Can Salesforce's Data 360 Push Drive Its Next Phase of Sales Growth?

Salesforce, Inc. CRM is betting on Data 360, previously known as Data Cloud, to revive growth at a time when its revenue expansion has slowed to single digits. For years, the company has delivered strong double-digit revenue increases. However, that pace has now cooled to single digits. In the first, second and third quarters of fiscal 2026, revenues rose 7.6%, 9.8% and 8.6%, respectively, year over year.

Salesforce is building a broader ecosystem focused on artificial intelligence (AI), data and collaboration to cope with the slowing top-line growth trend. Data 360 is now central to this strategy. Data 360 combines Salesforce’s data tools into a unified offering. It aims to help companies manage, connect, and activate their data in real time. This can make data more useful for sales, service, and marketing teams.

Salesforce is integrating the Data 360 platform with its other tools, like Agentforce and Mulesoft. These integrations are helping enterprises easily analyze their data and apply AI across operations. This could drive higher-value contracts for Salesforce, aiding top-line growth.

Salesforce’s Data 360 platform is gaining solid momentum. Combined with Agentforce, these AI-driven offerings brought in $1.4 billion in recurring revenues in the third quarter of fiscal 2026, representing a 114% year-over-year increase. The company estimates that its data-related business could generate around $10 billion annually by fiscal 2027. With a consumption-based pricing model, we believe that the revenue growth potential for the Data 360 platform is significant.

Overall, Data 360 is providing Salesforce with a clearer path to reaccelerate growth. However, the durability of this shift will depend on sustained adoption and consistent execution across its various cloud segments. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for fiscal 2026 and 2027 indicates that revenues will increase 9.5% and 11%, respectively, year over year.

How Competitors Fare Against Salesforce

Salesforce faces intensified competition from Microsoft Corporation MSFT and Snowflake Inc. SNOW in the data cloud space.

Microsoft offers data services through its Azure Data platform. The company has already integrated the platform with its other productivity tools, including Power Platform, Dynamics 365 and Copilot AI, to enhance user experience and attract new clients. Many companies already use Microsoft’s cloud and productivity software, making it easy to add its data services.

Snowflake is another major competitor, known for its powerful cloud-based data warehouse. Unlike Salesforce, Snowflake focuses only on data, allowing companies to store, process and share large volumes easily. It also supports multiple clouds and has strong analytics tools.

Salesforce’s Price Performance, Valuation and Estimates

Shares of Salesforce have plunged 19.8% over the past year against the Zacks Computer – Software industry’s growth of 10.5%.

Salesforce One-Year Price Return Performance

From a valuation standpoint, CRM trades at a forward price-to-earnings ratio of 20.07, significantly below the industry’s average of 28.31.

Salesforce Forward 12-Month P/E Ratio

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Salesforce’s fiscal 2026 and 2027 earnings implies a year-over-year increase of approximately 15.3% and 10.4%, respectively. Estimates for fiscal 2026 and 2027 have been revised upward in the past 30 days.

Salesforce currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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