SEC filings analysis
Financial Analysis August 2026: Salesforce, Inc.
NYSE: CRM · CIK 0001108524 · fiscal year ends in January
What the filings show through July 2026, after the debt funded repurchase
- Period covered
- Fiscal 2022 to the July 2026 quarter
- Primary sources
- Forms 10K, 10Q, 8K, 13F and 4, the August 2026 earnings release and the 2026 proxy
- Share price
- $256.00 at the last weekly close, 24 August 2026
- Prepared
- 29 August 2026
Salesforce has grown and lost value at the same time for two years. Revenue over the twelve months to 31 July 2026 was 43.9 billion dollars, 11.2% ahead of the year before, and free cash flow of 15.2 billion is the highest it has reported. The shares still sit 29% below their December 2024 peak, and five years of holding them has returned (4.2%) against 70% for the S&P 500.
Three things explain the gap. Growth has halved: revenue rose 18% in fiscal 2023 and 10% in fiscal 2026. Reported profit is flattered: of the 9.7 billion dollars of net income in the trailing year, 4.2 billion is an unrealised markup on private holdings, and taking it out cuts earnings a share from $11.77 to $7.74. The balance sheet has been turned over as well. Eighteen months ago the company held 5.6 billion dollars of net cash; it now carries 27.9 billion of net debt, and book equity is smaller than the goodwill sitting on top of it. Buying Informatica began that swing. The larger step came in March 2026, when Salesforce issued 25 billion dollars of notes to fund a 25 billion dollar accelerated repurchase.
Set against that, the price now demands very little. At $256.00 the enterprise is worth 15.7x trailing free cash flow, which needs only 2.4% growth a year for a decade to justify, against 28% delivered over the past four years. The market moved on that in one week: the shares rose 22% in the week of the August results, the best in five years.
Salesforce sells customer relationship management software as a service: 95.2% of revenue is subscription and support, billed a year in advance and recognised evenly across contracts of one to three years, sold mostly by a direct sales force. That mechanic sets the shape of the statements, from the 18.8 billion dollars of unearned revenue on the balance sheet to a first quarter that collected 6.7 billion of cash against 1.3 billion in the second.
1. Revenue, margin and cash flow
Figure 1. Quarterly revenue and operating margin. The margin has fallen year on year in both quarters of this fiscal year.
| Billions of dollars unless stated | Twelve months to 31 July 2026 | FY2026 | FY2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | 43.9 | 41.5 | 37.9 |
| Subscription and support | 41.8 | 39.4 | 35.7 |
| Professional services | 2.1 | 2.1 | 2.2 |
| Gross margin | 77.3% | 77.7% | 77.2% |
| Research and development | 6.4 | 6.0 | 5.5 |
| Marketing and sales | 15.1 | 14.3 | 13.3 |
| Operating income | 8.7 | 8.3 | 7.2 |
| Operating margin | 19.9% | 20.1% | 19.0% |
| Gains on strategic investments | 4.2 | 1.0 | (0.1) |
| Interest expense | 0.8 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Net income | 9.7 | 7.5 | 6.2 |
| Diluted earnings per share | $11.77 | $7.80 | $6.36 |
| Billions of dollars unless stated | Twelve months to 31 July 2026 | FY2026 | FY2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Operating cash flow | 15.8 | 15.0 | 13.1 |
| Capital expenditure | 0.6 | 0.6 | 0.7 |
| Free cash flow | 15.2 | 14.4 | 12.4 |
| Share based pay | 3.7 | 3.5 | 3.2 |
| Shares repurchased | 35.1 | 12.6 | 7.8 |
| Dividends paid | 1.5 | 1.6 | 1.5 |
| Diluted shares, millions | 821 | 956 | 974 |
| Contracted revenue not yet earned | 66.3 | 72.4 | 63.4 |
Revenue grew 11.2% over the trailing year, of which about four points came from Informatica, which closed in November 2025. Operating margin was 19.9%, down from 20.2% in the same twelve months a year earlier, because the acquisitions arrived with amortisation and lower margins attached. Free cash flow of 15.2 billion is a record, though it does not deduct the 3.7 billion dollars of share based pay that funds part of the wage bill; after that charge the figure is 11.5 billion.
| Quarter | Revenue | Growth | Operating margin | Margin change, points | Net income | Of which investment marks | Operating cash flow |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY26Q1 | 9.8 | 7.6% | 19.8% | 1.05 | 1.5 | (0.1) | 6.5 |
| FY26Q2 | 10.2 | 9.8% | 22.8% | 3.66 | 1.9 | 0.0 | 0.7 |
| FY26Q3 | 10.3 | 8.6% | 21.3% | 1.28 | 2.1 | 0.3 | 2.3 |
| FY26Q4 (derived) | 11.2 | 12.1% | 16.7% | (1.53) | 1.9 | 0.8 | 5.5 |
| FY27Q1 | 11.1 | 13.3% | 21.1% | 1.32 | 2.1 | 0.6 | 6.7 |
| FY27Q2 | 11.3 | 10.8% | 20.5% | (2.24) | 3.5 | 2.6 | 1.3 |
Growth and margin change compare each quarter with the same quarter a year earlier. Salesforce files no fourth quarter Form 10Q, so that row is the audited year less the three filed quarters.
2. Where the growth comes from
Figure 2. Subscription revenue by offering. The data, integration and analytics group grows fastest and now carries Informatica.
| Service offering, billions | FY2022 | FY2023 | FY2024 | FY2025 | FY2026 | Growth a year, four years | Last year | Share of FY2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sales | 6.0 | 6.8 | 7.6 | 8.3 | 9.0 | 10.8% | 8.5% | 22.9% |
| Service | 6.5 | 7.4 | 8.2 | 9.1 | 9.8 | 11.0% | 8.4% | 24.9% |
| Platform and Other | 4.5 | 6.0 | 6.6 | 7.2 | 8.9 | 18.5% | 22.6% | 22.6% |
| Marketing and Commerce | 3.9 | 4.5 | 4.9 | 5.3 | 5.4 | 8.6% | 2.8% | 13.8% |
| Data / Integration and Analytics | 3.8 | 4.3 | 5.2 | 5.8 | 6.2 | 13.3% | 7.9% | 15.8% |
| Subscription and support | 24.7 | 29.0 | 32.5 | 35.7 | 39.4 | 12.4% | 10.4% | 100.0% |
Every offering was renamed in fiscal 2026 and regrouped again in fiscal 2027, so these labels are the constant ones.
The two oldest clouds, Sales and Service, still produce 48% of subscription revenue between them and grow slowest. The data and integration group grew 7.9% last year, helped by the acquisition. Management reports that Agentforce and Data 360 together reached about $3.9 billion dollars of annual recurring revenue, up more than 210%, but that figure is given only in the earnings release and is not separated in any statement, so it cannot be tied to a revenue line.
Figure 3. Revenue by region. Europe has grown fastest over four years and is the only region to have gained share.
| Region | FY2022 | FY2023 | FY2024 | FY2025 | FY2026 | Growth a year, four years | Last year | Share of FY2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Americas | 18.0 | 21.2 | 23.3 | 25.1 | 27.2 | 10.9% | 8.2% | 65.5% |
| Europe | 6.0 | 7.2 | 8.1 | 8.9 | 10.0 | 13.6% | 12.7% | 24.1% |
| Asia Pacific | 2.5 | 2.9 | 3.4 | 3.9 | 4.3 | 14.7% | 11.8% | 10.4% |
| Total revenue | 26.5 | 31.4 | 34.9 | 37.9 | 41.5 | 11.9% | 9.6% | 100.0% |
Revenue is attributed by the location of the customer. Values are billions of dollars.
3. Contracted revenue, the clearest forward indicator
Figure 4. Signed business not yet recognised, split by when it falls due. The near half turns into revenue within a year.
| At | Contracted revenue | Due within a year | Due later | Share due within a year | Billed and unearned |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 31 January 2025 | 63.4 | 30.2 | 33.2 | 47.6% | 20.7 |
| 31 January 2026 | 72.4 | 35.1 | 37.3 | 48.5% | 24.3 |
| 30 April 2026 | 67.9 | 33.6 | 34.3 | 49.5% | 20.4 |
| 31 July 2026 | 66.3 | 33.5 | 32.8 | 50.5% | 18.8 |
Contracted revenue is the remaining performance obligation: signed business not yet recognised. Billed and unearned is the part already invoiced. Values are billions of dollars.
Contracted revenue due within a year stood at 33.5 billion dollars on 31 July 2026, up 14% on the year and in constant currency. That is faster than reported revenue and is the single most useful forward number the company publishes, because it is contracted rather than forecast. Total contracted revenue fell from the January year end, which is normal: the fourth quarter is when most renewals are signed, so the book peaks in January and drains through the year.
4. Five years of ratios
Figure 5. Five margins over five years. Net margin in the trailing year is lifted by the investment marks.
| Ratio | FY2022 | FY2023 | FY2024 | FY2025 | FY2026 | Twelve months to 31 July 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gross margin | 73.5% | 73.3% | 75.5% | 77.2% | 77.7% | 77.3% |
| Operating margin | 2.1% | 3.3% | 14.4% | 19.0% | 20.1% | 19.9% |
| Net margin | 5.5% | 0.7% | 11.9% | 16.4% | 18.0% | 22.0% |
| Research, percent of revenue | 16.9% | 16.1% | 14.1% | 14.5% | 14.4% | 14.5% |
| Marketing and sales, percent of revenue | 44.7% | 43.1% | 36.9% | 35.0% | 34.5% | 34.4% |
| Share based pay, percent of revenue | 10.5% | 10.5% | 8.0% | 8.4% | 8.5% | 8.3% |
| Return on equity | 2.5% | 0.4% | 6.9% | 10.1% | 12.6% | 25.2% |
| Return on assets | 1.5% | 0.2% | 4.1% | 6.0% | 6.6% | 8.8% |
| Revenue per dollar of assets | 0.28 | 0.32 | 0.35 | 0.37 | 0.37 | 0.40 |
| Current ratio | 1.05 | 1.02 | 1.09 | 1.06 | 0.76 | 0.84 |
| Borrowings to equity | 0.18 | 0.18 | 0.16 | 0.14 | 0.24 | 1.02 |
| Goodwill and intangibles to equity | 0.98 | 0.95 | 0.90 | 0.91 | 1.09 | 1.70 |
| Days sales outstanding | 134 | 125 | 120 | 115 | 126 | 53 |
| Free cash flow per dollar of profit | 3.66 | 30.35 | 2.30 | 2.01 | 1.93 | 1.57 |
| Net debt, billions | 0.1 | (1.9) | (4.8) | (5.6) | 4.9 | 27.9 |
Net debt is borrowings less cash and securities; parentheses mean net cash. Return on equity in the trailing year is flattered by the investment marks and the smaller equity base.
The operating margin story of the past four years is real and large: from 2.1% in fiscal 2022 to 20.1% in fiscal 2026, achieved by holding marketing and sales roughly flat in dollars while revenue grew. Share based pay fell from 10.5% of revenue to 8.5%. That turned this year: margin has fallen year on year in both quarters, and goodwill and intangibles are now worth 1.7x book equity.
5. The balance sheet after the repurchase
Figure 6. Cash generated each year against cash returned. The first half of this year broke the pattern.
Figure 7. Net cash became net debt in eighteen months, and book equity is now smaller than the goodwill it carries.
| Billions of dollars | 31 July 2026 | 31 January 2026 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cash and equivalents | 8.3 | 7.3 | 1.0 |
| Marketable securities | 3.1 | 2.2 | 0.9 |
| Accounts receivable | 6.3 | 14.3 | (8.0) |
| Goodwill | 59.2 | 57.9 | 1.3 |
| Intangible assets | 6.1 | 6.8 | (0.7) |
| Strategic investments | 11.3 | 7.6 | 3.7 |
| Total assets | 109.6 | 112.3 | (2.7) |
| Unearned revenue | 18.8 | 24.3 | (5.5) |
| Borrowings, due later | 39.3 | 10.4 | 28.9 |
| Borrowings, due within a year | 0.0 | 4.0 | (4.0) |
| Total liabilities | 71.2 | 53.2 | 18.0 |
| Stockholders equity | 38.4 | 59.1 | (20.7) |
| Equity less goodwill and intangibles | (27.0) | (5.6) | (21.4) |
The change column foots against the rounded columns beside it.
In March 2026 Salesforce issued 25 billion dollars of senior notes across eight tranches maturing between 2028 and 2066, and used 25 billion of it for the largest accelerated share repurchase in its history. The diluted share count fell from 956 million to 821 million, a cut of 14.1%. The purchases were made at an average well above the $151.78 the shares reached in June, and below the price today. Interest expense, which did not exist two years ago, is running at about 1.9 billion dollars a year and is covered 11x by operating income. Net debt of 27.9 billion is 1.8x trailing free cash flow, which is not a strained balance sheet, but it is a different one: the company can no longer answer a bad year by spending its cash pile, because it no longer has one.
6. What the operating business earned
Figure 8. Reported profit against profit with the unrealised investment marks removed and their tax added back.
| Twelve months to 31 July 2026 | Billions of dollars | Per diluted share |
|---|---|---|
| Reported net income | 9.7 | $11.77 |
| Gains on strategic investments | (4.2) | ($5.17) |
| Tax on those gains, added back at 22.2% | 0.9 | $1.15 |
| Core net income | 6.4 | $7.74 |
Salesforce carries private holdings at fair value, so an unrealised change in value runs through the income statement. No cash moves. The largest single holding disclosed in the July quarter Form 10Q is Anthropic.
In the July 2026 quarter alone the line was 2.6 billion dollars, against 6 million in the same quarter a year earlier; the Form 10Q attributes the bulk of it to the company's holding in Anthropic. No cash moved. Earnings a share of $11.77 become $7.74 once the marks come out, and the multiple moves from 21.8x to 33.1x. It reverses too: the line was negative in three of the past five years.
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Share price, 24 August 2026 | $256.00 |
| Diluted shares, millions | 821 |
| Market value of equity, billions | 210.2 |
| Net debt, billions | 27.9 |
| Enterprise value, billions | 238.1 |
| Price to reported earnings | 21.8x |
| Price to core earnings | 33.1x |
| Enterprise value to revenue | 5.4x |
| Enterprise value to free cash flow | 15.7x |
| Enterprise value to free cash flow after share based pay | 20.7x |
| Free cash flow yield on the equity | 7.2% |
| Dividend yield | 0.72% |
Share based pay of 3.7 billion dollars is a real cost that free cash flow does not deduct, so both versions are shown here.
7. The sector: four larger software firms
Figure 9. Growth, operating margin and free cash flow margin against four larger software companies.
| Company | Basis | Currency | Revenue | Growth | Operating margin | Research, % of revenue | Capital spending, % of revenue | Free cash flow | Free cash flow margin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Salesforce | Twelve months to 31 July 2026 | USD | 43.9 | 11.2% | 19.9% | 14.5% | 1.4% | 15.2 | 34.5% |
| Microsoft | Year to 30 June 2026 | USD | 331.8 | 17.8% | 46.8% | 10.7% | 34.9% | 67.0 | 20.2% |
| Oracle | Year to 31 May 2026 | USD | 67.4 | 17.4% | 30.6% | 15.2% | 82.6% | (23.7) | (35.2%) |
| Adobe | Year to 28 November 2025 | USD | 23.8 | 10.5% | 36.6% | 18.1% | 0.8% | 9.9 | 41.5% |
| SAP SE | Year to 31 December 2025 | EUR | 36.8 | 7.7% | 26.1% | 18.0% | 2.0% | 8.4 | 22.9% |
Each company is shown on its own fiscal year, which is why the period ends differ. SAP reports in euros and is not converted. Oracle's free cash flow is negative because its data centre spending now exceeds its operating cash flow. Values are billions.
Salesforce converts more of its revenue to free cash than any of the four except Adobe, and spends less on physical capacity than any of them except Adobe: 1.4% of revenue against 83% at Oracle, which is building data centres and has negative free cash flow as a result. What Salesforce does not have is the growth to justify a premium. Microsoft grew 17.8% at nearly eight times the revenue, and Oracle grew 17.4%. The comparison cuts both ways. Neither is asking investors to accept an operating margin below 20%, and Adobe, the closest match on business model, has lost (44%) over three years on similar growth. The group is being repriced as one.
8. The share price, and what happens on results day
Figure 10. Weekly closes, with the fall from each peak beneath. The shares halved in the eighteen months to June 2026.
Figure 11. Salesforce against the four peers and the market, indexed to 100 five years ago. Only Adobe has done worse.
| Price return to 24 August 2026 | One year | Three years | Five years | Five years, a year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Salesforce | (0.1%) | 22.2% | (4.2%) | (0.8%) |
| Microsoft | 1.4% | 59.0% | 70.5% | 11.3% |
| Oracle | (33.3%) | 30.0% | 67.6% | 10.9% |
| SAP | (18.6%) | 61.2% | 47.9% | 8.1% |
| Adobe | (18.3%) | (44.5%) | (56.3%) | (15.2%) |
| S&P 500 | 19.3% | 74.9% | 69.8% | 11.2% |
Price only, no dividends. The benchmark is an exchange traded fund tracking the S&P 500.
The five year record is the plainest fact here: one hundred dollars put into Salesforce five years ago is worth $96 today, and the same money in the index is worth $170. They fell 58% from the December 2024 peak to the June 2026 trough, then rose 69%.
| Results published | Close the week before | Close that week | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 28 February 2024 | $292.80 | $316.88 | 8.2% |
| 29 May 2024 | $272.29 | $234.44 | (13.9%) |
| 28 August 2024 | $264.00 | $252.90 | (4.2%) |
| 3 December 2024 | $329.99 | $361.99 | 9.7% |
| 26 February 2025 | $309.80 | $297.85 | (3.9%) |
| 28 May 2025 | $273.13 | $265.37 | (2.8%) |
| 3 September 2025 | $256.25 | $250.76 | (2.1%) |
| 3 December 2025 | $230.54 | $260.57 | 13.0% |
| 25 February 2026 | $185.16 | $194.79 | 5.2% |
| 27 May 2026 | $180.07 | $191.10 | 6.1% |
| 26 August 2026 | $209.17 | $256.00 | 22.4% |
The week containing each results day, measured on weekly closes.
Results days have been unkind for two years and then abruptly kind. Eight of the eleven most recent reporting weeks ended lower. The week of 26 August 2026 ended 22.4% higher, the largest weekly rise in the five year series, on a quarter that beat on revenue, raised the full year guide and reported contracted revenue growing faster than revenue.
9. Three cases to January 2029
Figure 12. Three years of weekly closes, then where each case leads by the fiscal year ending January 2029.
| Case | Revenue growth, FY2027 to FY2029 | Operating margin, FY2027 to FY2029 | What has to be true |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bull | 11.5% then 13.0% then 14.0% | 20.1% then 23.5% then 26.5% | Agentforce converts to seats and consumption at the pace of its current ARR growth, the acquisitions carry their own weight, and the operating margin keeps climbing. |
| Base | 11.5% then 10.0% then 9.5% | 20.1% then 22.0% then 23.5% | The guided year lands, growth settles near the rate contracted revenue is currently growing, and margin widens at the pace of the past three years. |
| Bear | 11.0% then 5.5% then 3.0% | 19.5% then 18.5% then 17.0% | Seat based pricing erodes as AI reduces the number of licensed users, acquisitions dilute margin, and the debt raised for the repurchase limits the response. |
The first year of every case sits inside the range Salesforce guided to on 26 August 2026, so the cases separate only from year two.
| Case | FY2027 | FY2028 | FY2029 | Operating margin FY2029 | Earnings per share FY2029 | Exit multiple | Price | Total return | A year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bull | 46.3 | 52.3 | 59.6 | 26.5% | $15.53 | 26x | $404 | 58% | 16.4% |
| Base | 46.3 | 50.9 | 55.8 | 23.5% | $12.14 | 20x | $243 | (5%) | (1.8%) |
| Bear | 46.1 | 48.6 | 50.1 | 17.0% | $6.88 | 14x | $96 | (62%) | (27.8%) |
Revenue in billions of dollars. Each case runs the same arithmetic: revenue grows at the stated rate, the stated operating margin applies, interest of 1.9 billion dollars is deducted at the current run rate, tax is 21%, and the share count falls at the stated repurchase pace. They are not forecasts.
The cases differ in two numbers and one judgement. The numbers are revenue growth and operating margin; the judgement is the multiple a buyer will pay at the end. The base case assumes the guided year lands, growth then settles near the rate contracted revenue is currently growing, and margin widens at the pace of the past three years; on a twenty times exit that is $243 a share, close to today. The bull case needs Agentforce to convert into revenue at something like the pace of its reported annual recurring revenue growth, and gets $404. The bear case is not collapsing demand but a slow squeeze: seat counts fall as agents do work licensed users used to do, growth drops to 3.0%, margin gives back four years of gains and the multiple halves, for $96.
Figure 13. Earnings a share in the year to January 2029 across revenue growth and operating margin, holding interest, tax and the repurchase pace fixed. Bold cells sit closest to the base case.
The grid matters more than the three cases, because it shows which variable the answer depends on. Moving revenue growth from 3% to 15% a year changes earnings a share by about $2.75. Moving the operating margin across its range changes it by roughly $5.46. Margin is the larger lever, and margin is the one management controls.
10. What each risk costs
| Risk | Trigger | Revenue, billions | Earnings per share | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seat erosion from AI | Every 1% of subscription revenue lost to smaller seat counts, at the current operating margin | (0.4) | ($0.40) | Subscription and support is 95% of revenue. Management said in August 2026 the company is still on per user pricing. |
| Refinancing the repurchase debt | Every 1 percentage point on the whole 39.3 billion dollars of borrowings | n/a | ($0.38) | Interest expense is already running at about 1.9 billion dollars a year, against none two years ago. |
| Currency | A 5% adverse move against the currencies of the 35% of revenue billed outside the Americas | (0.7) | ($0.14) | Guidance for the year already carries a 100 million dollar currency headwind. |
| The acquisitions do not compound | Informatica revenue flat rather than growing, on an annualised 1.8 billion dollars | (0.2) | ($0.03) | Informatica contributed about 4 points of the growth guided for this year. |
| The private marks reverse | The trailing year's gains on strategic investments written back | n/a | ($4.02) | These are unrealised marks on holdings the company values itself, not cash. |
| Professional services keeps shrinking | Another 10% off the services line | (0.2) | ($0.01) | Services revenue has fallen every year since FY2023 and earns close to nothing. |
Each line is a single move against the trailing twelve months, held on its own. They are neither additive nor probabilities.
The largest single item is the one that involves no operating event at all. Reversing the trailing year's investment marks would take $4.02 off earnings a share without a customer changing anything. Of the operating risks, seat erosion is the one management itself raised: on the August 2026 call the chief financial officer said the company is still on per user pricing, and that premium editions reach only about five percent of the base. Every one percent of subscription revenue lost to smaller seat counts costs about $0.40.
11. Risk factors, as the filings state them
The risk factors live in Item 1A. The Form 10K for the year to January 2026 sets out 36 of them, and the Form 10Q for the July 2026 quarter restates the same list in full rather than referring back to it, so the current wording is the one filed in August. Forms 8K carry events, not risk factors; the events of the past year are in section 13.
| Category | Headings | What they cover |
|---|---|---|
| Operational and execution | 11 | Security incidents, service outages, reliance on third party data centres, the new company wide resource planning system, sales force restructuring, key personnel |
| Strategic and industry | 7 | Competition from AI native entrants and bundled offerings, the pace of product development, the strategic investment portfolio, the ethics and regulation of artificial intelligence |
| Legal and regulatory | 6 | Privacy and data transfer rules, the EU AI Act and the Utah and Colorado statutes, export controls and sanctions, litigation, government contracts |
| Financial | 5 | Debt service, the effective tax rate, currency, and the lag in ratable revenue recognition |
| Owning the common stock | 4 | Price volatility, quarterly fluctuation, whether the dividend continues, the Delaware anti takeover provision |
| General | 3 | Macroeconomic conditions, catastrophic events, climate change |
| All risk factors | 36 | Of which 13 name a figure, a law or a party |
The six categories are the filing's own. From Item 1A of the Form 10K for the year to 31 January 2026. The Form 10Q for the July 2026 quarter restates the same list in full rather than referring back to it, so the risk factors are current as at that filing.
Most of the 36 carry no figure. Thirteen name something a reader can look up: a dollar amount, a statute, a court case or a party.
| Risk factor | What the filing names |
|---|---|
| Acquisitions / integration risk | Names the November 2025 Informatica acquisition and states the Company 'borrowed the full $6.0 billion available under the Informatica Credit Agreements' to fund the cash consideration, repay Informatica debt, and pay related fees. |
| Debt service / lease / contractual obligations | References the $5.0 billion Revolving Loan Credit Agreement (Credit Facility) and the Informatica Credit Agreements; notes 'a substantial level of outstanding debt, including our Senior Notes.' |
| Subscription renewal / attrition risk | States subscription terms are 'typically 12 to 36 months.' |
| Global tax developments | Names the OECD's Pillar Two, a '15% corporate minimum tax,' the January 2026 OECD 'side by side safe harbor' guidance, and the U.S. One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) creating potential Corporate Alternative Minimum Tax (CAMT) exposure. |
| Governing document / anti takeover provisions | Cites Section 203 of the Delaware General Corporation Law, which 'imposes certain restrictions on merger, business combinations and other transactions between us and holders of 15 percent or more of our common stock.' |
| Privacy / data transfer regulation | Names GDPR, the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA/CPRA), India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act 2023, the EU U.S. Data Privacy Framework, Standard Contractual Clauses, and the 2020 CJEU decision invalidating the EU U.S. Privacy Shield. |
| Industry specific regulation | Names the EU Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA), the EU AI Act, the Utah Artificial Intelligence Policy Act, the Colorado Artificial Intelligence Act, and draft CCPA automated decision making rules, plus the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA). |
| Litigation / third party claims | Names a specific pending matter: a 2020 Dutch lawsuit by 'the Privacy Collective' alleging GDPR/Dutch Telecommunications Act violations, now before the Dutch Supreme Court; also references 'ongoing securities class action litigation and related stockholder derivative claims brought against Slack' (preacquisition matter Salesforce inherited). |
| Stock price volatility / litigation | Again references the preacquisition Slack securities class action as a named example of litigation risk tied to stock volatility. |
| International operations | Names specific geopolitical exposures: 'the evolving relations between the United States and China, the United States and Russia,' the war in Ukraine, and 'the regional conflict in the Middle East.' |
| Sanctions / export controls | Names the U.S. Commerce Department's Export Administration Regulations and the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) as the specific regulatory regimes. |
| Infrastructure / capacity strain (operational) | Names the Q2 FY2026 implementation of a new company wide enterprise resource planning (ERP) system as a specific operational transition risk. |
| Foreign currency exposure | Names the specific currencies: Euro, British Pound Sterling, Japanese Yen, Canadian Dollar, Australian Dollar, Brazilian Real and Indian Rupee, versus the U.S. Dollar. |
The 13 risk factors that carry a figure, a named law or a named party. The other 23 are stated without either.
Two named legal matters run through both the annual and the quarterly report. A Dutch class action brought in 2020 by the Privacy Collective, alleging breaches of European data protection and Dutch telecommunications law, now sits at that country's supreme court. A securities class action inherited with Slack continues. Neither carries a disclosed amount. Against the FY2025 wording, nothing was added or removed: the same 36 headings appear in the same six categories, with the artificial intelligence language deepened inside them, and the acquisition and debt headings rewritten around Informatica.
The calls are more specific than the filing, and the emphasis has moved over the year. Currency and competition come up on nearly every one. Seat based pricing, which the filings do not raise as a risk at all, was named in February and again in August, when the chief financial officer said the company remains on old per user pricing models and that premium editions reach about five percent of the installed base. That is presented as opportunity. It is also the mechanism of the bear case in section 9.
| What management flagged | 3 December 2025 | 25 February 2026 | 27 May 2026 | 26 August 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Currency | A $25 million incremental FX headwind was cited since the prior quarter. | Not raised | Revenue was discussed in both nominal and constant currency terms (e.g., 13% nominal vs. | A $100 million FX headwind versus prior expectations was incorporated into the revised FY2027 guidance, reflecting US dollar strengthening in the quarter. |
| Competition | Acknowledged market share pressure from competitors such as Veeva in the Life Sciences vertical. | Responding to a question on whether foundation model providers could become platforms themselves, Benioff acknowledged "could those models themselves become platforms?" while arguing multiple platforms (iOS, Windows, Mac, HTML) already coexist. | Cited a customer (McAfee) selecting Agentforce ITSM to replace ServiceNow; separately referenced historical uncertainty about how Slack was competing against Microsoft. | Competitive pressure from other enterprise/cloud vendors referenced; management cited ServiceNow customer conversions as a positive counter example. |
| Licences inside the acquired lines | On premises migration in Tableau and MuleSoft was described as creating 'less predictability revenue quarter to quarter.' | Noted "continued weakness in marketing and commerce, weaker than expected Tableau performance," and on premises revenue timing issues in Tableau and MuleSoft. | Greater license revenue volatility was anticipated going forward due to the addition of Informatica's on premises revenue. | Continued volatility and headwinds in license revenue were cited as a partial offset to AI/data product strength. |
| Seat based pricing | Acknowledged migration challenges as customers move to newer commercial frameworks (ILAs, consumption based and seat based SKUs together). | Seats remain 'a key component' of the model, but a consumption based hybrid pricing model is emerging alongside them. | Not raised | Benioff addressed skeptics who 'said that seats would decline'; separately the CFO acknowledged the company remains 'still trapped in some ways in old per user pricing models.' |
| The buying environment | Asia Pacific described as 'more constrained, particularly in Australia and India.' | Referenced 'SaaS apocalypse' talk but characterized market volatility as a 'buying opportunity' rather than a threat. | Not raised | Management flagged that large enterprise software budgets could slow if companies become more cautious; on early marketing cloud recovery signs management said it is 'too soon to call this a sustainable trend.' |
| Turning AI use into revenue | "The last mile is hard because companies need the context" to successfully implement AI/Agentforce. | Analyst questioned how tokens and AWUs translate into monetization; Washington said gross margins would stay 'fairly neutral' near term as token pricing commoditizes, without giving a specific margin model. | Not raised | Only about 5% of knowledge workers have upgraded to premium editions, framed as both upside and execution risk; durability of Agentforce/consumption based revenue is still described as early stage. |
| Growth, and the cost of the repurchase | Not raised | Analyst noted organic CRPO grew about 9%, roughly in line with guidance rather than the 100 to 150 bps beat seen historically; Q4 revenue attrition was cited at approximately 8%. | A roughly 5point headwind to operating/free cash flow growth was attributed to the debt issuance used to fund the $25 billion ASR. | Not raised |
Salesforce does not file its earnings calls with the SEC, so this table comes from published transcripts of the four calls rather than from a filing. Cells paraphrase what a named executive said that day.
12. Owners, votes and insiders
| Holder | Shares, millions | Percent of class | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Vanguard Group | 83.6 | 10.2% | Schedule 13G/A filed 13 February 2024 |
| BlackRock, Inc. | 72.9 | 8.9% | Schedule 13G/A filed 26 January 2024 |
| State Street Corporation | 49.0 | 6.0% | Schedule 13G filed 16 October 2024 |
| Marc Benioff | 22.8 | 2.8% | Chair and chief executive |
From the proxy statement filed 16 April 2026. Salesforce has one class of common stock and one vote a share, so no holder carries voting power beyond its economic stake.
Three index managers hold about a quarter of the company between them, and no holder has votes beyond its shares. That makes the annual meeting a fair temperature check, and this year's reading was cool: the equity plan increase drew 24.2% of votes cast against it, up from 7.4% a year earlier, and the advisory vote on executive pay drew 19.2% against.
| Proposal | Support | Votes for, millions | Votes against, millions | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Election of 13 directors | All elected. Opposition ran from 0.5% against Amy Chang to 6.6% against John V. Roos | 595 | 16 | Approved |
| Amendment and restatement of the 2013 Equity Incentive Plan | 75.8% of votes cast in favour | 464 | 148 | Approved |
| Amendment and restatement of the 2004 Employee Stock Purchase Plan | 99.7% of votes cast in favour | 610 | 2 | Approved |
| Ratification of Ernst & Young LLP as independent auditor for FY2027 | 93.0% of votes cast in favour | 664 | 50 | Approved |
| Advisory vote to approve FY2026 named executive officer compensation | 80.8% of votes cast in favour | 494 | 118 | Approved |
| Stockholder proposal requesting adoption of cumulative voting for director elections | 2.4% of votes cast in favour | 14 | 596 | Rejected |
Annual meeting of 28 May 2026, reported on Form 8K item 5.07. Support is votes for as a share of votes cast for and against, and the director row shows the average across the thirteen nominees. The cumulative voting proposal came from the National Legal and Policy Center. The board opposed it and stockholders rejected it. Abstentions and broker non votes are left out.
| Quarter reported | Managers reporting a position |
|---|---|
| Q2 2025 | 3,070 |
| Q3 2025 | 2,761 |
| Q4 2025 | 3,045 |
| Q1 2026 | 2,892 |
| Q2 2026 | 2,545 |
Counts of Form 13F filers reporting Salesforce, from the quarterly institutional holdings reports. The count fell in four of the five.
| Insider | Role | Shares sold on market | Shares bought on market | Value, millions | Basis |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Benioff Marc | Director, Chair and CEO | 99,122 | 0 | $24.5 | Under a plan adopted in advance |
| Harris Parker | Director, Co Founder and CTO, Slack | 134,662 | 0 | $31.6 | Under a plan adopted in advance |
| KROES NEELIE | Director | 3,893 | 0 | $0.9 | Not under a plan |
| Kirk David Blair | Director | 0 | 7,906 | $1.9 | Not under a plan |
| ALBER LAURA | Director | 0 | 2,571 | $0.5 | Not under a plan |
| Morfit G Mason | Director | 0 | 96,000 | $25.0 | Not under a plan |
Forms 4 filed in the twelve months to 29 August 2026. Option exercises and share settlements are excluded, so the table shows only open market decisions.
Insiders sold 237,677 shares on the open market over the past twelve months, all of it under plans adopted in advance, and bought 106,477. Every purchase was made by a non employee director. No named executive officer bought a single share on the open market in the period, including through the June 2026 trough. The largest purchase was 96,000 shares by the director Mason Morfit at $260.58 in December 2025, well above the price six months later.
13. Material events of the last twelve months
| Filed | Item | What the filing reports |
|---|---|---|
| 26 August 2026 | 2.02, 9.01 | Second quarter results. Revenue of 11.3 billion dollars, up 11%. Contracted revenue due within a year up 14%. Full year revenue guidance raised to between 46.1 and 46.4 billion dollars. |
| 5 August 2026 | 5.02 | Srini Tallapragada stepped down as president and chief engineering and customer success officer, becoming a special adviser to the chief executive for one year. |
| 2 June 2026 | 5.02 | Guy Wanger, a former audit partner on the Salesforce engagement, appointed chief accounting officer from 15 June 2026. |
| 1 June 2026 | 5.07, 5.02, 9.01 | Annual meeting results. All 13 directors re elected, the equity plan and the employee share purchase plan both enlarged, the auditor ratified, and a shareholder proposal for cumulative voting rejected. |
| 27 May 2026 | 2.02, 9.01 | First quarter results. Revenue of 11.1 billion dollars, up 13%. Operating cash flow of 6.7 billion dollars. The 25 billion dollar accelerated repurchase disclosed, covering about 103 million shares. |
| 16 March 2026 | 7.01, 9.01 | Prepayment and initial delivery under the 25 billion dollar accelerated repurchase, about 103 million shares, roughly 80% of the expected total. |
| 13 March 2026 | 1.01, 2.03, 9.01 | Completed a public offering of 25.0 billion dollars of senior notes in eight tranches maturing between 2028 and 2066, with coupons from 4.500% to 6.700%. |
| 12 March 2026 | 1.01, 2.03, 9.01 | Entered the 25 billion dollar accelerated repurchase agreements with five banks, the underwriting agreement for the notes, and a new 6 billion dollar five year credit agreement that repaid the Informatica term loans. |
| 6 March 2026 | 5.02 | Robin Washington, chief operating and financial officer, took on the principal accounting officer role in an internal finance reorganisation. |
| 25 February 2026 | 2.02, 9.01 | Fourth quarter and full year results. Revenue of 41.5 billion dollars, up 10%. A new 50 billion dollar repurchase authorisation replaced all prior ones and the dividend rose 5.8%. |
| 3 December 2025 | 2.02, 9.01 | Third quarter results. Revenue of 10.3 billion dollars, up 9%. Informatica noted as completed, and full year revenue guidance raised. |
| 18 November 2025 | 2.03, 7.01, 9.01 | Completed the acquisition of Informatica, drawing the full 4 billion dollars under the 364 day credit agreement and the full 2 billion under the three year agreement to fund it. |
| 15 October 2025 | 7.01, 9.01 | Investor day at Dreamforce. A new long term revenue target and a profitable growth framework were announced, with a presentation posted. |
| 3 September 2025 | 2.02, 8.01, 9.01 | Second quarter results, with a 20 billion dollar increase to the repurchase authorisation from about 5.7 billion remaining. |
Every Form 8K filed in the twelve months to 29 August 2026, newest first, summarised from the filing body or its exhibits.
Every figure in this report was checked against the filing it came from before it was used. All 19 tests passed.
| Check | Periods | Tests | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
| Four quarters against the audited year | FY2025 and FY2026 | 2 | Passed |
| Service offerings against subscription revenue | FY2022 to FY2026 | 5 | Passed |
| Regions against total revenue | FY2022 to FY2026 | 5 | Passed |
| Subscription plus services against total | FY2022 to FY2026 | 5 | Passed |
| Assets against liabilities plus equity | 31 January 2026 and 31 July 2026 | 2 | Passed |
Method, sources and limitations. Statement data were extracted from the XBRL instance documents of ten filings: the Forms 10K for fiscal 2022 through 2026 and the Forms 10Q for the first three quarters of fiscal 2026 and the first two of fiscal 2027, supplemented by the earnings releases filed as exhibit 99.1 to the Forms 8K of 26 August 2026, 27 May 2026, 25 February 2026 and 3 December 2025. Ownership comes from the proxy statement of 16 April 2026, the vote results from the Form 8K of 1 June 2026, institutional holdings from Forms 13F and insider dealing from Forms 4. Share prices are weekly closing prices from a market data feed, not from a filing. Salesforce files no fourth quarter Form 10Q, so those quarters are the audited year less the three filed quarters. Reconciliations performed and passed, 19 of 19: four quarters to the audited year for fiscal 2025 and 2026; service offerings to subscription revenue in every year; regions to consolidated revenue in every year; subscription plus services to total; assets to liabilities plus equity at both dates. Columns are rounded independently, so a row can differ from the sum of its parts by a tenth of a billion. There are four limitations. The annual recurring revenue figures for Agentforce and Data 360 appear only in the earnings release tie to no statement line. The fiscal 2027 outcome rests on company guidance and every forward figure inherits it. The count of managers holding the stock is exact, but the total shares they hold could not be summed across every filer. The table of what management flagged on the calls comes from published transcripts, because Salesforce does not file them. Nothing here is investment advice, and the cases are only arithmetic.
