[Revised January 11, 2026]

Veeva Systems (VEEV) – 2026 Long-Term Investment Analysis

Company Overview

Veeva Systems is a vertical SaaS provider focused on the global life sciences industry, offering cloud-based software and data solutions tailored for pharmaceutical, biotech, and medical device companies. Founded in 2007 and headquartered in California, Veeva serves all of the world's top 20 life sciences companies and over 1,400 customers ranging from large pharma enterprises to emerging biotechs (^[1]). Its core product suite spans the entire drug development and commercialization lifecycle. Key offerings include Veeva Vault CRM (the next-generation customer relationship management platform for sales and medical teams, now running on Veeva's proprietary Vault platform), Veeva Vault (a content and document management platform used in clinical trials, regulatory submissions, quality control, etc.), Veeva Network (master data management), and related data services. These solutions enable life sciences clients to manage critical processes such as clinical trial data capture, regulatory document tracking, sales force automation, and marketing content management in a compliant cloud environment.

Veeva operates in the Healthcare/Life Sciences software segment and has a global footprint, with its software deployed in North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific. The company's industry-specific focus has allowed it to develop deep domain expertise and highly tailored functionalities (for example, compliance with FDA 21 CFR Part 11 for electronic records and other GxP regulations). High switching costs and Veeva's reputation for product excellence contribute to strong customer retention – once embedded, pharma companies are reluctant to switch due to the mission-critical nature of the software and data involved. Importantly, Veeva made corporate history in 2021 by becoming the first publicly traded company to convert to a Public Benefit Corporation (PBC), solidifying its commitment to balancing the interests of all stakeholders (customers, employees, society, and shareholders) in its charter. This PBC status underscores Veeva's long-term orientation in the life sciences ecosystem, aligning its mission to "advance the life-saving work of the industries we serve" while still operating as a for-profit enterprise.

Financial Analysis

Veeva's financial performance continues to be robust, characterized by steady growth and strong profitability. Revenue has grown significantly over the past several years, maintaining solid momentum even as the company scales. In fiscal year 2025 (year ended Jan. 31, 2025), Veeva's total revenues reached $2.747 billion, up 16% year-over-year. Growth has continued into fiscal year 2026, with Q3 FY2026 (quarter ended October 31, 2025) revenues hitting $811.2 million, a 16% increase YoY (^[2]). For the full fiscal year 2026, management has raised guidance to $3.166–3.169 billion in revenue (^[3]), representing approximately 15% year-over-year growth. Notably, the majority of Veeva's revenue is high-margin subscription fees for its cloud software – in Q3 FY2026, subscription services contributed $682.5 million (84% of total revenue), growing 17% YoY (^[4]). The remaining revenue comes from professional services (implementation, training, etc.), which has been relatively stable, indicating Veeva's business model relies primarily on recurring SaaS subscriptions rather than low-margin services.

Profitability is a standout aspect of Veeva's financials. Unlike many cloud software peers, Veeva has been profitable for years. In Q3 FY2026, GAAP operating income was $240.9 million, up 33% YoY, yielding an operating margin of approximately 29.7%. On a non-GAAP basis, operating income reached $365 million, translating to a robust 45.0% operating margin – an improvement from 43.5% in Q3 FY2025 (^[5]). Net income for Q3 FY2026 was $236.2 million (GAAP), up 27% compared to $185.8 million a year earlier. On a non-GAAP basis, net income rose to $345.1 million. Veeva delivered GAAP diluted EPS of $1.40 for Q3 FY2026, or $2.04 on a non-GAAP (adjusted) basis – beating analyst estimates of $1.95. For the full fiscal year 2026, management has raised adjusted EPS guidance to approximately $7.93 (^[6]). This strong earnings profile is supported by high gross margins and controlled operating expenses. R&D expenditure remains significant – the company continues to invest approximately 20-25% of revenue into R&D to enhance its product portfolio – yet it still expands operating income, showing prudent management of sales, marketing, and G&A costs.

Veeva also generates healthy cash flows. Cash flow from operations continues to be strong, translating to an operating cash flow margin of approximately 40%, reflecting strong cash earnings and upfront customer payments that fuel cash generation. After modest capital expenditures, Veeva's free cash flow is similarly high, underpinning the firm's ability to self-fund growth. The balance sheet is extremely robust: Veeva holds over $5 billion in cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments and carries no debt. This net cash position provides strategic flexibility for R&D, acquisitions, or shareholder returns. In January 2026, Veeva's board authorized a new $2 billion stock repurchase program, representing approximately 5.5% of outstanding shares (^[7]), demonstrating confidence in the company's cash generation and commitment to returning value to shareholders.

Valuation metrics reflect Veeva's premium business quality and growth, though the stock's multiples have seen recent volatility. As of January 2026, at a share price of around $221 (following a 28% decline over the past three months), VEEV trades at a market capitalization of approximately $36.4 billion and a trailing P/E ratio of approximately 43x (^[8]). Key valuation ratios compared to peers are summarized below:

Source: Company filings and market data as of January 2026.

As the table indicates, Veeva trades at a premium to large-cap software peers like Salesforce and to more services-oriented firms like IQVIA. However, Veeva's current multiples have declined significantly from 2024 highs, reflecting market concerns about competition and the CRM transition. The stock reached a 52-week high of $310.50 before declining to current levels around $221. This suggests the market has priced in some uncertainty, potentially creating an opportunity for long-term investors. Overall, Veeva's valuation still embeds a growth premium for its dominant niche position and high margins, but the stock is trading at more reasonable levels than in the past.

Growth Prospects

Veeva's growth outlook in 2026 and beyond remains positive, driven by a sizable market opportunity, ongoing innovation, and expansion of its product offerings. The company estimates its total addressable market (TAM) for life sciences industry-specific software, data, and services at over $20 billion. With FY2026 projected revenues at approximately $3.17 billion, Veeva has only approximately 16% penetration of this core TAM, leaving plenty of room to grow by gaining share in existing markets and selling additional products to current clients. Moreover, the TAM itself is expanding: as pharma and biotech companies continue to digitize operations and rely on data analytics, the spend on cloud solutions is expected to increase. The broader life sciences software and data TAM is projected to reach $30–50 billion by 2028, implying a healthy tailwind of approximately 10% CAGR in underlying market growth.

Veeva's product development and R&D investments support its growth via new modules and upgrades. The company consistently reinvests 20-25% of revenue into R&D, which has yielded an expanding product portfolio. A significant development is the Veeva AI initiative, which is rolling out agentic AI capabilities across all Veeva applications. In October 2025, Veeva announced Veeva AI Agents planned for availability starting December 2025 for commercial applications, with broader rollout across R&D and quality in 2026 (^[9]). Key AI features include:

• Vault CRM Bot: An AI-powered assistant that embeds the large language model (LLM) of choice into Vault CRM for context-driven tasks including pre-call planning, suggested actions, and recommended content (^[10])
• Vault CRM Voice Control: AI-powered voice interface leveraging Apple Intelligence for hands-free CRM operation via spoken commands
• Industry-specific agents for clinical, regulatory, safety, quality, medical, and commercial applications, with rollout phases extending through December 2026

Both CRM Bot and Voice Control are included in Vault CRM at no additional cost, with availability in late 2025. Veeva AI Agents use large language models from Anthropic and Amazon, hosted on Amazon Bedrock.

The Vault CRM transition from the Salesforce platform has progressed significantly. As of Q3 FY2026, Veeva reported over 115 live Vault CRM deployments worldwide, adding 23 new customers in the quarter (^[11]). Nine of the top 20 biopharma companies have committed to Vault CRM, versus Salesforce's three. Major commitments include Novo Nordisk's International Operations, Roche, and GSK. The formal Salesforce separation occurred in September 2025, with a five-year wind-down period extending until September 2030, allowing organizations time to complete their migration.

Looking ahead, analyst forecasts anticipate that Veeva will sustain solid growth in the medium term. Wall Street consensus calls for 12-15% annual revenue growth over the next few years, accompanied by mid-teens earnings growth as margins gradually expand. For fiscal year 2026, Veeva's management has raised guidance to approximately $3.17 billion in revenue and non-GAAP EPS of $7.93. The company's CFO Brian Van Wagner reaffirmed the trajectory towards the 2030 goal of a $6 billion revenue run rate. Notably, for FY2026, R&D Solutions subscription revenue is projected to reach approximately $1,420 million, exceeding Commercial Solutions subscription revenue of approximately $1,252 million – reflecting Veeva's successful diversification beyond its traditional CRM offerings.

Competitive Landscape

Veeva operates as the market leader in life sciences cloud software, but faces intensifying competition across its product lines, particularly in the CRM segment following the Salesforce separation.

Pharmaceutical CRM Competition (2025-2026 Update): The competitive landscape has evolved significantly since the formal Veeva-Salesforce split in September 2025:

• Salesforce Life Sciences Cloud / Agentforce: In December 2025, Salesforce announced it had signed more than 40 life sciences customers for its Life Sciences Cloud, including one of the top three global pharma companies that defected from Veeva. Marquee customers include Takeda, Pfizer, Boehringer Ingelheim, and Fresenius Kabi (^[12]). Salesforce has rebranded its offering as Agentforce Life Sciences, signaling its pivot toward AI-powered agentic capabilities. Agentforce, paired with Data Cloud, has already hit $100 million in annualized revenues just two quarters after launch.

• Pricing Comparison: Agentforce for Life Sciences Cloud is priced at $750/user/month (applied on top of either Edition for Sales or Service agents). Bundles include AI assistant functionality, Salesforce Data Cloud access, Slack, Tableau analytics, and additional applications.

• Market Position: Despite Salesforce's aggressive entry, Veeva maintains significant advantages. As of early 2026, Veeva has over 80 live Vault CRM deployments versus Salesforce's 40+ announced customers. Critically, 9 of the top 20 pharma companies have committed to Vault CRM versus Salesforce's 3, with Veeva go-lives occurring now while Salesforce timelines stretch to 2026-2029.

Clinical Trial Software and R&D: Veeva's Vault applications continue to compete with Medidata Solutions (Dassault Systèmes), which historically led the clinical data management segment. Veeva Vault EDC has been gaining ground, and the company projects R&D Solutions subscription revenue to exceed Commercial Solutions revenue in FY2026 – a significant milestone demonstrating successful diversification.

AI Capabilities Race: Both vendors are investing heavily in AI. Salesforce's Agentforce has achieved early commercial success, while Veeva's phased AI rollout (agents Dec 2025 through Dec 2026) suggests it will catch up with domain-specific context advantages. Both companies are aggressively courting customers with AI-driven features.

SWOT Analysis (Updated for 2026):

• Strengths: Industry leader maintaining strong position despite competition; over 115 live Vault CRM deployments; 9 of top 20 pharma committed to Vault CRM; comprehensive product suite spanning R&D to commercial; high switching costs; strong 45% non-GAAP operating margins; robust $5B+ cash position; AI initiatives rolling out.
• Weaknesses: Business concentrated entirely in life sciences; recent stock price decline (28% in 3 months) reflecting competitive concerns; faces complex multi-year CRM migration; premium pricing scrutinized during pharma cost-cutting.
• Opportunities: Further penetration of large TAM; AI-driven product enhancements; R&D Solutions now exceeding Commercial revenue; successful Vault CRM migrations strengthening platform lock-in; $2B buyback program.
• Threats: Salesforce's aggressive entry with 40+ customer wins; Agentforce AI achieving commercial traction; potential "traffic jam" during migration as companies delay decisions; some large pharma defections to Salesforce.

Risks and Challenges

While Veeva's business remains strong, investors should be aware of several risks and challenges that could affect its long-term performance:

• Platform Transition and Migration Risk: The migration of Veeva CRM from Salesforce's platform to Veeva Vault is a major undertaking occurring through 2030. Most migrations are expected between 2026 and 2029. Importantly, Veeva will not migrate custom code, custom objects, or third-party integrations – customers must handle these themselves. The CRM platform transition from APEX to JAVA code adds technical complexity. Smaller companies that haven't started planning may struggle to meet deadlines, potentially creating a "traffic jam" as larger companies compete for migration resources (^[13]).

• Competition and Client Retention: Competition has intensified significantly. Salesforce has secured 40+ life sciences customers including major pharma companies like Pfizer and Takeda. While Veeva leads with 9 of top 20 pharma commitments versus Salesforce's 3, the competitive dynamic is now very real. Some clients may evaluate Salesforce when facing migration, and pricing pressure could emerge.

• AI Execution Risk: Both Veeva and Salesforce are racing to deliver AI capabilities. Salesforce's Agentforce has achieved early commercial success ($100M ARR in two quarters). Veeva's phased AI rollout through December 2026 must deliver comparable or superior capabilities to maintain competitive position.

• Regulatory and Compliance Risks: Veeva's clients operate in a heavily regulated environment. Regulatory changes from FDA or EMA on data handling, privacy, or electronic records could necessitate rapid product changes. Any data security breaches could damage customer confidence.

• Macroeconomic and Industry Cycles: While pharma tends to be defensive, biotech funding challenges and drug pricing pressures could impact IT budgets. Global macro issues including currency fluctuations (approximately 40% of revenue is international) remain considerations.

• Stock Volatility: The stock has experienced significant volatility, with a 28% decline over three months and a 52-week range of $201.54 to $310.50. This volatility may continue as the competitive situation evolves.

ESG and Governance

Veeva Systems continues to be recognized positively for ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) dimensions. As a Public Benefit Corporation (PBC) since 2021, the company is legally committed to consider stakeholder impact beyond shareholder value. Veeva's stated public benefit is to "help advance the life-saving and life-improving work of the industries it serves."

From an environmental standpoint, Veeva's operations are primarily cloud-based with minimal direct environmental footprint. The company reports and tracks greenhouse gas emissions in accordance with the GHG Protocol and expects vendors to maintain environmentally sustainable practices. Veeva adheres to an environmental management system aligned with ISO 14001 standards (^[14]).

Veeva's ESG risk rating remains categorized as "Negligible" (14.7 ESG risk score) by Sustainalytics (^[15]), with near-zero Environmental Risk Score and low Social and Governance risk scores. The company publishes annual Public Benefit Reports assessing progress on societal objectives.

For governance, Veeva's structure is now straightforward: a single class of common stock (Class B shares converted in 2023), an independent board majority, and no major governance red flags. Peter Gassner (CEO) remains the largest shareholder, aligning his interests with company success.

Stock Performance and Valuation

Veeva's stock (NYSE: VEEV) has delivered strong long-term returns since its 2013 IPO, though recent performance has been volatile. As of January 2026, the stock trades around $221 per share with a market cap of approximately $36.4 billion.

Recent Performance: The stock has experienced significant volatility in late 2025 and early 2026:

• 52-week high: $310.50
• 52-week low: $201.54
• 3-month decline: Approximately 28%
• 50-day moving average: $250.89
• 200-day moving average: $272.11

The recent decline reflects market concerns about intensifying competition from Salesforce's Life Sciences Cloud entry and the complexities of the CRM platform transition. However, the 3-year total shareholder return remains positive at 36.3% (^[16]).

Analyst Sentiment (January 2026):

• Consensus Rating: "Moderate Buy" with 18 Buy ratings, 6 Hold ratings, and 2 Sell ratings
• Average 12-month price target: Approximately $307-320 (^[17])
• Range: Low estimate $222 to high estimate $380

Recent analyst actions include:

• UBS reduced price target from $310 to $280 with "Neutral" rating (November 2025)
• Jefferies reiterated "Buy" with $330 target (November 2025)
• Wells Fargo lowered target from $341 to $333 with "Overweight" rating
• Citigroup set $319 target expecting 35% upside (November 2025)

Valuation Assessment: At current prices around $221, VEEV trades at approximately:

• Forward P/E: ~28x (using $7.93 FY2026 EPS guidance)
• Price/Sales: ~11.5x
• PEG Ratio: ~1.6x

These multiples are below Veeva's historical averages and reflect the recent de-rating. The average analyst price target of $307-320 implies approximately 40-45% upside from current levels, suggesting analysts view the stock as significantly undervalued relative to fundamentals.

Key Considerations:

• The $2 billion buyback authorization (5.5% of shares) provides support
• Strong Q3 FY2026 results beat expectations on both revenue and EPS
• Management raised full-year guidance, demonstrating confidence
• The 28% decline may present an attractive entry point for long-term investors willing to accept competitive uncertainty

Conclusion and Investment Thesis

Is Veeva Systems a good long-term investment as of 2026? Based on the comprehensive analysis above, the answer leans toward "Yes – Veeva remains a compelling long-term investment", though with heightened awareness of competitive dynamics. The investment thesis for VEEV can be summarized as follows:

• Dominant Market Leader Maintaining Strong Position: Despite Salesforce's entry, Veeva maintains significant competitive advantages with 9 of the top 20 pharma companies committed to Vault CRM versus Salesforce's 3. The company has over 115 live Vault CRM deployments and is executing well on the platform transition. The mission-critical nature of its applications and high switching costs continue to provide a wide economic moat.

• Strong and Improving Financial Performance: Q3 FY2026 results demonstrated continued execution with 16% revenue growth, 45% non-GAAP operating margins (expanding from 43.5%), and raised full-year guidance to $3.17B revenue and $7.93 EPS. The $5B+ cash position and $2B buyback program provide financial strength and shareholder returns.

• AI and Innovation Investment: Veeva is rolling out comprehensive AI capabilities with Vault CRM Bot, Voice Control, and industry-specific AI agents through 2026. This investment should help maintain competitive positioning against Salesforce's Agentforce.

• Attractive Valuation After Recent Decline: The 28% stock decline over three months has brought multiples to more reasonable levels. At ~28x forward earnings with 15% revenue growth and expanding margins, VEEV appears more attractively valued than in the past. Analyst price targets averaging $307-320 imply significant upside.

• Long-Term Growth Runway: With only ~16% penetration of a $20B+ TAM (growing to $30-50B by 2028), and R&D Solutions now exceeding Commercial revenue, Veeva has multiple growth vectors. The 2030 goal of $6B revenue run rate remains achievable.

Risks to Monitor: The competitive situation with Salesforce bears watching – any significant customer defections or share losses would be concerning. The CRM migration complexity and potential "traffic jam" in 2026-2029 represents execution risk. However, Veeva's management has demonstrated strong execution historically, and the company's financial strength provides resilience.

In conclusion, Veeva Systems presents a compelling long-term investment opportunity in 2026, particularly following the recent stock price decline. The company offers a rare combination of market leadership, strong financials, ongoing growth, and strategic initiatives in AI – at a more reasonable valuation than in recent years. For investors with a multi-year horizon who can tolerate short-term volatility and competitive uncertainty, VEEV stands out as a high-quality franchise positioned to continue compounding value. The stock is worthy of consideration as a long-term buy at current levels.

Sources: Veeva Systems investor earnings releases and presentations (^[2]); Veeva Investor Relations (^[1]); analyst research from Benzinga, TipRanks, and Investing.com; industry analysis from Clarkston Consulting and Ciberspring. All financial data current as of Q3 FY2026 (October 2025) and stock price data as of January 2026.