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Salesforce (CRM) is sharply higher today following its Q2 (Jul) results last night. Non-GAAP EPS came in well above expectations, although the quarter included a $2.53 per-share benefit from gains on strategic investments, while revenue increased 11% yr/yr and in CC to $11.35 bln, roughly in line with expectations. More importantly, CRM delivered encouraging forward demand indicators, including accelerating cRPO growth, stronger net new AOV, continued Agentforce and Slack momentum, and additional support for management's expected second-half organic revenue reacceleration.

• Key metrics: cRPO increased 14% yr/yr and in CC to $33.5 bln, one point above guidance and accelerating from 13% CC growth in Q1. Management said strong Q2 bookings and near-record-low attrition drove the cRPO beat, while H1 net new AOV growth significantly outpaced AOV growth and contract lengths increased across both new business and renewals.
• Agentforce: Agentforce and Data 360 ARR reached nearly $3.9 bln, up more than 210% yr/yr, including Agentforce ARR of more than $1.5 bln, up over 240%. Agentforce bookings doubled yr/yr, with 50% coming from customers refilling credits, while CRM added 2,000 paying customers into production, 70% more qtr/qtr.
• SaaSpocalypse: The key points CEO Marc Benioff used to push back on the SaaSpocalypse narrative included seats increasing yr/yr across Agentforce, Service, and Slack, attrition remaining near its lowest level ever, and agentic use of CRM applications through MCP and CLI calls increasing six-fold. Benioff also highlighted continued customer upgrades and improving contract terms.
• Claudeforce: CRM also announced Claudeforce with Anthropic, combining Claude's reasoning with Salesforce data, applications, workflows, business logic, and governance. The product allows users to access and act on Salesforce data directly through Claude, extending CRM beyond its traditional interface and into the AI tools where customers are increasingly working.
• Outlook: CRM raised FY27 revenue guidance to $46.1-46.4 bln. On a CC basis, the $300 mln increase includes $100 mln from stronger organic performance driven by Agentforce, Data 360, and Slack, and $200 mln from expected contributions from the pending Contentful and Fin acquisitions. CRM also expects Q3 cRPO growth of approximately 14% in CC.

Briefing.com Analyst Insight

This was a strong Q2 report from CRM, and perhaps the most encouraging point is that it provides stronger evidence for the second-half organic revenue reacceleration CRM has been targeting. First-half net new AOV growth significantly outpaced AOV growth, with net new AOV growth reaching its strongest level in four years, while cRPO accelerated and strong bookings, near-record-low attrition, and improving contract lengths added to the positive demand picture. Agentforce also continues to build momentum, with customers moving into production and returning for additional usage. These trends are particularly encouraging given concerns that AI could pressure traditional software demand, as CRM is instead seeing continued seat growth, customer upgrades, and rising agentic usage across its platform. Claudeforce adds another potential avenue for CRM to expand the role of Salesforce by bringing its data and workflows directly into third-party AI interfaces. Longer term, CRM will need to continue showing that AI expands the value and usage of its platform rather than cannibalizing traditional software demand, but Q2 provides more support for the broader growth acceleration investors have been waiting for.