Should you sell your Salesforce.com stock?

Roth Capital Markets analyst Richard Baldry maintained a “Buy” rating and US$395.00 price target on Salesforce (Salesforce Stock Quote, Chart, News, Analysts, Financials NYSE:CRM) in a Sept. 4 report, saying recent results suggest its AI-driven offerings are beginning to stabilize growth after two years of weakness.

“CRM’s revenue growth has been weak for two years, necessitating cost cuts and controls,” Baldry said. “While growth remains soft, 2QF26 revenues were modestly above our forecast and its y/y growth rate improved again … CRM appears to have found a growth catalyst in its AI-driven Agentforce offerings, with AI+Data revenue up 120% y/y to $1.2-billion.”

Second-quarter revenue of $10.24-billion exceeded Roth’s $10.11-billion forecast, representing 9.8% growth year-over-year. Salesforce guided 3QF26 revenue to $10.24-10.29-billion, or 8%–9% growth, a level Baldry described as “overly conservative” given seasonal patterns. He noted that demand for Agentforce continues to build, with 12,500 deals closed versus 8,000 in the previous quarter.

Baldry said cost discipline is supporting record earnings, with pro forma EPS of $2.91 topping his $2.78 estimate.

“Any re-acceleration due to AI strength could yield a sharp rally for CRM’s shares given its ability to report record revenues and earnings while working through a slower-growth phase,” he said.

Roth now forecasts fiscal 2026 EPS of $11.37, up slightly from $11.32 previously.

Baldry added that buybacks and dividends remain supportive, with $2.2-billion in buybacks and $399-million in dividends in 2QF26.

“With stock-based compensation tightly ranged around $0.8-billion per quarter for five quarters now, this burden is easing moderately, but remains an over-generous drag still, in our view,” he said.

He said salesforce is well-placed to benefit from a rebound in IT spending focused on generative AI.

“Overall, despite CRM’s challenges, we view the rapid emergence of generative AI technologies as likely to drive a targeted re-acceleration,” he said. “This potential upside growth driver is the primary reason we remain constructive.”

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