Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) shares surged as much as 20% on Thursday after the enterprise software giant posted a sweeping fiscal second-quarter beat and lifted its full-year outlook.
- CRM stock is soaring after earnings. See the real-time price action here.
Anthropic Stake Fuels the Profit Jump
Revenue for the quarter climbed 11% year-over-year to $11.35 billion, edging past the $11.32 billion analysts had projected. Adjusted earnings per share landed at $5.90, blowing past the $3.27 consensus estimate, per Benzinga Pro data.
Much of that profit surge was attributable to Salesforce’s investment portfolio, with the company booking a $2.6 billion gain on its stake in the AI startup Anthropic.
Guidance Climbs For Fiscal 2027
Salesforce management also raised its fiscal 2027 targets. Full-year revenue guidance moved to a range of $46.1 billion to $46.4 billion, up from the prior $45.9 billion to $46.2 billion range.
Adjusted earnings guidance climbed more sharply still, to $16.67-$16.71 per share from $14.06-$14.12, reflecting both operating momentum and a reduced share count. CFO Robin Washington credited continued strength in Agentforce, Data 360 and Slack for the raise.
Read Also: Nvidia's Real Story Isn't the Beat — It's What Kress Said About 2028
Claudeforce
The rally accelerated after Salesforce and Anthropic unveiled an expanded partnership centered on a new offering called Claudeforce.
The tool lets sales staff pull Salesforce data and complete tasks directly inside Anthropic’s Claude chatbot, launching with 37 pre-built skills covering emails and record updates, CNBC reported. It marks the first time Salesforce has attached its signature “force” suffix to another company’s product.
Anthropic co-founder Dario Amodei told CNBC that his company put “a huge amount of effort” into managing data permissions for the integration, adding that the two firms are building “Enterprise Frontier Safeguards” to keep customer information private and prevent models from acting outside their intended scope. Broader access remains limited to pilot customers for now, with a wider preview expected next month.
What SaaSpocalypse?
The partnership marks a sharp reversal from the "SaaSpocalypse" earlier this year, when fears that Anthropic’s Claude and other AI agents would render traditional SaaS platforms obsolete dragged Salesforce shares into a prolonged slump.
Salesforce’s Q2 results, paired with a partnership built directly on Claude, turned the SaaSpocalypse narrative on its head.
CRM Stock Price Activity: Salesforce stock was up 20.88% at $248.55 at the time of publication Thursday, according to Benzinga Pro.
Read Also: SpaceX Bulls Aren't Thinking Big Enough, Morgan Stanley Says
Photo: Shutterstock