Financial Report Preview | The Lingering Shadow of "AI Disruption"! After a halving of its stock price, Salesforce, Inc. (CRM.US) faces a major financial report test.

The US customer relationship management software (CRM) giant Salesforce, Inc. (CRM.US) will announce its first-quarter performance for the fiscal year 2027 after the US stock market closes on Wednesday. Currently, the market expects Salesforce, Inc.'s Q1 revenue to reach $11.05 billion, a 12% year-on-year increase; adjusted earnings per share are expected to be $3.11, higher than the $2.58 for the same period last year. Recently, Wall Street has been deeply concerned about the "SaaS industry AI disruption crisis (SaaSpocalypse)", as the impact of AI technology iteration on traditional cloud software business models has put continued pressure on the industry's valuation. Salesforce, Inc.'s financial report is highly anticipated because it is one of the top SaaS companies and a component of the Dow Jones Index. Salesforce, Inc.'s stock performance has been weak, falling by 51% since its peak in 2025 and 32% year-to-date. Options market data indicates that this financial report may cause a 9% volatility in Salesforce, Inc.'s stock price, intensifying the battle between long and short positions. This financial report will be a crucial watershed in testing Salesforce, Inc.'s AI transformation and resolving market divergences. The resilience of past performance highlights Agentforce as a growth engine Salesforce, Inc.'s fourth-quarter performance for the fiscal year 2026 exceeded expectations, with optimistic performance guidance. Data shows that for the fourth quarter ending on January 31, Salesforce, Inc. had a revenue of $11.2 billion, a 12% year-on-year increase; adjusted earnings per share were $3.81, far exceeding the market's expected $3.04. Furthermore, the company's Remaining Performance Obligations (RPO) reached a historic high of $72.4 billion, indicating strong enterprise demand despite a slowdown in the macroeconomic environment. AI intelligence platform Agentforce has become the core pillar of Salesforce, Inc.'s overall AI strategy and the central driving force behind the company's business growth. For the fourth quarter of the fiscal year 2026, Agentforce's Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) reached $800 million, a staggering 169% year-on-year increase, with the AI product portfolio, including Data 360, seeing a more than 200% year-on-year growth. The company's management emphasizes that over 60% of new orders in the fourth quarter came from existing customers, indicating increasing customer stickiness and willingness to pay. In the upcoming first-quarter financial report, investors will closely monitor the pace of order signings, average contract amounts, and progress in project deployment to verify whether Agentforce's performance can sustain high growth. It is worth noting that Salesforce, Inc. recently reached a $72 million enterprise cooperation agreement with the US Air Force, signaling the successful penetration of the company's AI workflow solutions and Agentforce AI products into government and regulatory agencies, opening up new incremental market space. Looking ahead to the 2027 fiscal year, Salesforce, Inc. has provided relatively optimistic performance guidance among large software companies. The company expects full-year revenue for the 2027 fiscal year to reach $45.8 to $46.2 billion, with a non-GAAP operating profit margin of 34.3%. It also reiterates that organic growth rates will significantly accelerate in the second half of the year. In the long term, the company is targeting a revenue goal of $63 billion for the fiscal year 2030, providing solid support for its AI-driven long-term growth logic. Institutional views are increasingly divided, intensifying the battle between long and short positions On the eve of the financial report, Wall Street institutions' views have become increasingly divided, intensifying the battle between long and short positions. On the bearish side, Bank of America, as a representative, recently resumed coverage of Salesforce, Inc., giving a 'neutral' rating and a target price of $160. Analysts warn that Salesforce, Inc. is facing a "structural change caused by AI transformation", which may lead to issues such as slowing customer growth and limited value-added sales space for existing customers, as well as a "bleak outlook" for the commercialization of AI. Meanwhile, recently disclosed regulatory filings show that institutions such as Bridgewater and the activist investor Starboard Value have chosen to exit their positions. In contrast, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft has given Salesforce, Inc. a 'buy' rating with a target price of $255, believing that the market has exaggerated the risks of AI disruption and underestimated the leading company's adaptability to transformation. Additionally, DNB Asset Management has increased its stake in Salesforce, Inc. by 25%; renowned investor Michael Burry has also disclosed a position in Salesforce, Inc., stating that the recent stock price decline is influenced by market sentiment rather than fundamental factors. Overall, Wall Street analysts are optimistic about Salesforce, Inc. Visible Alpha's data shows that of the 20 analysts covering Salesforce, Inc., 14 have 'buy' ratings, 5 have 'neutral' ratings, and only 1 has a 'sell' rating, with an average target price of $262, nearly 50% higher than the current stock price level.