Salesforce Lands Pentagon AI Deal and Unveils $25B Buyback as Stock Tries to Recover

Despite a brutal first quarter, Salesforce counters with a $5.6B Pentagon AI framework, a $25B buyback, and insider buying, aiming to reverse market sentiment.

Salesforce shareholders endured a brutal first quarter, with the stock collapsing roughly 31% year-to-date. Yet the software giant has suddenly produced two powerful counterweights: a massive Pentagon framework agreement and a hefty capital return program that together signal the company isn’t waiting for market sentiment to turn.

The most immediate catalyst came this week when the U.S. Air Force signed a $72 million enterprise license contract, giving both the Air Force and Space Force access to Salesforce’s Agentforce AI platform. That single deal, however, sits inside a far larger $5.6 billion blanket agreement with the Department of Defense, opening the door for Salesforce to embed its technology in security-sensitive programs across the military.

Agentforce is designed to automate routine tasks such as support workflows, data management and cloud-based processes inside protected environments. For Salesforce, the Pentagon tie-up arrives at a critical juncture. The stock currently trades at around €150.20, up nearly 5% on the day, but that still leaves it nursing a year-to-date loss of over 30%.

Beyond government clients, Salesforce is pushing Agentforce deeper into the private sector. The company is working with Moderna on Agentforce Life Sciences, a specialised solution aimed at unifying global operations and injecting AI tools into drugmaker workflows. Meanwhile, the Informatica acquisition — completed in late 2025 for roughly $8 billion — contributed nearly $400 million in revenue in its most recent fourth quarter. Management views Informatica’s data integration capabilities as the backbone for AI and governance, reasoning that AI products are only as effective as the data they run on.

The Pentagon deal is not the only vote of confidence in Salesforce’s turnaround. Insider buying has picked up noticeably. In March, board members Laura Alber and David Blair Kirk each purchased shares at prices above $194 — well above the current €149 level, even after today’s bounce. Separately, Ameritas Advisory Services nearly tripled its position last quarter, while Julius Bär trimmed its holdings slightly.

On the corporate finance side, Salesforce has unveiled a $25 billion share buyback authorization, along with a higher quarterly dividend of $0.44 per share. The moves underscore the company’s financial strength: fourth?quarter revenue rose more than 12% year over year to $11.2 billion, and earnings per share beat analyst estimates comfortably. Management is guiding for fiscal 2027 EPS of up to $13.19.

The strategic push extends to product architecture. Salesforce is leaning into so?called “headless” software — applications that operate without a traditional user interface, built specifically for AI. This approach shifts the competitive battleground from user experience to the data layer, making it harder for rivals to replicate Salesforce’s integrations once clients are locked into its data structures.

Despite these efforts, the market remains skeptical. The average analyst price target sits around $268–$279, a chasm from today’s levels that underscores how far expectations have drifted from current market sentiment. Salesforce’s roughly $41.5 billion revenue base provides a solid floor, but it does not yet supply the growth acceleration investors crave.

Two key dates are on the horizon. At the end of May 2026, Salesforce will report first?quarter results, followed by the annual general meeting in June, where board mandates and executive compensation will face shareholder votes. Until then, the Air Force contract and the buyback program offer tangible proof of progress — but neither fully replaces the need for a sustained earnings rebound.