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Salesforce (CRM) is modestly higher after reporting its Q1 (Apr) results last night. The enterprise software giant delivered another big EPS beat, but revenue was roughly in line, increasing 13% yr/yr to $11.13 bln. Additionally, while CRM raised its FY27 EPS guidance significantly to $14.06-14.12 from $13.11-13.19, the EPS beat and guidance raise appear heavily supported by capital returns, with CRM repurchasing $27.1 bln of stock in Q1. Meanwhile, CRM only nudged the low end of its FY27 revenue guidance higher to $45.9-46.2 bln from $45.8-46.2 bln, while still including roughly 3 pts of contribution from Informatica, leaving questions around the pace of organic reacceleration.

• cRPO increased 14% yr/yr to $33.6 bln (+16% yr/yr in Q4), driven by continued momentum in Agentforce, Data 360, and Slack, partially offset by softness in Commerce and Tableau. Sales, Service, and Slack collectively represented more than 60% of Q1 net new AOV.
• Agentforce/Data 360 combined ARR reached nearly $3.4 bln, up more than 200% yr/yr, including about $1.1 bln from Informatica Cloud. Agentforce was the standout, with ARR surpassing the $1 bln mark for the first time and accelerating to +205% yr/yr bln from +169% in Q4. Bookings for premium Sales and Service SKUs, including agent capabilities, grew nearly 60% yr/yr.
• CRM landed a record 98 deals with more than $1 mln in new ACV in Q1, while existing customers accounted for more than half of Agentforce/Data 360 bookings. Its top 10 customers by Agentic Work Unit usage also increased their total Salesforce spend by 1.5x over the past year.
• CRM continued to push back on AI disruption concerns by highlighting usage across the platform. CRM processed 28.6 trillion tokens, up 152% qtr/qtr, and delivered 3.8 bln Agentic Work Units, up 111% qtr/qtr, while noting that leading AI companies including OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google are Salesforce and Slack customers.
• Q2 guidance calls for EPS of $3.25-3.27 and revenue of $11.27-11.35 bln. The EPS midpoint was above expectations, but revenue was light and implies 10-11% growth, including a little more than 4 pts from Informatica. CRM still expects organic revenue acceleration in the back half, driven by Agentforce, Data 360, and Slack, though Marketing, Commerce, and Tableau remain areas of softness.

Briefing.com Analyst Insight

This was a mixed quarter for CRM. While the company delivered another big EPS beat, revenue was mostly in line, and guidance was a bit underwhelming, with Q2 revenue light and the FY27 revenue outlook only modestly raised despite contributions from Informatica. The EPS beat and raised EPS outlook also appear heavily supported by aggressive capital returns, which underscores management's confidence but raises some questions around the quality of the beat. The ASR added $0.23 to Q1 non-GAAP EPS. That said, Agentforce and Data 360 metrics were strong, with Agentforce ARR accelerating sharply and surpassing the $1 bln mark for the first time. CRM also showed progress landing larger deals and expanding existing customers. Its top 10 customers by Agentic Work Unit usage increased total Salesforce spend by 1.5x over the past year, suggesting AI adoption is translating into broader platform expansion. Overall, CRM is showing progress in AI, but investors still need clearer evidence that Agentforce and Data 360 can translate into broader organic growth across the platform.