The performance is not bad, the buyback is even more aggressive, and the AI story has become more specific, but Salesforce has still not dispelled the market's deep concerns about AI disrupting the traditional software industry.
On February 25 local time, Salesforce released its financial report for the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2026 and held a conference call. The company's quarterly revenue reached $11.12 billion, a year-on-year increase of 12%, which is basically in line with market expectations. The annual recurring revenue from Agentforce surged 169% year-on-year to $800 million. At the same time, the company announced a $50 billion stock buyback plan and raised its quarterly dividend, with management characterizing this as &#34;an excellent buying opportunity.&#34;
However, the guidance for the full-year organic subscription revenue growth rate is only 8%, below the 10% threshold expected by investors, leaving doubts in the market about whether Salesforce can regain growth momentum in the AI era. Since the beginning of this year, Salesforce's stock price has fallen by 25%, and the entire software sector continues to be under pressure from the narrative of AI disruption.
The company's stock price fell about 5% after hours on Wednesday.
<img src="https://imageproxy.pbkrs.com/https://wpimg-wscn.awtmt.com/1f9b5ce7-609e-4723-b88e-af91ee7c5b6f.png?x-oss-process=image/auto-orient,1/interlace,1/resize,w_1440,h_1440/quality,q_95/format,jpg" alt="" original-src="https://imageproxy.pbkrs.com/https://wpimg-wscn.awtmt.com/1f9b5ce7-609e-4723-b88e-af91ee7c5b6f.png"/>
<h2>Conference Call Responds to &#34;AI Impact&#34;</h2>
In response to the core concern of &#34;Will AI make SaaS replaceable?&#34;, Salesforce introduced a new AI measurement unit: &#34;Agentic Work Units&#34; (AWU), defined as each independent task completed by an AI agent. The company stated that it has consumed nearly 20 trillion tokens to date and delivered 2.4 billion AWUs.
Mike Spencer, Vice President of Investor Relations, explained: &#34;Tokens are just the number of times you 'hit' the large model, but they do not necessarily represent value created for customers.&#34; The implication is that rather than measuring AI by &#34;how many words were calculated,&#34; it is better to prove billable value by &#34;how much work was done for customers.&#34;
CEO Marc Benioff also emphasized in the earnings press release: &#34;Agentic AI is a tailwind for our business, and we are steadily moving towards our revenue target of $63 billion for fiscal year 2030.&#34;
He directly countered the &#34;SaaS apocalypse theory&#34; during the conference call: &#34;If there really is a 'SaaSpocalypse,' I think it might be eaten by 'SaaSquatch'—because many companies are using SaaS, and 'agent as a service' makes SaaS stronger.&#34;
Benioff candidly addressed the current stock price performance, stating, &#34;I have never seen such performance, but this is clearly not a rational market,&#34; and characterized this large-scale buyback as &#34;an excellent buying opportunity.&#34;
<h2>Steady Performance, Key Indicators Exceed Expectations</h2>
Salesforce's fourth-quarter revenue was $11.12 billion, a year-on-year increase of 12%, which is basically in line with the FactSet market consensus expectation of $11.19 billion, including a contribution of $399 million from Informatica, which was acquired last year
Leading indicators also show positive performance. The current remaining performance obligations (cRPO), representing expected revenue for the next year, reached $35.1 billion, exceeding the market consensus expectation of $34.5 billion, a year-on-year increase of 16%; total remaining performance obligations (RPO) amounted to $72.4 billion, a year-on-year increase of 14%.
For the current quarter, the company provided a revenue guidance of $11.03 billion to $11.08 billion, slightly above analysts' expectations of $11.01 billion. The total revenue expectation range for the full fiscal year 2027 is $45.8 billion to $46.2 billion, representing an approximate growth of 10% to 11% compared to the previous fiscal year's $41.5 billion, which includes about 3 percentage points contributed by Informatica.
<h2>Growth Concerns Persist, Organic Growth Becomes Key</h2>
Despite the overall robust data, the company's Chief Financial Officer Robin Washington admitted during the conference call that revenue growth was hampered by &#34;continued weakness in marketing and commercial business&#34; and &#34;Tableau's performance falling short of expectations.&#34;
The full-year organic subscription revenue growth guidance is only 8%, becoming the biggest disappointment for the market. Evercore ISI analyst Kirk Materne wrote in a post-earnings report, &#34;Given that the organic subscription guidance is only 8%, the slight decline in after-hours stock price is not surprising.&#34; He added that a rebound in organic subscription growth to 10% will be key for Salesforce to rebuild investor confidence.
Management indicated that organic revenue growth is expected to accelerate in the second half of this fiscal year. The company's President and CFO Washington stated that the $50 billion stock repurchase plan reflects the company's &#34;commitment to continuously create significant value for shareholders,&#34; and the quarterly dividend has also been raised by nearly 6% to $0.44 per share

CLOU

CRMG

Salesforce's Q4 revenue reached USD 11.02 billion, a year-on-year increase of 12%, with remaining performance obligations exceeding expectations at USD 35.1 billion, and announced a massive USD 50 billion buyback to boost stock prices. The CEO strongly criticized the market panic over "AI disrupting SaaS" during the conference call as highly irrational, but the company's growth guidance for the next fiscal year is only 8%, falling short of investors' high expectations. The company's stock price still fell nearly 5% in after-hours trading

- Salesforce reported Q4 fiscal 2026 revenue of $11.12 billion, a 12% year-on-year increase, aligning closely with market expectations.  
- Despite its strong performance and a $50 billion stock buyback plan, concerns linger about the company's ability to sustain growth, particularly with an organic subscription revenue growth forecast of only 8%.  
- CEO Marc Benioff emphasized confidence in future prospects, asserting that the integration of AI will enhance their services, yet stock prices significantly dropped following the announcement.

Wallstreetcn

Steady performance, conference call explains "AI impact," "SaaS giant" Salesforce stock price still plummets