Earnings results often indicate what direction a company will take in the months ahead. With Q4 behind us, let’s have a look at Salesforce (NYSE: CRM) and its peers.

Companies need to be able to interact with and sell to their customers as efficiently as possible. This reality coupled with the ongoing migration of enterprises to the cloud drives demand for cloud-based customer relationship management (CRM) software that integrates data analytics with sales and marketing functions.

The 4 sales software stocks we track reported a strong Q4. As a group, revenues beat analysts’ consensus estimates by 1.8% while next quarter’s revenue guidance was in line.

While some sales software stocks have fared somewhat better than others, they have collectively declined. On average, share prices are down 3.8% since the latest earnings results.

Salesforce (NYSE: CRM)

With its cloud-based platform named after its stock ticker symbol CRM (Customer Relationship Management), Salesforce (NYSE: CRM) provides customer relationship management software that helps businesses connect with their customers across sales, service, marketing, and commerce.

Salesforce reported revenues of $11.2 billion, up 12.1% year on year. This print was in line with analysts’ expectations, and overall, it was a very strong quarter for the company with a solid beat of analysts’ billings estimates and an impressive beat of analysts’ EBITDA estimates.

Salesforce delivered the weakest performance against analyst estimates and weakest full-year guidance update of the whole group. Unsurprisingly, the stock is down 3% since reporting and currently trades at $185.93.

Is now the time to buy Salesforce? Access our full analysis of the earnings results here, it’s free.

Best Q4: HubSpot (NYSE: HUBS)

Born from the idea that traditional interruptive marketing was becoming less effective, HubSpot (NYSE: HUBS) provides an integrated platform that helps businesses attract, engage, and manage customer relationships through marketing, sales, service, and content management tools.

HubSpot reported revenues of $846.7 million, up 20.4% year on year, outperforming analysts’ expectations by 2%. The business had a very strong quarter with a solid beat of analysts’ billings estimates and EPS guidance for next quarter exceeding analysts’ expectations.

HubSpot achieved the fastest revenue growth among its peers. The market seems happy with the results as the stock is up 11.1% since reporting. It currently trades at $232.60.

Is now the time to buy HubSpot? Access our full analysis of the earnings results here, it’s free.

Weakest Q4: Freshworks (NASDAQ: FRSH)

Starting as a customer service solution before expanding into a comprehensive software suite, Freshworks (NASDAQ: FRSH) provides AI-powered software-as-a-service solutions that help companies manage customer service, IT support, sales, and marketing functions.

Freshworks reported revenues of $222.7 million, up 14.5% year on year, exceeding analysts’ expectations by 1.8%. Still, it was a mixed quarter as it posted full-year EPS guidance missing analysts’ expectations significantly.

As expected, the stock is down 4.1% since the results and currently trades at $8.37.

Read our full analysis of Freshworks’s results here.

ZoomInfo (NASDAQ: GTM)

Operating a platform it calls "RevOS" - short for Revenue Operating System - ZoomInfo (NASDAQ: GTM) provides sales, marketing, and recruiting teams with business intelligence and analytics to identify prospects and deliver targeted outreach.

ZoomInfo reported revenues of $319.1 million, up 3.2% year on year. This result surpassed analysts’ expectations by 3.2%. Taking a step back, it was a mixed quarter as it also recorded a decent beat of analysts’ annual recurring revenue estimates but full-year guidance of slowing revenue growth.

ZoomInfo pulled off the biggest analyst estimates beat but had the slowest revenue growth among its peers. The stock is down 19.1% since reporting and currently trades at $5.92.

Read our full, actionable report on ZoomInfo here, it’s free.

Market Update

Late in 2025 into early 2026, there was hand wringing around artificial intelligence. For software companies, the fear was that AI would erode pricing power and compress margins as new tools made it easier to replicate what once required expensive enterprise platforms. Crypto investors had their own version of the same anxiety: if AI agents could trade, allocate capital, and manage wallets autonomously, what exactly was the long-term value of today’s crypto infrastructure?

These concerns triggered a noticeable rotation away from these sectors and into safer havens. But markets rarely dwell on one narrative for long. Spring 2026 came, and the focus shifted abruptly from technological disruption to geopolitical risk. The US’ conflict with Iran became the dominant driver of market psychology, and when geopolitics takes center stage, the script changes quickly. Investors stop debating growth rates and start worrying about oil supply, inflation, and global stability.

Want to invest in winners with rock-solid fundamentals? Check out our 9 Best Market-Beating Stocks and add them to your watchlist. These companies are poised for growth regardless of the political or macroeconomic climate.