Aug 26 (Reuters) - Salesforce lifted its annual revenue and profit forecasts on Wednesday and rolled out a new plug-in combining its capabilities with Anthropic's Claude AI models, sending its shares up 14% in extended trading.
Dubbed "Claudeforce", the initiative marks an expansion in the companies' partnership, first struck in June, and comes as Salesforce grapples with deeply negative sentiment on software stocks as investors worry about the threat from AI disruption.
Salesforce, which is also an investor in Anthropic, recorded a $2.53-per-share gain on an adjusted basis from its strategic investments in the second quarter, which partly helped the company's adjusted earnings more than double to $5.90 per share.
The EPS was also boosted by a reduction in outstanding shares due to share buybacks, and strong operational performance.
Salesforce has been gaining traction with AI-powered tools and autonomous agents that can automate sales, service, and marketing tasks — an area the company sees as a major growth driver for the future.
Revenue for the quarter ended July 31 grew 11% to $11.35 billion.
The company now expects fiscal 2027 revenue between $46.1 billion and $46.4 billion, compared with its prior outlook range of $45.9 billion to $46.2 billion.
Salesforce's raised annual revenue guidance is driven by continued momentum in Agentforce, Data 360 and Slack, which are offsetting continued volatility in overall license revenue, finance chief Robin Washington said on a post-earnings call.
It also reflects anticipated contribution from the expected closings of its Contentful and Fin acquisitions, announced in June, in the coming weeks.
"Some big deals announced in the last quarter are driving the numbers, but so is greater availability of more prepackaged, easier-to-deploy AI agents," said Rebecca Wettemann, CEO of industry analyst firm Valoir.
Salesforce also raised its annual adjusted earnings per share forecast to be between $16.67 and $16.71, reflecting a reduction in share count, from its earlier outlook range of $14.06 to $14.12 apiece.
(Reporting by Juby Babu in Mexico City; Editing by Leroy Leo)
