Salesforce’s second-quarter results outpaced Wall Street expectations on both revenue and non-GAAP profitability, but the market reacted negatively amid concerns about future growth rates. Management pointed to robust deal activity in AI-powered offerings, including substantial expansion among existing customers, as a core driver of the quarter. CEO Marc Benioff highlighted a significant shift toward what he referred to as the "agentic enterprise," emphasizing rapid adoption of AI agents across sales, service, and data products. Despite strong operating margin expansion and notable large customer wins, investor reaction suggests skepticism about the sustainability of these trends.
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Salesforce (CRM) Q2 CY2025 Highlights:
- Revenue: $10.24 billion vs analyst estimates of $10.14 billion (9.8% year-on-year growth, 1% beat)
- Adjusted EPS: $2.91 vs analyst estimates of $2.78 (4.7% beat)
- Adjusted Operating Income: $3.51 billion vs analyst estimates of $3.42 billion (34.3% margin, 2.6% beat)
- The company slightly lifted its revenue guidance for the full year to $41.2 billion at the midpoint from $41.15 billion
- Management slightly raised its full-year Adjusted EPS guidance to $11.35 at the midpoint
- Operating Margin: 22.8%, up from 19.1% in the same quarter last year
- Annual Recurring Revenue: $38.76 billion vs analyst estimates of $38.38 billion (10.6% year-on-year growth, 1% beat)
- Billings: $8.99 billion at quarter end, up 6% year on year
- Market Capitalization: $240 billion
While we enjoy listening to the management's commentary, our favorite part of earnings calls are the analyst questions. Those are unscripted and can often highlight topics that management teams would rather avoid or topics where the answer is complicated. Here is what has caught our attention.
Our Top 5 Analyst Questions From Salesforce’s Q2 Earnings Call
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Kash Rangan (Goldman Sachs) asked about the defensibility of Salesforce’s SaaS offerings against disruption from custom-built AI apps. CEO Marc Benioff argued that the company’s vision is an “extension of SaaS” integrating agents and humans, describing Salesforce’s AI platform as unique in scale and reliability.
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Keith Weiss (Morgan Stanley) inquired about the drivers behind the 60% increase in pilot-to-production conversions for AgentForce. President Srini Talabhrigada highlighted product enhancements such as improved observability, better integration with Data Cloud, and more deterministic AI agent behavior as key enablers.
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Brent Thill (Jefferies) questioned the rationale for the $20 billion share buyback expansion and its balance with M&A. Benioff explained the “Trinity” strategy: disciplined share repurchases, dividends, and opportunistic M&A to support innovation and shareholder value.
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Kirk Materne (Evercore) asked whether the mid-market segment could become a more durable source of growth. Benioff and President Miguel Milano detailed organizational changes and new product packaging aimed at accelerating bookings and expansion in small and mid-sized businesses.
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Mark Murphy (JPMorgan) probed the company’s ability to reduce support headcount by nearly 40% and redeploy resources to sales. Benioff attributed this to the agentic enterprise transformation, emphasizing the role of AI in reshaping organizational structure and boosting productivity.
Catalysts in Upcoming Quarters
In the coming quarters, our team will be watching (1) adoption rates and revenue contribution from new agentic products like the ITSM platform; (2) evidence of sustained expansion in small and mid-sized customer segments; and (3) progress on integrating acquired technologies such as Regrello and Informatica. The impact of flexible consumption-based pricing and broader macroeconomic trends will also be key indicators for Salesforce’s execution.
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