Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Trading Down 2% - Here's What Happened

Key Points

• Salesforce shares fell 2% on Tuesday, trading as low as $166.93 after closing at $173.79, with volume coming in below its recent average. The move reflects a modest pullback rather than a major selloff.
• Investor sentiment remains mixed: analysts still largely rate the stock a Moderate Buy, but several firms have recently cut price targets or downgraded the name. At the same time, Salesforce is getting positive attention for its AI-driven growth and a new U.S. Air Force adoption of its Missionforce platform.
• Competitive and customer-retention concerns are weighing on the stock. New low-cost AI sales tools from Fireflies.ai and Curative’s reported cancellation of a $600,000 Salesforce contract highlight fears that cheaper AI alternatives could pressure Salesforce’s long-term business.

Shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) dropped 2% on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as $166.93 and last traded at $170.3650. Approximately 11,461,521 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 17% from the average session volume of 13,819,271 shares. The stock had previously closed at $173.79.

Key Salesforce News

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce continues to draw supportive attention for its AI-driven growth story, with recent commentary noting stronger earnings revisions, a lower valuation, and solid adoption across enterprise software users. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce’s Missionforce National Security platform was reportedly adopted by the U.S. Air Force for global vehicle fleet management, highlighting growth in a high-profile government/defense use case. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Several articles highlighted renewed investor interest in CRM and bullish price-target chatter, but these were largely commentary pieces rather than new company-specific catalysts. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Fireflies.ai launched a lower-cost AI Sales Suite that directly targets sales intelligence and CRM workflows, adding to concerns that AI tools could pressure legacy software budgets and Salesforce’s long-term moat. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Curative said it canceled a $600,000 annual Salesforce contract after building its own CRM with AI, reinforcing investor worries that customers may find cheaper alternatives to Salesforce’s platform. Article Title

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CRM has been the topic of several research reports. HC Wainwright downgraded shares of Salesforce to a "negative" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on shares of Salesforce from $225.00 to $215.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. Citizens Jmp reiterated a "market outperform" rating and issued a $315.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Salesforce from $210.00 to $200.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered Salesforce from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-four have issued a Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $249.51.

Salesforce Trading Down 2.0%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $139.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.18. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $170.57 and its 200 day simple moving average is $190.02.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 27th. The CRM provider reported $3.88 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.13 by $0.75. The company had revenue of $11.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $11.05 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 18.73% and a return on equity of 18.72%. 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 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. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Salesforce Inc. will post 10.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 11th were paid a dividend of $0.44 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, June 11th. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.0%. Salesforce's dividend payout ratio is presently 20.37%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Salesforce

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC acquired a new position in Salesforce during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Key Capital Management INC acquired a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Gilpin Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Legacy Bridge LLC bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Finally, Birchwood Financial Partners Inc. acquired a new position in Salesforce during the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Institutional investors own 80.43% of the company's stock.

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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