Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Given New $225.00 Price Target at Canaccord Genuity Group

Key Points

• Canaccord Genuity Group cut its price target on Salesforce from $250 to $225 but kept a buy rating, implying about 27.6% upside from the current share price.
• Salesforce reported better-than-expected first-quarter results, with EPS of $3.88 and revenue of $11.13 billion, and it also raised full-year profit guidance.
• The company highlighted growing momentum in its AI business, saying Agentforce annualized revenue surpassed $1 billion, while Salesforce also approved a $25 billion share repurchase program.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) had its target price lowered by investment analysts at Canaccord Genuity Group from $250.00 to $225.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a "buy" rating on the CRM provider's stock. Canaccord Genuity Group's price target points to a potential upside of 27.61% from the stock's current price.

A number of other research analysts also recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup reaffirmed a "market outperform" rating on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday. Needham & Company LLC restated a "buy" rating and set a $400.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Barclays cut their price target on Salesforce from $252.00 to $236.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an "overweight" rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein cut their price target on Salesforce from $194.00 to $173.00 and set an "underperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have issued a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $259.50.

Salesforce Stock Down 0.7%

NYSE:CRM traded down $1.19 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $176.32. 14,280,032 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 12,957,918. The business's 50-day moving average price is $181.23 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $211.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $144.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.78, a P/E/G ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.14. Salesforce has a 1 year low of $163.52 and a 1 year high of $276.80. The company has a current ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 27th. The CRM provider reported $3.88 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.13 by $0.75. The business had revenue of $11.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.05 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 15.38% and a net margin of 17.96%.The company's quarterly revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $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. Analysts predict that Salesforce will post 9.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase 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 buy up to 14.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Salesforce

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Salesforce

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. J. Stern & Co. LLP raised its position in Salesforce by 24,056.7% in the 4th quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 47,385,511 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $12,552,896,000 after purchasing an additional 47,189,352 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Salesforce in the 4th quarter worth about $3,182,951,000. Capital World Investors raised its position in Salesforce by 159.0% in the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 17,325,206 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $4,106,255,000 after purchasing an additional 10,636,161 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its position in Salesforce by 130.2% in the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 12,659,217 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $2,363,096,000 after purchasing an additional 7,160,302 shares during the period. Finally, Cardano Risk Management B.V. raised its position in Salesforce by 924.7% in the 4th quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 3,883,610 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $1,028,807,000 after purchasing an additional 3,504,605 shares during the period. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Key Headlines Impacting Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce reported first-quarter results that beat expectations on both earnings and revenue, with EPS of $3.88 versus $3.13 expected and revenue of $11.13 billion versus $11.05 billion forecast. Management also raised full-year profit guidance, which supports the stock. Reuters article
• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce said Agentforce annualized revenue crossed the $1 billion mark, reinforcing investor interest in its AI strategy and showing that AI products are gaining traction. CNBC article
• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce announced an expanded collaboration with CVS Health to use Agentforce Health to streamline call-center interactions for millions of members and providers, a potential validation of its AI offerings in a major enterprise customer. PR Newswire article
• Neutral Sentiment: Analysts largely kept bullish ratings in place after the report, including reaffirmed “outperform”/“overweight” calls from Wedbush, Piper Sandler, Citizens JMP and Cantor Fitzgerald, though several firms trimmed price targets, reflecting a more cautious near-term setup. Benzinga article
• Negative Sentiment: Investors remain focused on slower top-line trends and a slightly light revenue outlook for next quarter, which fed the “AI threat” narrative and helped explain why the stock did not get a bigger post-earnings lift. Stocktwits article

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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