Salesforce Posts Record $11.1 Billion Q1 and $25 Billion Debt-Funded Buyback
Salesforce reported record first-quarter fiscal 2027 results today, with revenue of $11.1 billion — up 13% year-over-year — and a sweeping capital-return program that quadrupled the company’s long-term debt load.
The quarter ended April 30, 2026.
What: The Headline Numbers
| Metric | Q1 FY27 | YoY Change |
|---|---|---|
| Total revenue | $11.1B | +13% |
| Subscription & support | $10.6B | +14% |
| GAAP operating margin | 21.1% | — |
| Non-GAAP operating margin | 34.8% | — |
| GAAP diluted EPS | $2.42 | +52% |
| Non-GAAP diluted EPS | $3.88 | +50% |
| Operating cash flow | $6.7B | low single-digit |
| Free cash flow | $6.6B | low single-digit |
How: The Buyback Mechanics
In the quarter Salesforce returned $27.5 billion to shareholders — $27.1 billion in share repurchases and $365 million in dividends — and entered into a $25 billion accelerated share repurchase with upfront delivery of 103 million shares (~80% of the total expected to be repurchased) and final settlement targeted for Q3 FY27.
The ASR was funded by new debt. Noncurrent debt jumped from $10.4 billion to $39.3 billion as of April 30, 2026 — nearly a fourfold increase in a single quarter. The company updated its full-year free cash flow growth guidance to roughly 4% to 5% to reflect the debt issuance.
Guidance: Raising the Midpoint
For FY27, Salesforce now guides:
- Revenue: $45.9 billion to $46.2 billion (~11% YoY growth), including approximately three points of contribution from Informatica
- GAAP diluted EPS: $7.93 to $7.99
- Non-GAAP diluted EPS: $14.06 to $14.12
- Non-GAAP operating margin: 34.3% (reaffirmed)
- GAAP operating margin: 20.6% (updated)
For Q2 FY27, the company guides revenue of $11.27 billion to $11.35 billion, up 10% to 11% year-over-year.
Why: A Bet on Profitable Growth
The combination of accelerating growth, expanding margins and a debt-funded buyback signals a company prioritizing capital efficiency and shareholder returns. The “AI CRM” framing also points to where management expects the next leg of growth to come from — agentic AI products built on top of the Salesforce platform and the recently integrated Informatica data fabric.
The flip side: leverage. The balance sheet now carries materially more debt than it did at the start of the quarter, and the buyback was structured at the same time other enterprise-software peers — including Workday, Zoom, Box and Lightspeed — are reporting their own Q1 FY27 results with shareholder returns front-and-center.