Key Highlights

● Revenue reached a record $11.345 billion, up 11% year on year in the quarter.

● Agentforce and Data 360 annual Recurring Revenue neared $3.9 billion, up more than 210%.

● GAAP Diluted Earnings per Share were $4.29, boosted by $2.43 of Investment gains.

● Fiscal 2027 revenue guidance was raised to $46.1 billion to $46.4 billion.

Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) reported second-quarter fiscal 2027 results on 26 August 2026 for the quarter ended 31 July. The company described it as a record period, with revenue of $11.345 billion, up 11% year on year. The part of the report that explains the interest, however, is not the headline total but the contribution from agentic artificial intelligence products and from the Informatica acquisition, which together are reshaping how the Business is described.

The business and its sector

Salesforce sells cloud-based software for customer relationship management, covering sales, service, marketing, commerce and analytics, and increasingly charges for AI agents that carry out tasks inside those applications. The company also owns Slack, Tableau and MuleSoft and, following the Informatica deal, a data management business that sits alongside its Data 360 platform.

Most revenue is subscription based, which is why investors focus on remaining performance obligations, a measure of contracted revenue yet to be recognised. Enterprise software is a crowded sector in which Salesforce competes with Microsoft, Oracle, SAP, ServiceNow and many specialists, and in which every vendor is now positioning AI features as a reason to renew and expand contracts.

What the second-quarter results showed

Subscription and support revenue was $10.82 billion, up 12%. Revenue included $456 million contributed by Informatica, so part of the growth reflects Acquisition rather than organic expansion. Current remaining performance obligation, which covers contracted revenue due in the next twelve months, reached $33.5 billion, up 14%, while total remaining performance obligation was $66.3 billion, up 11%.

Profitability improved. GAAP Operating Margin was 20.5% and non-GAAP operating margin was 34.1%. GAAP diluted earnings per share were $4.29, up 119%, and non-GAAP earnings per share were $5.90, up 103%. The company stated that strategic investment gains contributed $2.43 to GAAP earnings per share, so a large share of the GAAP increase did not come from operations. Operating Cash Flow was $1.3 billion, up 71%, and free cash flow was $1.1 billion, up 81%.

Salesforce reported Agentforce and Data 360 annual recurring revenue of nearly $3.9 billion, up more than 210%, with Agentforce alone above $1.5 billion, up more than 240%.

Capital returns and outlook

During the quarter the company paid $364 million in dividends and continued to execute a $25 billion accelerated share repurchase, with final settlement expected in October 2026. For the third quarter, management guides revenue of $11.42 billion to $11.5 billion and non-GAAP earnings per share of $3.42 to $3.44. For fiscal 2027 it raised revenue guidance to $46.1 billion to $46.4 billion, and it expects non-GAAP operating margin of 34.3%. These are management forecasts and may differ from final outcomes.

Chief executive Marc Benioff said the company had delivered one of its best quarters ever, outperforming across every key metric.

Risks and uncertainties

Several uncertainties accompany the figures. Growth of 11% includes acquired revenue, so the organic rate is lower and depends on how well Informatica is integrated. Agentic AI revenue is growing quickly from a small base, but its durability depends on customers moving from pilots to wide deployment. Competition from larger platform vendors and AI-native start-ups could pressure pricing, and GAAP earnings can be distorted by investment gains that may not recur. The size of the buyback also reduces the cash reserves available, although the company generated more than $1 billion of free cash flow in the quarter.

Agentforce's Next Growth Test

The next points of reference are the settlement of the accelerated repurchase in October, the third-quarter report and the pace of Agentforce growth against the 210% rate reported. Also relevant will be whether current remaining performance obligation growth holds near the roughly 14% management has guided, and whether the improved margin is sustained as the company invests in AI capacity.