Salesforce's earnings exceed expectations and AI deals pipeline remains robust

• On Wednesday, Salesforce's stock price decreased, despite the company's third-quarter results being better than expected the previous day.
• The Salesforce AI agent product, Agentforce, has been well-received by analysts, as the company recorded over 200 related deals in the quarter.
• In the third quarter, Salesforce's revenue increased by 8% compared to the previous year, reaching a total of $9.44 billion.

On Wednesday, the company's shares rose more than 8% after its third-quarter results surpassed analysts' revenue and guidance expectations, and its AI offerings showed promising results.

In the third quarter, Salesforce's revenue increased by 8% year over year to $9.44 billion, surpassing the $9.34 billion forecasted by LSEG. Additionally, the company's net income grew by 25% to $1.5 billion from $1.2 billion in the previous year.

Salesforce has raised its revenue guidance for fiscal 2025 to between $37.8 billion and $38 billion, a slight increase from its previous guidance of $37.7 billion to $38 billion. The new range puts the midpoint of Salesforce's revenue guidance at $37.9 billion, which is ahead of analysts' expectations.

Morgan Stanley analysts maintained their overweight rating on Salesforce stock, asserting in a note that "the force is strong with this one." They expressed optimism about the company's artificial intelligence agent, Agentforce, which exceeded expectations with over 200 deals closed during the quarter and thousands more in the pipeline.

An example of AI agent technology is Salesforce's Agentforce. Some companies view these advanced chatbots as the next step forward from ChatGPT and other language model-powered tools.

Goldman Sachs analysts increased their Salesforce price target from $360 to $400 and maintained their buy rating on the stock. The analysts stated that the company's Data Cloud and Agentforce are generating significant pipeline, contributing to the business's fundamental growth.

The analysts predict that Salesforce will continue to be a leading application software company in the $1tn+ TAM cloud industry and is on track to achieve $50bn in revenue.

Bank of America analysts stated that Salesforce's third-quarter results indicate that Agentforce is leading the way, and they maintained their buy rating on the stock. Additionally, they increased their price target from $390 to $440.

Salesforce's margin expansion is not being hindered by the emergence of AI agent products, and there is a significant pipeline in both the service and sales sectors, according to analysts.

No contribution from Agentforce is assumed in the guide, and early closure of the Agentforce deal could provide an upside, according to commentary.

--CNBC's Michael Bloom and Jonathan Vanian contributed to this report