- Salesforce (CRM) shares jumped ~4–7% in mid-October after CEO Marc Benioff unveiled a bold AI-driven roadmap at Dreamforce 2025 [1] [2]. He set a new FY2030 revenue target of >$60 billion (10%+ CAGR), above Wall Street’s prior $58B estimate [3] [4].
- On Oct. 21, CRM opened around $254 (after closing near $243 on Oct. 17) and traded into the $260–$267 range (≈+4.6% on the day) [5] [6]. This lifted the stock to mid-$260s by late morning, after a late-week rebound from multi-month lows.
- Salesforce’s Q2 FY2026 results (reported Sept. 3) beat expectations: revenue was $10.2B (+10% YoY) with EPS ~$2.91, and management raised full-year guidance and expanded buybacks [7] [8]. However, Q3 guidance was slightly soft, tempering short-term confidence.
- Partnerships and AI rollouts are in focus: Salesforce integrated its new “Agentforce 360” AI-agent platform with Google’s Gemini and OpenAI’s ChatGPT, embedding AI agents across Slack, Gmail, and other tools [9] [10]. In May it also agreed to acquire Informatica ($8B) to boost data/AI capabilities [11].
- Analysts remain cautiously optimistic. Roughly 30–35 Wall Street analysts rate CRM a “Moderate Buy” (30 Buys, 9 Holds, 1 Sell) with an average 12-mo target ~$330 (~35% upside) [12] [13]. TD Cowen’s Derrick Wood notes that even as AI changes the landscape, “LLMs will not take your business logic needs away,” and he sees CRM as undervalued [14]. BMO’s Keith Bachman agrees, calling Salesforce’s data and Agentforce platform “powerful ammo” for growth [15].
- Risks remain: competitors have been stronger in 2025. Microsoft (MSFT) is up ~20–22% YTD on its own AI momentum, and Oracle (ORCL) nearly doubled (≈+70–75%) on aggressive AI/cloud bets [16] [17]. Adobe and SAP software stocks have roughly mirrored or underperformed Salesforce’s ~-27% YTD slide. Analysts note CRM trades at only ~20–21× forward earnings – far below the ~31× for MSFT/ORCL [18] [19]. Macroeconomic headwinds (high interest rates, cautious IT spending) have pressured all cloud stocks [20], though Fed cuts are expected soon [21].
Salesforce (CRM) stock rallied on Oct. 21, 2025 after a late-week bounce driven by bullish Dreamforce announcements. By Oct. 20 (Monday) CRM shares were trading in the mid-$240s [22]. Investors had already bid the stock up ~7% on Oct. 16 (closing around $253) in reaction to Salesforce’s long-term outlook, before it settled back to about $243 on Oct. 17 [23]. On Tuesday, Oct. 21, CRM opened at ~$254.31 [24] and traded up toward the mid-$260s by late morning (around $263 at 9:43pm IST [25]), roughly a +4–5% gain on the day. This continued a modest rebound from the multi-month low near $235 on Oct. 1, and still leaves CRM down roughly 27–29% year-to-date [26] [27].
Major News & Announcements
The late-October move was fueled by news unveiled at Salesforce’s annual Dreamforce conference (Oct. 15–16) and other strategic updates. CEO Marc Benioff used the event to raise the bar on growth goals, forecasting more than $60 billion in revenue by FY2030 (FY = Feb–Jan) [28] [29]. This exceeds the Street’s consensus (~$58.4B) and implies sustaining ≈10% annual growth through 2030. Salesforce also introduced a “50 by FY30” Profitable Growth framework, aiming for combined growth and margin targets of 50% by 2030 [30]. In tandem, Salesforce highlighted the rapid rollout of its new AI agent platform, Agentforce 360. According to the company and press reports, Data & AI revenue (a combination of new and existing offerings) reached ~$1.2 billion in Q2 (up ~120% YoY) [31], and Agentforce generated ≈$440M in annual recurring revenue in Q2 [32]. About 12,000 customers are now using Salesforce’s AI agents, suggesting potential for a 3–4× uplift in revenue from those users as adoption deepens [33] [34].
Salesforce also expanded key partnerships in mid-October. On Oct. 14 it announced that its Agentforce 360 platform would surface directly inside ChatGPT, letting companies query CRM data and build AI applications using OpenAI’s latest models (e.g. GPT-5) [35]. At Dreamforce it likewise unveiled a deeper tie-up with Google: Gemini’s AI models are being integrated into Agentforce 360 and Google Workspace (including Slack, Gmail, etc.), allowing Gemini-powered AI agents to run enterprise workflows in Salesforce’s apps [36]. These deals position Salesforce in the growing field of “agentic AI” alongside tech giants.
On the financial front, Salesforce’s September earnings were largely encouraging. For Q2 FY2026 (ended July 31), Salesforce reported $10.24 billion revenue (+9.8% YoY) and EPS $2.91 [37], topping analysts’ forecasts. Management nudged up full-year revenue guidance (to ~$41.2B) and boosted the share buyback program (expanding it by $20B, then later adding another $7B) [38] [39]. Yet the company’s Q3 guidance was slightly conservative: it forecast mid-range revenue below Street estimates [40], reflecting cautious IT spending. That outlook – combined with macro uncertainty – briefly knocked CRM back into the mid-$230s in late September [41]. In short, the recent swing from pessimism (on soft guidance) to optimism (after the big-picture AI roadmap) has been dramatic.
Beyond earnings, Salesforce has been active on other fronts. In May 2025, it announced an $8 billion deal to acquire Informatica [42], a move intended to bring heavy-duty data management and integration tools into Salesforce’s AI strategy. In early October the company also described a new security incident: a hacker group claimed to have stolen customer data, but Salesforce clarified its own systems were secure [43]. Overall, Salesforce appears to be leaning heavily into AI as a growth engine – even as management acknowledges growth has “reaccelerated” only recently after a slower patch [44] [45].
Analyst Commentary & Forecasts
Wall Street’s view of Salesforce is cautiously positive. Consensus sentiment is Moderate Buy – roughly 30 analysts rate CRM a buy, 9 hold, and 1 sell [46]. The average 12-month price target is around $330 (about 34% above current levels) [47]. Several major firms have publicly commented. TD Cowen’s Derrick Wood reiterated a “Buy” rating with a $335 target, noting that while AI shifts the landscape, “LLMs will not take your business logic needs away” – in other words, Salesforce’s data and processes still underpin enterprise value [48]. BMO Capital’s Keith Bachman (also Buy/$280) sees further margin expansion and growth as AI features like Agentforce and new pricing unlock more revenue: “Salesforce’s established business logic and data in core product offerings, combined with improving Agentforce capabilities… offer the potential for improving growth,” he said [49].
Not all analysts are unequivocally bullish. Raymond James framed Salesforce’s new guidance as “powerful ammo against key bear debates,” even raising its target (to ~$375) [50]. However, RBC Capital Markets remains cautious (with a $250 target, “Sector Perform”), and Bernstein even retains a Sell rating (target ≈$221) [51]. More broadly, analysts note that Salesforce’s valuation is quite low. It trades around 21× forward earnings, versus ~31× for Microsoft and Oracle [52]. J.P. Morgan analysts write that Salesforce is “trading near a historically low valuation and deep discount to software peers,” arguing that recent beat-and-raise results and flat guidance aren’t alarming given the cheap valuation [53]. On the other hand, Oppenheimer flatly characterized Salesforce’s recent guidance as “uninspiring” [54], reflecting concerns that AI hasn’t yet yielded a clear growth inflection.
In summary, the wall of consensus targets is wide. TipRanks data confirms a Moderate Buy consensus and average upside in the mid-30% range [55]. Some sell-side analysts have already adopted targets in the $300s post-Dreamforce, while others are waiting for more proof. For now, experts are watching whether Salesforce can translate its AI and data investments into faster sales (possibly a turnaround in late FY26 or FY27). Many say that if the company can reignite double-digit growth as it forecasts, the stock’s low starting point would yield substantial gains [56] [57].
Competitor Performance
Salesforce’s stock has lagged major peers in 2025. While CRM is down ~27%, other enterprise tech names have seen mixed fortunes. Oracle (ORCL), for example, had a monster year: its shares roughly doubled (up ~70–75% YTD) on the back of large AI/cloud deals and aggressive forecasts [58] [59]. Oracle briefly ran as high as ~$345 in early September, only to pull back into the high $270s by Oct. 21 [60]. Microsoft (MSFT), which embeds AI across its products (Azure, Office, etc.), is up about 20–22% this year [61] [62]. Tech giants like Google, Amazon, and Nvidia (the so-called “Magnificent Seven”) also enjoyed strong gains on AI optimism (notably Nvidia +300% YTD), though some have since cooled. In contrast, CRM’s ~-27% slide represents an underperformance of over 30 percentage points versus the S&P 500 [63].
Within the CRM/cloud space, Salesforce trails as well. Adobe (which competes in digital marketing) is down roughly 25% YTD [64], a drop comparable to Salesforce’s. SAP and Oracle’s cloud offerings have seen rebounds. SAP SE (business software) recently traded in the upper $200s after a summer surge, largely on AI buzz, though its full-year gains are more modest than Oracle’s. Overall, investors note that Salesforce’s price-to-earnings multiple (~21×) is far lower than Microsoft’s (~31×) or Oracle’s (~30×) [65] – implying the market expects less growth. If Salesforce can execute its AI plans, many analysts argue its valuation is now cheap enough that any meaningful reacceleration in revenue could send the stock much higher [66] [67].
Market & Tech Sector Trends
The broader economic backdrop is also at play. High interest rates and cautious enterprise spending have hampered many software stocks this year [68]. Companies have delayed IT projects amid inflation concerns. In this environment, even strong AI narratives have been partially offset by recession worries. That said, investors are now positioning for a pivot: financial markets widely expect the Federal Reserve to begin cutting rates by the end of October [69]. Easing rates could boost growth stocks, though core inflation (PCE index ~2.7%) remains above target [70].
Meanwhile, industry trends remain generally favorable to Salesforce long-term. The global CRM and enterprise software market is large and growing (Salesforce still commands ~24% market share worldwide), and AI-driven features are in high demand. Competitors are likewise integrating generative AI – Microsoft with Copilot, Oracle with its new AI Cloud, and SAP with its own AI tools. Salesforce’s aggressive R&D (including a recent pledge to invest $15B in San Francisco R&D and other AI initiatives [71]) signals it is betting big on the AI wave. If macro headwinds recede, many analysts believe Salesforce is well-positioned to benefit from secular trends: cloud computing, digital transformation, and enterprise AI.
In summary, as of Oct. 21, 2025 Salesforce’s stock is rebounding from a tough year, lifted by Dreamforce’s ambitious outlook and AI partnerships [72] [73]. Short-term moves may remain choppy (subject to economic news and sales guidance), but the medium-term debate hinges on execution. As one analyst put it, CRM stock looks “undervalued” if Salesforce can actually deliver on the 10%+ growth goal tied to its $60B target [74] [75]. Investors will be watching upcoming earnings calls, deal announcements, and macro signals to gauge whether this AI-fueled rally has legs or was just a brief pop.
Sources: Current stock and news data from TS2.tech, Reuters, MarketBeat, and other financial media [76] [77] [78] [79] [80]. Actual quotes and facts are cited above.
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