Shares of Salesforce surged nearly 23% on Thursday after the company reported fiscal second-quarter results for the period ended July 31, 2026. The jump followed a sharp increase in adjusted profitability, though the reported earnings momentum was heavily influenced by investment gains tied to Salesforce’s strategic holdings.
In its earnings materials, Salesforce said non-GAAP adjusted earnings per share came in at $5.90, more than doubling year over year. The company also disclosed that $2.53 of that adjusted figure—along with $2.43 of GAAP earnings per share—originated from gains on strategic investments, a key factor investors were tracking as they assessed the strength of the underlying software business.
Key takeaways
- Price move: Salesforce shares rose nearly 23% in Thursday’s trading after results were released.
- Catalyst: Adjusted earnings per share of $5.90 included $2.53 from gains on strategic investments.
- Underlying trend: Excluding the investment gains, adjusted earnings per share rose about 16% year over year.
- Primary driver of gains: The filing attributed $2.7 billion of unrealized investment gains for the quarter to Salesforce’s stake in Anthropic.
- Implication: The earnings beat was as much about mark-to-market investment valuation as it was about operational progress, while investors also focused on an Anthropic partnership.
What drove the results and the stock move
Salesforce’s reported performance was led by earnings acceleration at the headline level, but the company’s disclosures clarified that the quality of that upside was mixed. According to the company’s quarterly filing, gains on strategic investments contributed $2.53 to non-GAAP adjusted earnings per share of $5.90. Those investment gains also contributed $2.43 to GAAP earnings per share of $4.29.
More than 40% of the quarter’s reported profit, based on Salesforce’s own accounting breakdown, did not come from core software operations. Still, investors appeared to welcome the combination of strong adjusted earnings alongside continued growth signals from the subscription business and rapid scaling in Salesforce’s AI offerings.
The investment gains traced largely to Anthropic
While the earnings release did not identify the source of the quarter’s net investment gains, Salesforce’s subsequent quarterly filing attributed a substantial portion of the unrealized gains to its Anthropic stake.
The filing said Salesforce recorded $2.7 billion of unrealized investment gains during the quarter related to Anthropic. Salesforce also noted that its strategic investment portfolio includes more than 450 companies with a combined carrying value of $11.3 billion, and that Anthropic represented the dominant position within the portfolio.
According to Salesforce’s disclosures, Anthropic’s weighting in the portfolio rose from about 22% at the end of January to about 45% by the end of July. The shift aligns with Anthropic’s financing update, with the company having said in May that it raised funding valuing Anthropic at $965 billion.
Salesforce and Anthropic also announced a partnership alongside the results. The effort, called Claudeforce, is designed to launch with a plug-in that brings Salesforce data and workflows into Anthropic’s Claude chatbot, aiming to let sales teams review deals and pipelines and update records directly within the AI assistant.
Operational performance: growth continued, but at a different pace
After separating investment gains from the core picture, Salesforce’s adjusted earnings trajectory looked more typical of a mature software business, though still positive. Based on Salesforce’s figures, subtracting the $2.53 investment contribution from adjusted earnings per share of $5.90 yields an underlying adjusted profit level of about $3.37 versus $2.91 in the year-ago quarter—implying roughly 16% year-over-year growth per share.
The company’s revenue also continued to expand. Salesforce reported revenue of $11.3 billion, up 11% year over year, with subscription and support revenue rising 12%. On profitability and cash generation, the company posted non-GAAP operating margin of 34.1% and said operating cash flow increased 71% to $1.3 billion.
Adjusted operating income grew about 10%, supported by low-double-digit revenue growth. However, Salesforce’s GAAP results were less favorable once investors remove the effect of the investment gains. Excluding the gain, GAAP earnings per share were about $1.86 compared with $1.96 in the prior year period, and GAAP operating income was flat at $2.3 billion. Salesforce also reported interest expense climbed to $473 million from $67 million a year earlier.
Forward guidance and AI demand indicators
Salesforce said demand signals held up alongside the investment-driven earnings uplift. Current remaining performance obligation—revenue the company expects to recognize over the next 12 months—ended fiscal Q2 at $33.5 billion, up 14% in constant currency.
On AI products, Salesforce reported continued rapid growth. Agentforce and Data 360 generated nearly $3.9 billion in combined annual recurring revenue, up more than 210% year over year. Agentforce alone passed $1.5 billion in annual recurring revenue and grew more than 240% year over year.
The company also raised its outlook for fiscal 2027. Salesforce now expects revenue of $46.1 billion to $46.4 billion, implying full-year growth of 11% to 12%. It guided fiscal third-quarter revenue to as much as $11.5 billion.
Investors appeared to interpret the results as a blend of improving operating momentum and continued scaling in AI, but with the magnitude of the headline earnings beat partly explained by investment valuation gains tied to Anthropic.
Looking ahead, investors will likely focus on whether Salesforce can sustain underlying profit growth as the impact of investment mark-to-market effects fades from quarter to quarter. Next checkpoints include continued AI momentum in Agentforce and Data 360, further progress on remaining performance obligation, and forthcoming quarterly updates alongside broader market catalysts such as upcoming macro data and the trajectory of interest rates.
