Atlassian vs. Salesforce: Which Cloud Software Stock Has an Edge?

Atlassian TEAM and Salesforce CRM are two of the most important enterprise cloud software companies, helping large organizations modernize operations, automate workflows and manage critical business processes.

While both benefit from long-term digital transformation trends, their business momentum and execution profiles differ meaningfully. For investors trying to choose between these two software leaders, a closer look at their fundamentals, growth outlook and risks helps determine which stock currently offers a stronger investment case.

The Case for Atlassian Stock

Atlassian is seeing higher AI adoption help drive customer expansion. In the fourth quarter of fiscal 2026, revenues rose 28% year over year, while cloud revenues grew 31% year over year. Further, RPO increased 44% year over year, and subscription ARR grew 23% year over year. Management said customers are signing larger deals, adding more seats and using more Atlassian products as they adopt AI.

Rovo is playing an important role in this trend. More than 80% of Fortune 500 companies now use Rovo, while Rovo-assisted actions increased 50% sequentially in the fourth quarter. Atlassian said customers using Rovo are growing their ARR at more than twice the rate of non-adopters. The company is also seeing customers expand Rovo into more workflows and business functions, which could create more opportunities for cross-selling and seat expansion.

The Teamwork Graph is another key part of Atlassian's AI strategy. The graph now spans more than 200 billion objects and connections and is designed to give AI agents better access to enterprise data and context. Management said AI and the Teamwork Graph are among the top two reasons customers upgrade to the cloud and Teamwork Collection. The company also reported record activity in large enterprise deals, with customers generating more than $3 million in ARR growing over 50% year over year and those with more than $5 million growing over 70%.

However, Atlassian's long-term AI strategy requires significant upfront investment, which may continue to weigh on GAAP profitability despite strong revenue growth. Atlassian expects a 6.5% GAAP operating margin in the first quarter of fiscal 2027 and 4.5% for fiscal 2027 compared with a 12% GAAP operating margin in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2026. This shows that Atlassian expects significantly lower profitability in fiscal 2027 than it achieved in the latest quarter.

Further, Atlassian also expects subscription annual recurring revenue (ARR) growth to slow to 18% in fiscal 2027, down from 23% in fiscal 2026. Management said the fiscal 2027 outlook reflects caution around the macro environment, fiscal policy and geopolitical conditions. While demand in the fourth quarter remained strong, the combination of slower ARR growth and a drop in GAAP operating margin could limit earnings growth and might weigh on Atlassian’s ability to turn its strong AI and enterprise demand into higher profits in fiscal 2027.

The Case for Salesforce Stock

Salesforce's Agentforce platform is becoming one of the company's key growth drivers as customers increase spending on AI-powered products. Agentforce's ARR exceeded $1 billion in the first quarter of fiscal 2027, making Agentforce one of Salesforce's fastest-growing businesses. The strong momentum can be attributed to customers who are moving beyond AI pilots and deploying the technology in production.

Agentforce is also helping Salesforce generate larger deals. The company closed a record 98 deals worth more than $1 million in new annual contract value during the first quarter. Management stated that demand for Agentforce, Data 360 and Slack was a major contributor to this performance.

Customer expansion remains another important driver. About 50% of Agentforce and Data 360 bookings came from existing customers who increased their spending with Salesforce. Management noted that its top 10 customers by Agentforce usage increased their overall Salesforce spending by 1.5 times over the past year.

Usage trends indicate that adoption is still growing. During the first quarter, Salesforce processed 28.6 trillion AI tokens, up 152% sequentially, and generated 3.8 billion agentic work units, up 111% sequentially. Agentforce is being used across customer service, sales, IT and other business functions. Salesforce's own support organization has used Agentforce to handle more than four million customer inquiries.

The platform is also supporting growth across Salesforce's broader business. Bookings for premium AI offerings grew nearly 60% year over year in the first quarter. With Agentforce ARR exceeding $1 billion, along with growing customer adoption, the platform remains one of the key growth drivers for Salesforce and continues to play an important part in the company's long-term AI strategy.

How Do Earnings Estimates Compare for TEAM & CRM?

CRM has a steady earnings growth outlook compared with TEAM.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for TEAM’s fiscal 2027 EPS is pinned at $5.69, revised downward by 7 cents over the past seven days, indicating a year-over-year decline of 2.7%.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for CRM’s fiscal 2027 EPS is pinned at $14.16, revised upward by 4 cents over the past 30 days, indicating year-over-year growth of 13.1%.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

TEAM vs. CRM: Price Performance and Valuation

Over the past year, shares of TEAM and CRM have plunged 4.1% and 19.6%, respectively.

TEAM Vs. CRM: 1-Year Price Return Performance

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

Currently, CRM is trading at a forward sales multiple of 3.32X, lower than TEAM’s forward sales multiple of 5.44X. CRM’s reasonable valuation makes it more attractive for investors looking for value and stability.

TEAM vs. CRM: Forward 12-Month P/S Ratio

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

Conclusion: CRM Has an Edge Over TEAM

Both Atlassian and Salesforce are well-positioned to benefit from the AI wave. However, Atlassian faces near-term risks from higher AI spending, lower expected GAAP operating margins and slower ARR growth, all of which could weigh on the company’s profitability in fiscal 2027.

In contrast, Salesforce shows steadier execution, where the company is witnessing strong adoption of its AI products and its earnings estimates are being revised upward. CRM’s reasonable valuation offers some downside protection as well, giving CRM a clear edge over TEAM.

Currently, CRM carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold), giving the stock a clear edge over TEAM, which has a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).

You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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