Software makers' best may not be good enough as AI fears mount

By Aditya Soni and Deborah ‌Mary Sophia

April 22 (Reuters) - ​Salesforce ​will likely report its fastest quarterly revenue growth in three years, but analysts say that may not be enough, as fears that artificial ‌intelligence would decimate software makers have sapped investor confidence in the ⁠industry.

Software CEOs such as Salesforce's Marc Benioff have tried to reassure shareholders that proprietary data, decades ‌of enterprise experience and in-house ‌AI offerings would keep customers loyal, even as AI tools from the likes of Anthropic encroach on legal, marketing and customer-service work.

But that has not stemmed ​a selloff in the sector, with the software and services index down around 16% since the start of the year, widely underperforming the broader S&P ⁠500's 3.2% rise.

• ServiceNow will kick off earnings for major software-as-a-service firms on Wednesday, followed by Workday and Salesforce ​likely in May.

• Wall Street expects Salesforce's first-quarter revenue to have increased 12.5% to $9.83 billion, its fastest growth in 13 quarters, ​according to analysts polled by LSEG.

• But profit ‌growth at the company, one of the most aggressive AI adopters with its Agentforce autonomous agent platform, will likely slow to ⁠a near three-year low as costs rise.

• Meanwhile, ServiceNow is expected to post slightly faster quarterly revenue growth of 21.1%, while Workday's revenue will likely increase at a slightly slower ⁠pace at 12.4%.

• "From a short-term stock market perspective, nothing (software) companies report this quarter or next quarter ​can really refute that long-term bear case," said Joe Maginot, portfolio manager at Madison Investments.

• "It's this more existential question on how things will evolve over the coming three, four, five years ‌and even longer."

• Experts expect software makers to use earnings to show more aggressively how AI is boosting revenue, how ‌wide their adoption is and whether they are helping retain customers.

• "The opportunity is there for ⁠many incumbents to be successful, ‌especially as the rollout of ​AI in enterprise is going to take many years," Bernstein analysts said.

(Reporting by Aditya Soni and Deborah Sophia in Bengaluru; Editing by ‌Maju Samuel)

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