Salesforce investors should watch for signs of second-half reacceleration, Jefferies says

Salesforce investors should watch for signs of second-half reacceleration, Jefferies says

Tue, August 25, 2026 at 10:30 PM GMT+3 2 min read

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Salesforce Inc (NYSE:CRM, XETRA:FOO) is expected to report an in-line fiscal second quarter when it posts results Wednesday, according to Jefferies, though the bank flagged lingering questions about whether growth can reaccelerate in the back half of the year.

A proprietary Jefferies survey of 20 Salesforce partners found 70% at or above plan for the quarter, with 35% finishing at plan and 35% above. Several tracked metrics ticked down from prior quarters, however, and Jefferies noted Salesforce has been bringing more go-to-market functions in-house. Partners broadly expect stable growth of about 10% in 2026 on a weighted-average basis.

Agentforce adoption softened during the quarter. Twenty percent of partners reported double-digit adoption of the AI product, down from 55% in the prior quarter, and more customers are evaluating competing AI tools, with pricing improvements described as minimal.

Jefferies is modeling total revenue and cRPO growth of 10.7% and 13.7%, respectively, calling the estimates reasonable given partner commentary that the quarter was solid. The bank said it has yet to see clear signs of second-half reacceleration, with forward-looking cRPO growth holding at 13% in constant currency for the past two quarters.

Other checks were more upbeat, with experts pointing to a business uptick in June and July. Jefferies was also positive on the potential of Salesforce's recent Fin acquisition as an add-on to Service Cloud, part of 15 mostly smaller M&A deals the company has completed over the past 18 months.

Bears cited by Jefferies pointed to slowing organic innovation and intensifying AI competition as risks of displacement, along with a perceived gap in Agentforce functionality relative to rivals Sierra and Decagon. They also flagged that ServiceNow's AI annualized revenue run rate of $1 billion trails Salesforce's by only $200 million despite ServiceNow's revenue being roughly a third the size.

The exit of Srini Tallapragada, former chief engineering and customer success officer, continues to raise questions, though Jefferies' sources indicate Salesforce is winning back talent from AI-native competitors.

Bulls pointed to the M&A activity as a sign Salesforce can keep expanding its product portfolio.

Salesforce shares are down 21% year to date, though they have climbed 33% over the past month, a move Jefferies attributed partly to a broader rotation into higher free-cash-flow names amid investor caution on hyperscaler capital spending.

Jefferies said Salesforce's AI monetization will likely take time to move beyond the mid-single-digit percentage of revenue it represents today, but called the M&A activity encouraging for filling gaps in the product lineup.