KeyCorp Comments on Salesforce's Q3 Earnings (NYSE:CRM)

Key Points

• KeyCorp kept an Overweight rating on Salesforce and set a $290 price target, while forecasting Q3 2027 earnings of $2.13 per share and FY2028 EPS of $9.90.
• Salesforce’s latest quarter beat expectations, posting $3.88 EPS on $11.13 billion in revenue, with revenue up 13.3% year over year and management issuing upbeat FY2027 and Q2 2027 guidance.
• Analyst sentiment remains broadly positive despite some lower price targets: the stock has a Moderate Buy consensus with an average target of $257.97, and the company also has a quarterly dividend and a large $25 billion share buyback authorization in place.

Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) - Stock analysts at KeyCorp issued their Q3 2027 earnings estimates for shares of Salesforce in a report issued on Wednesday, May 27th. KeyCorp analyst J. Ader anticipates that the CRM provider will post earnings of $2.13 per share for the quarter. KeyCorp currently has a "Overweight" rating and a $290.00 target price on the stock. The consensus estimate for Salesforce's current full-year earnings is $10.30 per share. KeyCorp also issued estimates for Salesforce's FY2028 earnings at $9.90 EPS.

Several other analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Salesforce from $252.00 to $236.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Salesforce from $365.00 to $320.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $250.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $400.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Salesforce from $210.00 to $200.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have given a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $257.97.

Salesforce Stock Performance

NYSE CRM opened at $185.85 on Monday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $181.31 and a 200 day simple moving average of $208.71. Salesforce has a 12-month low of $163.52 and a 12-month high of $276.80. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. The company has a market cap of $152.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.51, a PEG ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 1.16.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 27th. The CRM provider reported $3.88 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.13 by $0.75. Salesforce had a net margin of 18.73% and a return on equity of 18.72%. The company had revenue of $11.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.05 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.58 EPS. Salesforce's revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 14.060-14.120 EPS and its Q2 2027 guidance at 3.250-3.270 EPS.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Salesforce

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of CRM. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 13.7% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 25,668 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $8,582,000 after buying an additional 3,102 shares during the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 12.6% in the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,827 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $611,000 after buying an additional 205 shares during the last quarter. Bison Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 9.0% in the 4th quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 2,234 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $747,000 after buying an additional 184 shares during the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 3.7% in the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,958 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $807,000 after buying an additional 106 shares during the last quarter. Finally, United Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 5.2% in the 2nd quarter. United Bank now owns 10,198 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $2,781,000 after buying an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Laura Alber acquired 2,571 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 19th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $194.58 per share, with a total value of $500,265.18. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 9,530 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,854,347.40. The trade was a 36.94% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director David Blair Kirk acquired 2,570 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $194.62 per share, for a total transaction of $500,173.40. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 13,689 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,664,153.18. The trade was a 23.11% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. 3.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.44 per share. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 11th. Salesforce's payout ratio is currently 20.37%.

Salesforce declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Monday, March 16th that authorizes the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the CRM provider to purchase up to 14.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often a sign that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Salesforce News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce announced a landmark partnership with FIFA for the 2026 World Cup and 2027 Women’s World Cup, which could showcase its AI-driven Agentforce 360 platform to a massive global audience and potentially drive future enterprise demand. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: KeyCorp kept an Overweight rating and a $290 price target on Salesforce, while modeling earnings above consensus for FY2027, signaling continued analyst confidence in the company’s profit growth. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Recent commentary highlights Salesforce’s strong momentum, helped by its AI strategy, Agentforce rollout, recurring revenue base, and expanding free cash flow, which may keep long-term investors interested. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Salesforce’s presentation at the Evercore Global TMT Conference and valuation-focused coverage suggest investors are still reassessing how much of the AI and Agentforce optimism is already priced in. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Bridgewater Associates reportedly sold Salesforce, which can pressure sentiment in the near term, although the article argues that institutional selling may create a better entry point for patient investors. Article Title

About Salesforce

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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