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Salesforce shares popped 5% on Friday after the company posted better-than-expected third quarter earnings on Wednesday despite falling short of Wall Street’s revenue estimates.
The stock, which is up 13% over the past five days, is aiming for its best week since 2023.
The company reported an adjusted earnings per share of $3.25, topping Wall Street’s estimates of $2.86 per share. Revenue did increase 8.6% year over year to $10.26 billion but just missed analyst projections of $10.27 billion.
Although the artificial intelligence boom has pushed several tech companies into record surges, cloud software firms have seen a rocky year as investors wonder whether AI will render the industry obsolete.
Salesforce is hoping to convince Wall Street that AI will be able to bolster its products rather than replace them.
Investors “somehow think software companies are under arrest from AI, when the opposite is true,” Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff told CNBC’s Jim Cramer on Thursday.
During the third quarter, the company acquired startups Regrello and Waii, which uses AI to generate code with natural language instructions.
Despite Salesforce’s shares being down 21% year to date, compared to the Nasdaq’s 22% gain, analysts are more optimistic for 2026.
“CRM continues to be levered to digital transformation, and we expect the company to grow at a solid rate going forward,” Mizuho analysts wrote. “At the same time, we believe CRM will remain fiscally disciplined and that it can continue to drive higher operating and FCF margins.”
Analysts highlighted Salesforce’s AI platform Agentforce, which builds agents that automates business tasks and streamline workflow.
Despite initial investor skepticism over the platform, Cantor analysts were encouraged by its strong adoption in the customer service space.
“We think CRM is starting to formalize and mature the strategy, which should make it easier for customers to understand, and therefore adopt, Agentforce,” the Cantor analysts wrote.
Annual recurring revenue of Agentforce, jumped 330% year over year to $540 million.
“Why everyone is so excited about Agentforce is because this is what AI was meant to be,” Benioff said. “It brings together humans and data and AI and apps, and delivers an incredible experience for companies.”
WATCH: Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff goes one-on-one with Jim Cramer
