Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Releases Q1 2027 Earnings Guidance

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) issued an update on its first quarter 2027 earnings guidance on Wednesday morning. The company provided earnings per share (EPS) guidance of 3.110-3.130 for the period, compared to the consensus estimate of 2.670. The company issued revenue guidance of $11.0 billion-$11.1 billion, compared to the consensus revenue estimate of $11.0 billion. Salesforce also updated its FY 2027 guidance to 13.110-13.190 EPS.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Salesforce from $260.00 to $200.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. Arete Research raised Salesforce to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 11th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, December 4th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Salesforce from $398.00 to $287.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Salesforce from $235.00 to $210.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have given a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Salesforce presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $288.86.

Salesforce Price Performance

NYSE CRM traded up $6.36 during trading on Thursday, reaching $198.11. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 17,332,314 shares, compared to its average volume of 12,267,692. The stock has a market capitalization of $185.63 billion, a PE ratio of 26.36, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.98. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $226.45 and a 200 day moving average of $238.86. Salesforce has a one year low of $174.57 and a one year high of $304.92.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.05 by $0.76. Salesforce had a net margin of 17.91% and a return on equity of 14.41%. The company had revenue of $11.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.18 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.78 earnings per share. Salesforce’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 13.110-13.190 EPS and its Q1 2027 guidance at 3.110-3.130 EPS. Analysts expect that Salesforce will post 7.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 9th will be paid a $0.44 dividend. This is a boost from Salesforce’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 9th. Salesforce’s payout ratio is currently 22.16%.

Insider Transactions at Salesforce

In other news, Director G Mason Morfit bought 96,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 5th. The stock was bought at an average price of $260.58 per share, for a total transaction of $25,015,680.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 2,994,509 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $780,309,155.22. This represents a 3.31% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director David Blair Kirk bought 1,936 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 17th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $258.64 per share, with a total value of $500,727.04. Following the purchase, the director owned 10,677 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,761,499.28. This represents a 22.15% increase in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q4 earnings beat and AI traction — Salesforce reported non-GAAP EPS of $3.81 (well above consensus) and revenue roughly in line with expectations; management highlighted Agentforce (agentic AI) momentum as a driver of commercial traction. Salesforce Q4 Earnings Beat
• Positive Sentiment: Big capital return boost — Management authorized a $50 billion buyback and raised the quarterly dividend (~5.8% increase), signaling confidence and supporting EPS per-share upside. CNBC: $50B Buyback
• Positive Sentiment: Upbeat FY27 EPS guide — Salesforce raised FY27 EPS guidance (13.11–13.19) and issued Q1 EPS guidance above Street estimates, suggesting margin leverage and near‑term earnings strength. Company Press Release
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst reactions mixed — Some firms (e.g., Wedbush) reiterated bullish ratings while others kept holds; the street consensus remains polarized between Buy and Hold views. TipRanks / Citi Hold
• Neutral Sentiment: Macro/sector context — Broader SaaS volatility and AI‑disruption debate continue to drive sentiment swings that can amplify moves in CRM despite company-level fundamentals. MarketBeat: SaaS sector context
• Negative Sentiment: Price-target cuts and downgrades — Multiple analysts cut targets this morning (RBC 290→210; Barclays 265→252; Stifel 300→250; BMO 235→225), which can cap upside and sustain selling pressure. Benzinga: Analyst Target Changes
• Negative Sentiment: Near-term revenue/growth concerns — Some outlets flagged guidance/revenue commentary as softer than hoped, and ongoing investor worry that AI could compress long-term SaaS pricing/usage is keeping multiple investors cautious. Proactive: Softer Revenue Reaction

Institutional Trading of Salesforce

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Gilpin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Swiss RE Ltd. purchased a new stake in Salesforce during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Birchwood Financial Partners Inc. bought a new stake in Salesforce during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Texas Capital Bancshares Inc TX purchased a new position in Salesforce in the third quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, Garton & Associates Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Salesforce in the fourth quarter worth approximately $42,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

About Salesforce

Salesforce, founded in 1999 and headquartered in San Francisco, is a global provider of cloud-based software focused on customer relationship management (CRM) and enterprise applications. The company popularized the software-as-a-service (SaaS) model for CRM and has built a broad portfolio of products designed to help organizations manage sales, service, marketing, commerce and analytics through a unified, cloud-first platform.

Core offerings include Sales Cloud for sales automation, Service Cloud for customer support, Marketing Cloud for digital marketing and engagement, and Commerce Cloud for e-commerce.