Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Shares Up 2.8% on Analyst Upgrade

Key Points

• Salesforce shares rose 2.8% after Cantor Fitzgerald raised its price target from $250 to $300 and maintained an overweight rating.
• Recent results strengthened the outlook: quarterly revenue increased 10.8% to $11.35 billion, adjusted EPS of $5.90 significantly exceeded estimates, and Salesforce raised its fiscal-year guidance.
• Analyst sentiment is broadly positive, with a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and $266.50 target price, though the sharp rally raises expectations for sustained revenue growth and successful AI monetization.

Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report)'s share price traded up 2.8% during mid-day trading on Thursday after Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price target on the stock from $250.00 to $300.00. Cantor Fitzgerald currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Salesforce traded as high as $268.27 and last traded at $264.13. Approximately 14,912,342 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 6% from the average daily volume of 14,094,146 shares. The stock had previously closed at $256.93.

Several other analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Salesforce from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 27th. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, August 27th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Salesforce from $205.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, August 27th. Evercore reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, August 27th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $210.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, August 27th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have assigned a Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $266.50.

Trending Headlines about Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Anthropic partnership strengthens AI outlook: Salesforce and Anthropic launched “Claudeforce,” integrating Anthropic’s Claude AI into Salesforce’s ecosystem. The offering is viewed as a potential source of new revenue, improved customer reach and validation that enterprise AI needs established software platforms. Salesforce partners with Anthropic to integrate Claude AI into its ecosystem
• Positive Sentiment: Strong earnings and higher guidance boosted confidence: Salesforce reported $11.35 billion in quarterly revenue, up 10.8% year over year, and adjusted earnings of $5.90 per share versus the $3.27 consensus estimate. Current remaining performance obligations rose 14%, while the company raised its fiscal-year outlook, reinforcing the case that Agentforce and Data 360 are gaining traction. Salesforce: Proving That AI Needs A Software Partner
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts became more constructive: BTIG said it was increasingly confident in improving business trends, while Needham, BTIG, Cantor Fitzgerald and Argus maintained or reiterated positive ratings and set price targets ranging from $300 to $400. These targets imply additional upside from the referenced $266.42 price. BTIG says it is incrementally confident in improving business trends
• Neutral Sentiment: Enterprise-software sector rebound: Salesforce is participating in a wider rotation back into enterprise AI and software stocks, partly reflecting the unwinding of bearish positions. This improves near-term sentiment but may not be specific to Salesforce’s fundamentals. Jim Cramer breaks down the enterprise software rebound
• Negative Sentiment: Execution expectations are rising: Following the sharp rally and repeated guidance increases, Salesforce must demonstrate sustained revenue acceleration and successful AI monetization. Failure to meet those expectations could limit further gains or trigger profit-taking. Salesforce raised guidance again and now has to deliver revenue acceleration

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Salesforce

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of Salesforce in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce in the 2nd quarter worth $26,000. Gilpin Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Persistent Asset Partners Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the second quarter worth $27,000. Finally, Costello Asset Management INC lifted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 410.3% during the first quarter. Costello Asset Management INC now owns 148 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 119 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company's stock.

Salesforce Stock Performance

The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $187.58 and its 200 day simple moving average is $183.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 0.84 and a quick ratio of 0.84. The company has a market capitalization of $217.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.08, a PEG ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.20.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 26th. The CRM provider reported $5.90 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.27 by $2.63. Salesforce had a return on equity of 24.90% and a net margin of 21.99%.The company had revenue of $11.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $11.33 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.91 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. 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, sell-side analysts forecast that Salesforce Inc. will post 12.64 EPS for the current year.

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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