Salesforce surges! Q3 guidance exceeds expectations, partnership with Anthropic expands | Earnings Insights

Salesforce's performance and prospects both exceeded expectations, and its deep partnership with Anthropic has restored market confidence in its competitiveness in the AI era.

The company reported on Wednesday that its second-quarter revenue rose 11% year-over-year to $11.3 billion, in line with analysts’ expectations, with adjusted earnings per share of $5.90.

Salesforce expects revenue of approximately $11.5 billion for its third fiscal quarter ending in October, slightly above the average analyst estimate; its current remaining fulfillment obligations, which represent future sales, are expected to grow by about 14%, also higher than the market average estimate of 13%.

Chief Financial Officer and COO Robin Washington stated that even excluding the impact of acquisitions, the company's revenue will accelerate in the second half of the year, with current net orders at their strongest level in four years, and he expects revenue to accelerate in the second half of the year without any contribution from acquisitions.

At the same time, Salesforce announced an expanded collaboration with AI model developer Anthropic to integrate its products into the Claude platform, allowing salespeople to directly access customer information and sales cycle data within AI applications.

Salesforce shares rose 14% in after-hours trading, after closing at $205.62. The stock had experienced a significant pullback earlier in the year, but as of Wednesday's close, it had gained 26% over the past month, indicating a recovery in investor sentiment.

Agentforce's contributions continue to increase as it expands its collaboration with Anthropic.

Salesforce also announced an expanded partnership with Anthropic, launching a joint product called "Claudeforce".

This collaboration will integrate Salesforce products into the Claude platform, enabling sales personnel to directly access customer information and sales cycle data within the AI application.

This move further solidifies Salesforce's position in the enterprise AI ecosystem and also helps its products gain more exposure and application scenarios in the native AI entry point.

Salesforce's AI tool Agentforce—designed to handle business tasks without human intervention—is expected to contribute approximately $1.5 billion in revenue this year, up from $1.2 billion disclosed in the previous quarter, demonstrating that the commercialization of AI products is progressing steadily.

In June of this year, Salesforce announced the acquisition of AI startup Fin for $3.6 billion. This deal is expected to strengthen its AI capabilities in customer service and help it create more direct competition with Sierra, which was founded by Bret Taylor, former co-CEO of Salesforce and current chairman of the board of OpenAI.

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