Salesforce Stock Just Soared. Thank Anthropic.

Salesforce stock surged nearly 23% on Thursday after reporting impressive results for its fiscal second quarter of 2027. The company's adjusted earnings per share reached $5.90, a massive 103% increase compared to the previous year. However, what truly caught the attention was the contribution of more than 40% of the reported profit from strategic investments.

Gains from these investments amounted to $2.53 of the $5.90 adjusted earnings per share, and $2.43 of the $4.29 earnings per share under Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). Salesforce's portfolio of strategic investments includes a significant stake in Anthropic, an artificial intelligence (AI) model developer. This stake is worth approximately $5.1 billion, with the company's share in Anthropic's portfolio increasing from 22% at the end of January to 45% by the end of July.

In May, Anthropic had raised funding that valued the company at $965 billion. Salesforce also announced a partnership, called Claudeforce, which integrates Salesforce's data and workflows into Anthropic's Claude chatbot, enabling sellers to review deals and pipelines and update records from within the chatbot. While the software business itself delivered a solid quarter, it wasn't a doubled one.

The earnings release highlighted that more than 40% of the quarter's reported profit didn't come from selling software. Salesforce's strategic investment portfolio, consisting of over 450 companies with a combined carrying value of $11.3 billion, contributed significantly to the earnings. Anthropic's stake in the portfolio grew rapidly, accounting for about 45% by the end of July.

The collaboration with Anthropic is seen as a positive development, addressing concerns about AI posing a threat to Salesforce's business and potentially presenting an opportunity instead.