion and projected adjusted earnings of $2.84 to $2.86 per share, versus expectations of $2.85.
Speaking with Cramer on CNBC's Mad Money, Benioff dismissed concerns over guidance.
"Our results are absolutely fantastic, and our guidance is … always appropriately conservative," he said.
He added that investors risk "missing the forest for the trees" by nitpicking short-term forecasts rather than focusing on Salesforce's long-term transformation.
The Agentic Enterprise And AI Momentum
Benioff highlighted Salesforce's vision of the "agentic enterprise," where human workers and AI-powered agents collaborate to improve efficiency. He said Salesforce has already logged about 1.5 million customer interactions handled by AI agents, matching the volume managed by human support teams, with customer satisfaction scores roughly equal.
"We've lowered our costs by 17% this year because we were able to bring in agents," Benioff said, pointing to AI's role in driving profitability.
He also noted that Salesforce's AI business is already generating over $1 billion in annual revenue, calling it the fastest-growing segment in company history.
Cramer agreed, saying investors should focus on the company's transformation rather than quarterly nitpicks. "There is great growth here. Stop looking at the stock. Start thinking about the business."
Outlook And Market Reaction
Salesforce raised its fiscal 2026 revenue guidance to a range of $41.1 billion to $41.3 billion, slightly above Wall Street's $41.2 billion estimate.
It also lifted its full-year adjusted earnings forecast to between $11.33 and $11.37 per share, versus the consensus of $11.31.
Still, shares slipped 5.58% in after-hours trading as investors weighed near-term guidance against long-term AI-driven growth. The share declined further in the pre-market trading on Thursday by 6.78%, at the time of writing, according to data from Benzinga Pro.
Benzinga's Edge Stock Rankings show that CRM continues to decline across short, medium and long-term timeframes. More detailed performance insights are available here.
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Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
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