In 2025, Salesforce shares fell by nearly 21% as investor favor shifted toward pure-play AI companies. Despite ongoing investments in artificial intelligence, the CRM specialist’s revenue growth in the first three quarters remained in the low single digits, falling short of market expectations for high-growth cloud businesses. Profitability metrics also underwhelmed, with non-GAAP operating margins expanding only modestly year-over-year and trailing peers in the enterprise software sector. This combination of tepid top-line gains and modest margin improvements reinforced the narrative that Salesforce was lagging in the AI race, weighing heavily on its valuation throughout the year.

Investor sentiment improved sharply in late 2025 following two key developments. In October, Salesforce unveiled Agentforce 360, a next-generation AI platform designed to integrate generative intelligence across sales, service, marketing and commerce workflows. Initial customer pilots reported automation of up to 30% of routine service inquiries and a 20% lift in lead-to-opportunity conversion rates. Shortly thereafter, the company delivered a better-than-expected Q3 fiscal 2026 report, beating consensus on both revenue and adjusted EBITDA. Management raised full-year guidance for subscription revenue growth to a range of 12%–14%, and forecasted free cash flow exceeding $8 billion, reinforcing confidence in the firm’s ability to balance growth and profitability going into 2026.

In January 2026, Salesforce secured a 10-year, $5.6 billion Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract with the U.S. Army through its national security subsidiary. The deal will deploy the Missionforce suite to support logistics, personnel management and real-time analytics for defense operations. The contract is expected to shorten procurement cycles from months to days and integrate advanced AI capabilities into mission-critical systems. This award builds on a decade-long relationship with the Department of Defense and positions Salesforce as a strategic partner in government digital transformation, potentially unlocking additional contracts across other branches and bolstering long-term revenue visibility.