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Apple vs. Salesforce: The Better Stock May Not Be the One You Expect

Apple just posted a record quarter and Salesforce blew past earnings expectations, but the headline numbers on both stocks hide something the market may be mispricing. One trades at a steep discount to the other, and the cheaper one might…

By Vandita Jadeja
Published August 31, 2026, 2:30pm ET · 3 min read

A vibrant green bull statue stands on the left, facing right, against a blue background. Behind it, a stock chart displays a prominent green upward-trending line, green and red candlestick patterns, and blue bar graphs indicating market activity. On the right, a black smartphone with a bright white screen prominently features a large black Apple logo. The image conveys a theme of financial growth and bullish market sentiment.
The powerful imagery of a green bull and an upward-trending stock chart, paired with an iPhone featuring the Apple logo, underscores the optimistic market sentiment for AAPL. © Shutterstock

Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL | AAPL Price Prediction) and Salesforce (NYSE: CRM) just delivered post-earnings reports that pull in opposite directions.

Apple posted a record June quarter built on iPhone and Mac demand. Salesforce leaned on Agentforce, Data 360, and Slack to sell an AI monetization story to a skeptical Street. Both beat expectations. The character of each beat could not look more different.

iPhone Records Meet an Agentforce Land Grab

Apple’s Q3 FY26 revenue hit $109.42 billion, up 16.36% year over year, with iPhone at $54.3 billion, up 22% and Mac growing 29% despite supply constraints. Tim Cook called it “the most powerful and most popular iPhone lineup we’ve ever had.”

Services set another record at $30.7 billion, up 12%. The catch: tariff refunds added roughly 2 percentage points to gross margin and about $0.11 to EPS, so the underlying beat was smaller than the headline suggests.

AAPL earnings explorer

Salesforce told a stranger story. Revenue reached $11.35 billion, up 10.83%, and non-GAAP EPS of $5.90 blew past the $3.27 consensus. That 80% beat is misleading. Roughly $2.53 per share came from strategic investment gains.

Strip that out and the operating story still looks strong: cRPO of $33.5 billion, up 14%, and Agentforce ARR crossing $1.5 billion, up over 240% year over year.

CRM earnings explorer
An infographic titled 'Apple vs. Salesforce: The Better Stock May Not Be the One You Expect' comparing two companies side-by-side. The left column, colored blue, is for Apple (AAPL), and the right column, colored orange, is for Salesforce (CRM). Under Apple, key metrics include Q3 FY26 Revenue ($109.42B), EPS ($2.02), iPhone Revenue ($54.25B), Services Revenue ($30.74B), Active Devices Installed Base (2.5B) with iPhone and cloud icons, Siri AI & Private Cloud Compute description, $33B returned to shareholders, 33 Forward P/E valuation, and Neutral Sentiment (49.97). Under Salesforce, key metrics include Q2 FY27 Revenue ($11.35B), Non-GAAP EPS ($5.90), Agentforce ARR (Over $1.5B), AI & Data ARR (~$3.90B), Agentic Work Units (3.2B) with an AI brain and Slack logo, Agentic AI description, $25B Accelerated Share Repurchase, 19 Forward P/E valuation, and Bullish Sentiment (67.86). A concluding paragraph at the bottom discusses Salesforce's asymmetric bet on AI monetization and its attractive valuation versus Apple's supply constraints.
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Business Driver Apple Salesforce
Main Growth Engine iPhone and Mac cycle Agentforce, Data 360, Slack
Revenue Growth (YoY) 16.36% 10.83%
Main Margin Risk Memory costs and tariffs License volatility, mix shift

Two Very Different Bets on What AI Actually Sells

Apple treats AI as a device feature. Cook described on-device intelligence as “very strategic and sort of a competitive weapon”, backed by Private Cloud Compute and a new Siri AI unveiled at WWDC26.

Monetization is indirect: sell more iPhones, upsell iCloud storage, expand Services. Salesforce is charging directly for agents. Benioff said AI ARR is “about to cross $4 billion”, and customers drove 3.2 billion Agentic Work Units in Q2, up 97% quarter over quarter. Capital return philosophies also diverge. Apple returned $33 billion to shareholders in the quarter.

AAPL price target

Salesforce is finishing a $25 billion accelerated repurchase that shrank the diluted share count from 962 million to 821 million. Valuation looks lopsided: AAPL trades at 33 forward earnings versus CRM at 19 forward.

CRM price target

What Could Reset the Comparison Fast

Apple guided to 9% to 11% September quarter growth with supply constraints expected to worsen across iPhone, Mac, and iPad. Memory prices remain what Cook called “a 100-year flood”.

Salesforce’s next test is CloudForce, its Claude-integrated product going generally available in September, plus Dreamforce and the close of Contentful and Fin. I want to see whether AI ARR growth compounds off a bigger base or decelerates as the low-hanging pilots run out.

Why I Lean Toward Salesforce, With Caveats

Personally, the setup favors CRM. The stock jumped 22.39% in a week and still trades cheaper than Apple on forward earnings. If you want durable brand strength, huge buybacks, and a 2.5 billion device installed base, Apple keeps working. It is up 37.98% over the past year, and the composite sentiment reads neutral at 49.97.

But I find the Salesforce risk/reward more interesting here. Agentforce is monetizing faster than the market expected, the share count is shrinking meaningfully, and sentiment has turned bullish at 67.86. If AI ARR growth cracks below triple digits, I would reconsider. Until then, CRM looks like the more asymmetric bet.

Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.

Vandita Jadeja

Vandita Jadeja is a financial copywriter who loves to read and write about stocks. She believes in buying and holding for long term gains. Her knowledge of words and numbers helps her write clear stock analysis. She has contributed to several publications, including the Joy Wallet, Benzinga, The Motley Fool and InvestorPlace.

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