Salesforce Shares Drop Despite Strong Agentforce Growth

Shares of Salesforce, Inc. dropped 9% to $172.55 on April 23, 2026, as part of a sector-wide sell-off in enterprise software. The decline followed a first-quarter report from ServiceNow that missed estimates, leading to price target cuts from Goldman, Jefferies, and Piper Sandler. This triggered sympathy selling for Salesforce, compounded by investor fears that AI agents might replace human workers and reduce seat-based subscription counts.

Earlier in the week, Vulcan Value Partners identified Salesforce as a material detractor in its Q1 2026 investor letter, noting the stock had lost 25.30% over the previous 52 weeks. However, the investment firm argued that the company could become a net beneficiary of AI through its Agentforce solution, suggesting that replacing human users with AI agents could increase revenue per seat from $2,000 to between $4,000 and $8,000.

Despite the stock volatility, Salesforce reported strong fundamentals, including $41.53 billion in fiscal 2026 revenue and $800 million in annual recurring revenue for Agentforce. CEO Marc Benioff described the fourth quarter as phenomenal. To support shareholder value, the company authorized a new $50 billion buyback and raised its long-term fiscal 2030 revenue target to $63 billion.