Needham & Company LLC Reiterates "Buy" Rating for Salesforce (NYSE:CRM)

Key Points

• Needham & Company LLC reiterated its “Buy” rating on Salesforce, adding to a generally bullish analyst backdrop for the stock.
• Salesforce’s most recent earnings beat expectations, with EPS of $3.88 versus the $3.13 estimate and revenue of $11.13 billion topping forecasts, while revenue rose 13.3% year over year.
• The company has also announced a $25 billion share repurchase program, which management and investors may view as a sign of confidence in the stock’s valuation.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "buy" rating reissued by Needham & Company LLC in a note issued to investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports.

CRM has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Wall Street Zen raised Salesforce from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, June 6th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $250.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. Wedbush reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $325.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. Roth Mkm reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $325.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Salesforce from $365.00 to $320.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have issued a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Salesforce has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $259.26.

Salesforce Price Performance

CRM stock traded down $3.95 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $160.60. The stock had a trading volume of 6,516,555 shares, compared to its average volume of 13,397,507. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.79. Salesforce has a twelve month low of $160.75 and a twelve month high of $276.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $131.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.59, a PEG ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.16. The company's 50-day moving average price is $179.65 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $206.26.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 27th. The CRM provider reported $3.88 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.13 by $0.75. The business had revenue of $11.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $11.05 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 18.72% and a net margin of 18.73%.The business's revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.58 EPS. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 14.060-14.120 EPS and its Q2 2027 guidance at 3.250-3.270 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Salesforce will post 10.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Monday, March 16th that authorizes the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the CRM provider to repurchase up to 14.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at Salesforce

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

Institutional Trading of Salesforce

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of CRM. Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Salesforce during the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,000. Board of the Pension Protection Fund acquired a new stake in Salesforce during the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. Key Capital Management INC acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Gilpin Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Finally, Legacy Bridge LLC acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company's stock.

Salesforce News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce agreed to buy AI customer-service platform Fin for about $3.6 billion, a move that should strengthen its Agentforce and broader autonomous AI offerings. Investors are viewing the deal as a way to deepen Salesforce’s customer engagement capabilities and improve its competitive position in enterprise software. Reuters: Salesforce to buy Fin for about $3.6 billion
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and market commentary say Salesforce’s record cash generation, improving margins, and large buyback plan give it flexibility to reward shareholders while still investing in growth. Zacks: Can CRM's Record Cash Generation Support Robust Shareholder Returns?
• Positive Sentiment: Some analysts see Salesforce as undervalued, with Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirming a Buy rating and a $250 target, implying meaningful upside from current levels. Insider Monkey: This Analyst Believes Salesforce (CRM) Stock Is Trading At A 52% Discount
• Neutral Sentiment: Salesforce has also been praised for continued AI investment and strong fundamentals, with commentary pointing to revenue growth, margin expansion, and potential second-half acceleration tied to Agentforce adoption. Seeking Alpha: Salesforce Is Consuming Everything Between AI And Itself
• Negative Sentiment: Despite the upbeat AI deal news, Salesforce’s shares have been in a strong downtrend this year, with the stock hovering near its lowest levels since 2023 and the company’s market value sharply reduced from prior highs. Invezz: Salesforce stock wipeout hits $212B as acquisition spree backfires

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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