Shares of Salesforce popped more than 8% Wednesday, a day after the company reported third-quarter results that exceeded analysts’ estimates for revenue and guidance and showed strong promise for its artificial intelligence offerings.

In its third quarter, Salesforce posted revenue of $9.44 billion, up 8% from the $9.34 billion expected by LSEG. Net income in the quarter was $1.5 billion, up 25% from $1.2 billion in the previous quarter.

For fiscal 2025, Salesforce raised revenue guidance to $37.8 billion to $38 billion, a slight increase from its previous guidance of $37.7 billion to $38 billion. Salesforce’s revenue guidance for fiscal 2025 is now $37.9 billion, higher than analysts’ predictions.

Salesforce’s earnings exceeded analyst estimates.

According to Morgan Stanley analysts, “the force is strong with this one.” They reiterated their overweight rating. Salesforce has made a strong start with its artificial intelligence agent, Agentforce, closing over 200 deals in the quarter and closing “thousands” more in the future, according to the analysts.

Many companies believe that advanced chatbots powered by large language models represent the next logical step from ChatGPT and other tools based on large language models, such as Salesforce’s Agentforce.

Goldman Sachs analysts raised their Salesforce price target from $360 to $400 and reiterated their buy rating on the stock. The analysts said the company’s Data Cloud and Agentforce are driving “notable pipeline generation,” and they’re starting to contribute to the fundamentals of the business.

“We believe that Salesforce remains poised to be one of the most strategic application software companies in the $1tn+ TAM cloud industry and is on a path to $50bn in revenue,” the analysts said in a Tuesday note.

Additionally, Bank of America analysts reiterated their buy rating on Salesforce, raising their price target to $440 from $390 following Salesforce’s third-quarter results.

As for Salesforce’s margin expansion, analysts claim a meaningful pipeline exists in the service and sales sectors, despite the emerging AI agent product cycle.

“According to the commentary, Agentforce is not assumed to contribute to the guide, suggesting an early Agentforce deal closure could provide upside,” they wrote.