SAN FRANCISCO & SUNNYVALE, Calif. - Salesforce (NYSE: NYSE:CRM) and Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Cloud have announced an expanded partnership to develop Salesforce Agentforce Agents, which will allow for secure collaboration across Salesforce Customer 360 and Google Workspace (LON:WKP) applications. This development builds on the existing integrations between the two platforms, enabling customers to create and deploy AI agents that operate seamlessly within their daily-used apps, with strong privacy and data protection measures in place.
The integration is set to be generally available later this year and aims to enhance productivity by allowing the creation of custom AI agents with skills that span across Google Workspace and Salesforce Customer 360. For instance, the Agentforce Sales Development Representative (SDR) Agent will be capable of engaging with prospects around the clock, handling inquiries, overcoming objections, and scheduling meetings by utilizing CRM and external data.
In addition, these agents will be able to perform Google Workspace actions, such as generating documents and slides from templates and securely incorporating information from Gmail and Docs into Salesforce to update records and initiate workflows.
The partnership leverages the existing connection between Salesforce Data Cloud and Google BigQuery, grounding AI agents in comprehensive data from both platforms. This integration enables more accurate and trustworthy AI responses, as seen with the Merchant Agent which supports e-commerce merchandisers by utilizing BigQuery data on purchasing trends, advertising expenditure, and customer segmentation.
Salesforce's Executive Vice President, Brian Landsman, highlighted the significance of this collaboration, emphasizing the creation of the world's first agent ecosystem with partners like Google Cloud. Stephen Orban, Vice President of Partnerships at Google Cloud, also expressed enthusiasm for the partnership, noting that it brings together platforms used by millions to enhance productivity with enterprise-grade trust and accuracy.
These Agentforce Agent Actions for Google Workspace will be accessible on the Salesforce AppExchange later in the year.
This announcement is based on a press release statement and reflects the current status of the services, which are subject to change. Customers are advised to base their purchase decisions on features that are currently available.
In other recent news, Salesforce has made significant strides in its growth trajectory. The global CRM leader recently unveiled Agentforce, an innovative AI suite designed to boost business efficiency by automating tasks and data analysis. The company has also announced its intention to acquire Own Company, a data protection and management solutions provider, in a strategic $1.9 billion deal aimed at enhancing Salesforce's data security and compliance capabilities.
On the financial front, Salesforce reported strong second-quarter earnings with earnings per share of $2.56, surpassing the consensus estimate of $2.36 and the previous year's $2.12 figure. The company also saw an 8% increase in sales, driven by a 9% rise in subscription and support revenues.
Several financial firms have adjusted their price targets for Salesforce. Notably, Erste Group downgraded Salesforce's stock from Buy to Hold due to projected slower growth, while Deutsche Bank (ETR:DBKGn) and CFRA maintained their Buy and Strong Buy ratings respectively.
In executive news, Salesforce's CFO, Amy Weaver, has announced her plans to step down in early 2025 but will remain on board to assist with the search for her successor. These are the recent developments for Salesforce.
InvestingPro Insights
As Salesforce (NYSE: CRM) continues to innovate through strategic partnerships, like its recent expansion with Google Cloud, the company's financial health and market performance provide valuable context for investors. Salesforce boasts a robust gross profit margin of 76.35% over the last twelve months as of Q1 2023, underscoring its efficiency in generating revenue relative to the cost of goods sold. This impressive margin is a testament to the company's strong position in the Software industry, which is further reinforced by its significant market capitalization of $245.61 billion.
InvestingPro Tips highlight that Salesforce has a perfect Piotroski Score of 9, indicating a very healthy financial state, and that management has been actively buying back shares, signaling confidence in the company's future prospects. Additionally, a noteworthy 23 analysts have revised their earnings upwards for the upcoming period, suggesting that Salesforce's financial trajectory is on an upward trend.
In terms of valuation, Salesforce is trading at a P/E ratio of 44.2, which, when adjusted for the last twelve months as of Q1 2023, comes down to 40.76. While this may indicate a premium pricing for the company's earnings, it's important to note that the PEG ratio—a metric that relates the P/E ratio to the company's earnings growth rate—is at a low 0.17, hinting that the company's earnings growth may justify a higher P/E ratio.
For those interested in diving deeper into Salesforce's financials and market performance, InvestingPro offers additional insights and tips. At the time of writing, there are 13 more InvestingPro Tips available, which can be accessed at https://www.investing.com/pro/CRM for those looking for a more comprehensive analysis.
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