Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) shares finished in the red on Thursday even as Wall Street analysts praised the cloud computing giant’s results and guidance, with some saying it is a “huge step forward.”

“CRM delivered its July results which were above Street expectations on the top and bottom-lines and provided solid October guidance in a bounce back quarter that was a huge step forward for [Marc] Benioff & Co,” Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives wrote in a note to clients.

Ives added that Salesforce is still dealing with “various headwinds in a choppy backdrop,” but the results and guidance proved to be a “much-needed bounce back quarter,” as the company made major strides in monetizing artificial intelligence across its customer base.

For the period ending July 31, Salesforce earned an adjusted $2.56 per share as revenue rose 8.4% year-over-year to come in at $9.33B. Marketing and commerce revenue came in at $1.31B during the period, while revenue from services was $2.26B. Subscription and support revenue generated $8.76B during the period.

Looking to the third-quarter, Salesforce expects to earn between $2.42 and $2.44 per share on an adjusted basis, above the $2.42 analysts were expecting. Sales are forecast to be between $9.31B and $9.36B, with the midpoint of $9.34B below the $9.4B estimate.

Salesforce also upped its operating cash flow growth guidance to between 23% and 25%, and its operating margin guidance to 19.7% on a GAAP basis and 32.8% on a non-GAAP basis.

Others on Wall Street also praised Salesforce’s results, including Stifel analyst Parker Lane, who raised his price target to $320 from $300.

Lane, who has a Buy rating on Salesforce, also highlighted the strength in bookings, current remaining performance obligations and AI benefits, citing Benioff’s comments around Einstein and Agentforce, the Einstein-powered generative AI agents.

And with the company having signed 1,500 AI deals in the second quarter, Lane said Salesforce is “well positioned” to be a leader to bring generative AI to the enterprise in a profitable manner.

Barclays analyst Raimo Lenschow, who has an Overweight rating and $305 price target on Salesforce, agreed.

“Solid Q2 results and maintained FY guidance seem to be enough for shares in the short term, given nervous investors,” Lenschow wrote. “Looking at cRPO and its impact on future revenue shows that not all is perfect though. So, a boost from AI, post Dreamforce and the [general availability] of the new AI solution can’t come quick enough to revive momentum.”