Salesforce’s New AI Push Could Transform Its Growth Trajectory
The company’s ”AI agents" automate complex tasks, like answering customers’ questions

Salesforce (CRM), a leader in customer relationship management software, is helping to lead the agentic AI revolution. The company provides a platform that’s an ideal foundation for integrating capabilities across the entire customer journey—from initial marketing touchpoints through post-sale support.
“This is what AI was meant to be,” the company’s CEO and co-founder, Marc Benioff, emphasized during a talk on the transformative potential of agentic AI at the 2024 Dreamforce conference. His bold statement reflects Salesforce’s vision of AI enabling workers to focus on higher-value tasks requiring creative and strategic thinking.
On its website, Salesforce describes its Agentforce this way: “Autonomous AI agents can understand and interpret customers’ questions using natural language, with minimal human intervention.”
It’s the equivalent of providing everyone in a company—from the CEO to the newest sales rep—with an assistant that’s ready to help, knows the customers well and offers detailed advice about what to do next, the site says.
The business case
Integrating AI agents into Salesforce’s platform aligns perfectly with the company’s software-as-a-service (SaaS) model. As customers adopt more advanced AI features beyond the base package, it creates additional revenue streams—a crucial step in monetizing AI investment. This capability could prove particularly valuable for automating customer interactions, potentiallyrevolutionizing how businesses manage their relationships with the public.
While Salesforce has demonstrated solid financial performance, its recent growth rates suggest room for acceleration:
- Q3 FY2025 revenue reached $9.44 billion, representing an 8% year-over-year increase
- Earnings per share grew 27% to $1.60, compared to $1.26 in the previous year
- Operating margins improved from 17.8% to 20.6% year-over-year
The company’s shift from prioritizing growth to emphasizing profitability has yielded improved margins, though they remain below the 30% threshold achieved by some leading software companies. This focus on operational efficiency, combined with the potential of agentic AI, could drive top-line growth and expand margins.
The investment thesis
Trading at 32 times forward earnings, Salesforce’s valuation reflects the market’s high expectations, particularly given its current growth rate. The success of its agentic AI initiative could justify this premium valuation by accelerating the growth of revenue and expanding market opportunities.
Investors will need several quarters of data to assess this strategic push. In the meantime, Salesforce’s established market position and logical use cases for agentic AI make it a compelling player in AI. The company’s ability to leverage this technology to drive growth and improve efficiency could make it a standout investment.
For those seeking exposure to the AI sector, Salesforce’s combination of established market presence, strong financial fundamentals and strategic focus on agentic AI make it a noteworthy consideration. The coming quarters will help determine whether this technological push can indeed catalyzea new phase of growth for the company.
Jeff Joseph is Luckbox editorial director.