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San Francisco, California-based Salesforce, Inc. (CRM) provides customer relationship management technology that connects companies and customers worldwide. Valued at a market cap of $156.4 billion, the company offers Agentforce, an agentic layer of the Salesforce platform; Data Cloud, a data engine; Industries AI for creating industry-specific AI agents with Agentforce, and more.
CRM stock has lagged behind the broader market over the past year, falling 21.3% compared to the S&P 500 Index’s ($SPX) 22.2% surge. Moreover, in 2026, the stock has declined by nearly 26.5%, underperforming the SPX’s 13% rise.
Focusing on its industry benchmark, the State Street Technology Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLK) has risen 42.5% over the past year, outperforming the stock. In 2026, XLK has grown 29.8% and has rallied the stock.
Salesforce has not been a winner in the eyes of investors and analysts over the past year due to its shaky fundamentals. The company’s average billings growth remained 10.5%, which is deemed subpar, indicating a demand loss for its products due to higher prices. Moreover, its projected sales growth for the next year is forecasted to be 10%, also caused by sluggish demand for its offerings. CRM’s operating profits and efficiency also rose over the past year, benefiting from some fixed cost leverage.
For the current year, which ends in January 2027, analysts expect CRM’s EPS to increase 5.9% to $10.27 on a diluted basis. The company surpassed the consensus estimate in each of the last four quarters.
Among the 52 analysts covering CRM stock, the consensus is a “Moderate Buy.” That’s based on 32 “Strong Buy” ratings, two “Moderate Buys,” 16 “Holds,” one “Moderate Sell,” and one “Strong Sell.”
The configuration has grown more bearish over the past month, with the stock now having 32 “Strong Sell” ratings down from 34 a month prior.
On July 22, Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Wood downgraded CRM to an “Equal Weight” rating and reduced its price target from $287 to $185.
CRM’s mean price target of $249.61 offers an upside of 29% compared to the current market price. Its Street-high target of $475 implies a robust 145.6% upside from current levels.
On the date of publication, Aritra Gangopadhyay did not have (either directly or indirectly) positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article. All information and data in this article is solely for informational purposes. For more information please view the Barchart Disclosure Policy here.
