Salesforce stock on Friday won an upgrade to buy from TD Cowen, which pointed to momentum for its new artificial intelligence platform.
Salesforce stock has pulled back from an all-time high of 369 set on Dec. 4.
TD Cowen analyst Derrick Wood upgraded CRM stock to buy from hold with a price target of 400. "Following a strong end of 2024 rally on the heels of Agentforce excitement, shares have pulled back, creating a compelling entry point," Wood said in a report.
"While we expect minimal revenue growth contribution from Agentforce specifically in 2025, we see potential for it starting to move the CRPO needle in the second half of 2025 and then revenue growth in 2026," Wood added. "We think investors are on the same page and are willing to be patient."
Current remaining performance obligations, or CRPO, are an aggregate of deferred revenue and order backlog and serve as a sales growth metric.
HubSpot Stock Downgraded
Meanwhile, Wood downgraded Salesforce's rival HubSpot to hold from buy on valuation and the results of a customer survey.
"The budget constraint headwinds HubSpot faced in 2024 could persist in 2025, which is contrary to investor sentiment that end-market small- and medium-sized business spending conditions are poised to rebound," Wood said.
On the stock market today, Salesforce stock rose more than 2% to near 328 in midday trading. HubSpot stock dipped a fraction to 716.66.
In late 2024, Salesforce and other software makers began shifting marketing strategy away from generative AI "copilots" to autonomous, goal-driven AI "agents."
Copilots, basically conversational chatbot interfaces, aim to improve worker productivity but rely on human prompts. Agents execute multistep tasks on behalf of users by solving problems and taking action.
Salesforce introduced Agentforce at its Dreamforce customer conference in September. In December, Salesforce announced an upgraded version, Agentforce 2.0, along with its "Digital Labor Platform."
Salesforce Stock: Technical Ratings
Salesforce stock had dipped below its 50-day moving average.
According to IBD Stock Checkup, CRM stock holds an IBD Composite Rating of 96 out of a best possible 99. IBD's Composite Rating combines five separate proprietary ratings into one easy-to-use rating. Also, the best growth stocks have a Composite Rating of 90 or better.
In addition, Salesforce stock has an Accumulation/Distribution Rating of B-minus. The rating analyzes price and volume changes in a stock over the past 13 weeks of trading. The rating, on an A+ to E scale, measures institutional buying and selling in a stock. A+ signifies heavy institutional buying and E means heavy selling. Think of the C grade as neutral.
Follow Reinhardt Krause on Twitter @reinhardtk_tech for updates on artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and cloud computing.
