Salesforce’s (NYSE:CRM) Q1 CY2026 Sales Beat Estimates
CRM software giant Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) announced better-than-expected revenue in Q1 CY2026, with sales up 13.3% year on year to $11.13 billion. The company expects next quarter’s revenue to be around $11.31 billion, close to analysts’ estimates. Its non-GAAP profit of $3.88 per share was 24.1% above analysts’ consensus estimates.
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Salesforce (CRM) Q1 CY2026 Highlights:
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Revenue: $11.13 billion vs analyst estimates of $11.05 billion (13.3% year-on-year growth, 0.8% beat)
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Adjusted EPS: $3.88 vs analyst estimates of $3.13 (24.1% beat)
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Adjusted Operating Income: $3.87 billion vs analyst estimates of $3.69 billion (34.8% margin, 4.9% beat)
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The company slightly lifted its revenue guidance for the full year to $46.05 billion at the midpoint from $46 billion
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Management raised its full-year Adjusted EPS guidance to $14.09 at the midpoint, a 7.1% increase
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Operating Margin: 21.1%, up from 19.8% in the same quarter last year
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Free Cash Flow Margin: 0.1%, down from 47.5% in the previous quarter
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Billings: $7.13 billion at quarter end, up 3.6% year on year
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Market Capitalization: $146.5 billion
“This was an outstanding quarter for Salesforce — record revenue, record deals, and cash flow,” said Marc Benioff, Chair and CEO, Salesforce.
Company Overview
With its cloud-based platform named after its stock ticker symbol CRM (Customer Relationship Management), Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) provides customer relationship management software that helps businesses connect with their customers across sales, service, marketing, and commerce.
Revenue Growth
Reviewing a company’s long-term sales performance reveals insights into its quality. Any business can experience short-term success, but top-performing ones enjoy sustained growth for years. Over the last five years, Salesforce grew its sales at a 13.9% annual rate. Though this growth is acceptable on an absolute basis, we need to see more than just topline growth for the software sector, which can display significant earnings volatility. This means our bar for the sector is particularly high, reflecting the non-essential and hit-driven nature of the products and services offered. Additionally, five-year CAGR starts around Covid, when revenue was depressed then rebounded.
We at StockStory place the most emphasis on long-term growth, but within software, a half-decade historical view may miss recent innovations or disruptive industry trends. Salesforce’s recent performance shows its demand has slowed as its annualized revenue growth of 9.5% over the last two years was below its five-year trend. We’re wary when companies in the sector see decelerations in revenue growth, as it could signal changing consumer tastes aided by low switching costs.
