Salesforce Bets on Data 360: Will It Power CRM's Next Growth Cycle?

Salesforce, Inc. CRM is placing a strong bet on the Data 360 platform, previously known as Data Cloud, as a key pillar for its next growth phase. Data 360 combines CRM’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.

The Data 360 platform is a part of Salesforce’s broader ecosystem focused on artificial intelligence (AI), data and collaboration to cope with the slowing top-line growth trend. For years, the company has delivered strong double-digit revenue increases. However, that pace has cooled to single digits over the past two fiscal years. In fiscal 2025 and 2026, CRM registered top-line growth of 8.7% and 9.6%, respectively.

Salesforce’s Data 360 is anticipated to play a crucial role in sales growth revival. The company 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 $2.9 billion in recurring revenues in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2026, representing a 200% year-over-year increase. The company estimates that its data-related business could generate annual revenues of around $10 billion 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. The durability of this shift will depend on sustained adoption and consistent execution across its various cloud segments. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for fiscal 2027 and 2028 indicates that revenues will increase 10.9% and 9.3%, respectively, year over year.

Salesforce’s Competitors in the Data Cloud Space

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 33.2% over the past year compared with the Zacks Internet – Software industry’s decline of 12.5%.

Salesforce One-Year Price Return Performance

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From a valuation standpoint, CRM trades at a forward price-to-earnings ratio of 13.44, significantly below the industry’s average of 24.22.

Salesforce Forward 12-Month P/E Ratio

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The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Salesforce’s fiscal 2027 and 2028 earnings implies a year-over-year increase of approximately 4.6% and 11.9%, respectively. Estimates for fiscal 2026 and 2027 have been revised upward in the past 30 days.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

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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