NEW YORK, Dec. 28, 2025, 12:19 a.m. ET — Market Closed (Weekend)
Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE: CRM) heads into the weekend with investors balancing two realities at once: the market’s year-end “thin liquidity” mood and the company’s increasingly high-stakes push to monetize AI agents at enterprise scale. With U.S. markets shut until Monday’s open, Salesforce stock is effectively “frozen” at Friday’s closing levels—leaving the next session to digest any weekend headlines, shifts in index futures, and renewed positioning around megacap software.
Where Salesforce stock stands heading into Monday
Salesforce shares finished Friday’s regular session at $266.08, up about 0.31% on the day, after trading roughly between the mid-$264s and upper-$267s. Volume was light by big-tech standards—about 2.45 million shares—consistent with post-holiday conditions. [1]
In the after-hours market Friday evening, CRM was last indicated around $265.98 (fractionally lower), offering no strong directional signal before the weekend pause. [2]
The market backdrop: quiet post-Christmas tape, “Santa Claus rally” watch
Friday’s broader market action was subdued. U.S. stocks ended slightly lower in a low-volume session following Christmas, with all three major indexes barely moving. [3]
That “soft volume” backdrop matters for Salesforce because large-cap software often trades less on company-specific news during holiday weeks and more on positioning, options flows, and index-level momentum.
Reuters quoted Ryan Detrick, chief market strategist at Carson Group, describing the session as a pause after a strong run—adding that the market remains in the early stretch of the “Santa Claus rally” window, which some investors watch for sentiment into the new year. [4]
What’s new in the last 24–48 hours: institutional filing headlines, not fresh company disclosures
There were no major new Salesforce earnings releases or strategic announcements in the last day or two. Instead, the most Salesforce-specific headlines circulating over the past 24–48 hours were driven by 13F filing stories (which reflect positions as of the end of the third quarter, not real-time trading).
- Baker Chad R reported increasing its Salesforce stake by 41.4% in the third quarter to 24,775 shares, according to MarketBeat’s write-up of the filing. [5]
- Private Trust Co. NA reported reducing its Salesforce stake by 23.3% in the third quarter, per another MarketBeat filing summary. [6]
These filing-driven updates can add color around institutional positioning, but investors typically treat them as backward-looking—useful for context, not a real-time catalyst.
The core thesis driver remains AI monetization—especially Agentforce and the “data foundation”
The most consequential fundamental reference point for Salesforce stock remains what the company laid out in early December around its fiscal Q3 results and outlook—particularly the trajectory of Agentforce and related data products.
In its fiscal Q3 release, Salesforce highlighted:
- Agentforce and Data 360 ARR reaching nearly $1.4 billion, up 114% year over year
- Agentforce ARR surpassing half a billion dollars in the quarter, up 330% year over year
- Over 9,500 paid Agentforce deals
- Updated guidance including FY26 revenue of $41.45B–$41.55B, plus Q4 revenue guidance of $11.13B–$11.23B and non-GAAP EPS guidance of $3.02–$3.04 [7]
Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff framed Agentforce and Data 360 as “momentum drivers,” while CFO Robin Washington pointed to the company’s longer-range profitable growth framework. [8]
Reuters also underscored that Salesforce raised its fiscal 2026 revenue and adjusted profit forecasts as it anticipates stronger enterprise demand for its AI agent platform—an important narrative support for CRM’s valuation multiple going into 2026. [9]
What experts and analysts are saying: confidence in the pipeline, but the bar is rising
One of the more pointed third-party reads on Salesforce’s guidance move came via Reuters, which quoted Rebecca Wettemann, CEO of industry analyst firm Valoir. Her take: raising guidance signals confidence in the pipeline and in converting today’s Agentforce experimentation into purchasing behavior. [10]
On Wall Street’s rating picture, MarketBeat’s recent filing-related coverage summarizes a still-constructive Street stance: “Moderate Buy” consensus and a $326.68 consensus price target (per its compilation), with a mix of Buy and Hold ratings across analysts. [11]
Zacks, in a separate consensus-style snapshot, lists an average broker price target around $331.71 for CRM, with a wide range between low and high targets—illustrating how differently analysts model AI-driven upside (and execution risk). [12]
Recent notable target updates referenced in MarketBeat’s roundup include:
- Deutsche Bank raising its target to $360 (Buy)
- Truist trimming to $380 (Buy)
- Wedbush reiterating $375 (Outperform) [13]
(Those firm actions occurred earlier in December, but they still shape the “current” consensus framing many investors see on finance platforms.)
Dividend: what income-focused investors should remember before the next session
Salesforce has also been building a shareholder-return narrative that now includes a regular dividend.
The company announced a quarterly cash dividend of $0.416 per share, payable Jan. 8, 2026, to shareholders of record on Dec. 18, 2025. [14]
For investors tracking total return, dividends matter not because CRM is a classic yield play (it isn’t), but because dividend + buybacks can support the stock during periods when growth investors demand proof that AI spending translates into durable cash generation. Salesforce reported returning billions to shareholders through repurchases and dividends in its Q3 materials. [15]
If you’re holding CRM into Monday: the practical checklist
With the market closed now and year-end conditions in play, here’s what investors commonly focus on before the next session:
1) Expect thinner liquidity and sharper reactions.
Friday’s post-holiday tape was light across the market, and that environment can amplify moves in mega-cap tech even on modest headlines. [16]
2) Watch the broader “Santa Claus rally” window.
The late-December/early-January seasonal stretch is on many desks’ radar, and sentiment around it can influence software multiples (including Salesforce) more than usual during quiet news cycles. [17]
3) Re-anchor on the numbers that matter for Salesforce’s AI story.
For CRM specifically, investors tend to key on signals tied to: Agentforce adoption (paid deals, ARR), Data 360 traction, remaining performance obligations (RPO/cRPO), and operating margin discipline—all items Salesforce emphasized in its most recent quarterly release and guidance tables. [18]
4) Know the holiday schedule risk around the next few sessions.
U.S. markets are expected to have a full trading day on New Year’s Eve (Dec. 31), while stock and bond markets are closed on Jan. 1, 2026, according to Investopedia’s holiday schedule overview (which also notes early bond-market close timing on Dec. 31). [19]
Nasdaq’s official 2025 holiday schedule also documents the late-December holiday structure (including the Dec. 24 early close and Dec. 25 closure). [20]
The setup into Monday’s open
Salesforce stock goes into Monday essentially in “waiting mode”: no fresh company bombshells in the last 24–48 hours, a quiet market backdrop, and a continuing debate over how fast AI agents move from impressive demos to line-item budget commitments.
If Monday’s tape stays thin, CRM may trade more like a “macro + megacap tech” proxy than a single-stock story—until the next tangible data point arrives (customer wins, product traction signals, or new analyst calls) that forces investors to update their Agentforce monetization timelines. [21]
References
1. stockanalysis.com, 2. www.marketwatch.com, 3. www.reuters.com, 4. www.reuters.com, 5. www.marketbeat.com, 6. www.marketbeat.com, 7. investor.salesforce.com, 8. investor.salesforce.com, 9. www.reuters.com, 10. www.reuters.com, 11. www.marketbeat.com, 12. www.zacks.com, 13. www.marketbeat.com, 14. investor.salesforce.com, 15. investor.salesforce.com, 16. www.reuters.com, 17. www.reuters.com, 18. investor.salesforce.com, 19. www.investopedia.com, 20. www.nasdaqtrader.com, 21. www.reuters.com
