Salesforce maintains steady growth in Q1 as AI & data strategy gains traction

Salesforce has announced solid results for Q1 2026 (ended 30th April 2025), with revenue reaching $9.8bn, up 8% year-over-year (yoy) in constant currency (ccy) terms. Subscription and support revenue, which continues to represent the vast majority of the business (at $9.3bn), grew 9% yoy ccy.

The results maintain the steady growth trajectory established throughout FY25, when the company delivered 9% ccy growth to reach $37.9bn in annual revenue. Profitability metrics remain robust, with GAAP operating margin of 19.8% and non-GAAP operating margin of 32.3% – continuing the record-setting margin performance seen throughout the previous fiscal year.

The standout performance comes from Salesforce's AI and data initiatives. Data Cloud and AI annual recurring revenue has now surpassed $1bn, representing growth of more than 120% year-over-year. This milestone underscores the company's successful drive towards focusing on AI-driven offerings, with nearly 60% of Q1's top 100 deals including Data Cloud and AI components. The Agentforce platform continues its strong momentum, having closed over 8,000 deals since its launch (see Salesforce up 8% in Q3, raises FY guidance as Agentforce AI platform launches) , with half being paid arrangements.

Data Cloud's scale is particularly impressive, ingesting 22 trillion records in Q1 – a 175% increase year-over-year. This demonstrates the platform's growing centrality to customers' data strategies, with more than half of the quarter's largest deals spanning six or more Salesforce clouds.

The company's strategic direction is further clarified by recent acquisition activity. Yesterday's $8bn agreement to acquire data management specialist Informatica (due to complete early in FY27) and this month's purchase of London-based AI startup Convergence.ai signal Salesforce's commitment to building a comprehensive AI and data platform – positioning the company to capitalise on enterprises' need for unified data management and autonomous AI capabilities.

Reflecting this confidence, Salesforce raised its full-year FY26 revenue guidance (by $400m) to $41.0-41.3bn, representing 8-9% growth.

Posted by: Craig Wentworth at 09:25

Tags: results   acquisitions   financial   quarterlies