Salesforce's (CRM) "Buy" Rating Reiterated at Needham & Company LLC

Key Points

• Needham & Company reiterated its “Buy” rating on Salesforce and set a $400 price target, implying approximately 94% upside from the prior close.
• Salesforce reported quarterly EPS of $5.90, well above the $3.27 consensus estimate, while revenue reached $11.35 billion, up 10.8% year over year and slightly ahead of forecasts.
• AI adoption is strengthening Salesforce’s growth outlook: Agentforce annual recurring revenue reached $1.5 billion, and the company raised its fiscal 2027 guidance. Analysts collectively rate the stock “Moderate Buy,” with an average target price of $250.49.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "buy" rating restated by Needham & Company LLC in a note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $400.00 price objective on the CRM provider's stock. Needham & Company LLC's target price suggests a potential upside of 94.17% from the company's previous close.

Several other research firms also recently weighed in on CRM. Oppenheimer reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, August 20th. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered shares of Salesforce from a "sector perform" rating to a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $315.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Tuesday. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Salesforce in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. Finally, TD Cowen reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Salesforce in a report on Friday, June 12th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have issued a Buy rating, seventeen have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Salesforce presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $250.49.

Salesforce Stock Up 0.2%

Salesforce stock opened at $206.01 on Thursday. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $177.13 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $181.60. Salesforce has a 1-year low of $146.32 and a 1-year high of $269.11. The firm has a market capitalization of $168.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 26th. The CRM provider reported $5.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.27 by $2.63. The firm had revenue of $11.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.33 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 18.72% and a net margin of 18.73%.During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.91 EPS. The business's revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 16.670-16.710 EPS and its Q3 2027 guidance at 3.420-3.440 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Salesforce will post 10.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Salesforce

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Fred Alger Management LLC boosted its holdings in Salesforce by 0.3% in the third quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 14,943 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $3,548,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Synergy Financial Group LTD increased its position in Salesforce by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. Synergy Financial Group LTD now owns 2,035 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $482,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in Salesforce by 35.4% in the 4th quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 199 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $53,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares during the period. Krane Funds Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Salesforce by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Krane Funds Advisors LLC now owns 8,254 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $2,187,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares during the period. Finally, HBW Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in Salesforce by 0.4% during the first quarter. HBW Advisory Services LLC now owns 13,098 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $2,445,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Salesforce News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Results exceeded expectations. Salesforce reported adjusted EPS of $5.90 versus the $3.27 consensus estimate, while revenue rose 10.8% year over year to $11.35 billion, slightly above forecasts. Salesforce Q2 Earnings and Revenues Top Estimates
• Positive Sentiment: Higher full-year outlook signals confidence. Salesforce raised fiscal 2027 guidance to $46.1 billion-$46.4 billion in revenue and $16.67-$16.71 in EPS. Its third-quarter EPS forecast of $3.42-$3.44 also exceeds the $3.16 analyst estimate. Salesforce Raises Annual Revenue Forecasts
• Positive Sentiment: AI adoption is becoming a growth catalyst. Agentforce annual recurring revenue reached $1.5 billion, and management said AI usage on the platform has increased sixfold. The figures support Salesforce’s argument that autonomous agents are expanding—not undermining—its CRM ecosystem. Salesforce Q2 Earnings Call Highlights
• Positive Sentiment: Expanded Anthropic partnership strengthens the AI narrative. The new “Claudeforce” integration brings Anthropic’s Claude into Salesforce workflows, data and business processes, potentially increasing enterprise engagement and supporting the company’s competitive positioning. Salesforce and Anthropic Announce Claudeforce
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst support adds momentum. Citizens JMP reiterated a Market Outperform rating with a $315 target, while Canaccord maintained a Buy rating and a $225 target. Citizens JMP Market Outperform Rating
• Neutral Sentiment: Broader technology sentiment also improved after Nvidia delivered strong results and an optimistic AI outlook, lifting confidence in continued enterprise AI spending. Nvidia Outlook Boosts Markets
• Negative Sentiment: Investors remain sensitive to whether AI agents could eventually cannibalize traditional software revenue, and software stocks continue to face elevated volatility. Salesforce’s forecast also includes expected acquisitions, making organic growth an important metric to monitor.

Salesforce Company Profile

Salesforce, founded in 1999 and headquartered in San Francisco, is a global provider of cloud-based software focused on customer relationship management (CRM) and enterprise applications. The company popularized the software-as-a-service (SaaS) model for CRM and has built a broad portfolio of products designed to help organizations manage sales, service, marketing, commerce and analytics through a unified, cloud-first platform.

Core offerings include Sales Cloud for sales automation, Service Cloud for customer support, Marketing Cloud for digital marketing and engagement, and Commerce Cloud for e-commerce.

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