Salesforce's Agentforce Surge Points to Growing Opportunity in AI-Powered Enterprise Software

Salesforce is quietly building momentum in one of the most compelling areas of enterprise software: AI agents. The company’s Agentforce platform is emerging as a meaningful revenue driver, with annual recurring revenue (ARR) skyrocketing 330% to hit $540 million in the latest quarter. What makes this particularly noteworthy is that the AI agent strategy is beginning to appear in major customer contracts—Agentforce showed up in six of Salesforce’s top 10 deals during the period.

The adoption story tells an interesting tale about how enterprises are embracing agentic AI. Salesforce now has 9,500 paid Agentforce customers, a 50% jump from the previous quarter, with another 9,000+ additional deals still in pipeline. The company’s flexible pricing model—combining seat-based and usage-based options—has proven effective in lowering barriers to adoption, which matters especially for SaaS companies seeking to expand their addressable market as AI capabilities reshape the competitive landscape.

Solid Fiscal Performance Masks Slower Overall Trajectory

Despite the AI agent excitement, Salesforce’s headline numbers reveal a more measured story. The company posted $10.26 billion in revenue during fiscal Q3 2026, representing 9% year-over-year growth—respectable but hardly explosive. This performance sits comfortably within management’s guided range, though it fell marginally short of consensus expectations by $10 million.

Breaking down the business, subscription and support revenue grew 10% to $9.73 billion. The real bright spot emerged from the Platform segment, where both Agentforce and Data 360 operate. Platform revenue accelerated to 19% growth, a noticeable pickup from 14% growth two quarters prior and 16% the quarter before. Data 360, Salesforce’s unified data platform, contributed meaningfully to this acceleration, with processed records more than doubling. Combined, Agentforce and Data 360 ARR reached $1.4 billion, up 114% annually.

The rest of the portfolio showed more mixed signals. Slack delivered 13% revenue growth, while acquired assets Tableau and Mulesoft decelerated notably—rising just 4% and 6% respectively—blamed partly on on-premise revenue recognition timing creating headwinds. Marketing and Commerce, meanwhile, barely moved with just 1% growth.

Profitability-wise, adjusted earnings per share jumped 35% to $3.25, well ahead of the $2.86 consensus. Operating cash generation remained impressive at $2.3 billion, with free cash flow at $2.2 billion. The company returned $3.8 billion to shareholders via stock buybacks during the quarter.

Valuation Looks Compelling, But Growth Expectations Matter

Here’s where the investment case becomes interesting. Trading at a forward price-to-sales multiple of 5.3x based on fiscal 2027 analyst estimates, Salesforce sits at a valuation typically reserved for slower-growth companies. The forward P/E ratio of 19.5x and a PEG ratio below 0.55 both signal undervaluation territory—a PEG below 1.0 historically indicates reasonable pricing relative to growth prospects.

This valuation backdrop matters because it reflects investor skepticism about whether AI initiatives will meaningfully alter Salesforce’s growth trajectory. The company remains a high-single-digit to low-teens revenue grower, even with Agentforce accelerating internal segments. For context, SaaS companies for sale in today’s market command varying multiples depending heavily on whether they demonstrate transformative AI adoption.

Forward Guidance Reflects Cautious Optimism

Looking ahead, Salesforce bumped full-year fiscal 2026 revenue guidance to $41.45-$41.55 billion, representing 9-10% growth, up from prior guidance of $41.1-$41.3 billion (8.5-9% growth). Adjusted EPS guidance increased to $11.75-$11.77 from $11.33-$11.37. For the fourth quarter, management expects 11-12% reported growth (10-11% organically) with revenue landing between $11.13-$11.23 billion.

These raised targets suggest confidence in near-term execution, though they don’t necessarily imply a step-function improvement in the underlying business. The company continues to navigate a market where traditional software buying is steady but unspectacular, while AI-driven opportunities remain promising but still early-stage.

The Broader Context: AI Agents Remain Nascent

Salesforce’s position merits attention precisely because the agentic AI market remains in its infancy. What the company is building with Agentforce could eventually become a meaningful growth accelerant, but that inflection point hasn’t arrived yet. Current traction—while encouraging—hasn’t yet transformed overall revenue dynamics from a steady incremental business into something materially different.

The gap between what’s possible with AI agents and what’s currently realized in the numbers explains the valuation disconnect. Investors have largely discounted the transformative potential, pricing in continued moderate growth rather than the acceleration that newer AI-native competitors might deliver. For those seeking exposure to a seasoned enterprise software vendor with improving AI momentum at a reasonable valuation, the current setup presents an intriguing risk-reward equation.