Salesforce CRM-N forecast fiscal 2027 revenue below Wall Street expectations on Wednesday, signalling sluggish spending on enterprise business software as it invests heavily in its artificial intelligence platform to drive up demand.
Shares of the San Francisco-based company fell nearly 4 per cent in extended trading, having lost over 28 per cent this year.
It expects annual revenue in the range of US$45.80-billion to US$46.20-billion, with the midpoint coming in slightly below an estimate of US$46.06-billion, according to data compiled by LSEG.
The forecast shows that demand for business software has remained under pressure from global economic uncertainty as companies pare back tech budgets, choosing to focus on essential spending and cost-cutting.
As Salesforce pours billions into machine learning, investors are worried that the development of new technology from startups could disrupt traditional software operations.
The cloud software provider raised its 2030 revenue forecast to US$63-billion, up from its October projection of more than US$60-billion, citing agentic AI as a catalyst for growth.
It also announced a US$50-billion share repurchase program.
Salesforce reported fourth-quarter revenue of US$11.20-billion, coming in slightly ahead of an estimate of US$11.18-billion.