What happened
Salesforce (CRM 1.05%) wasn't a mighty force on the stock exchange Monday. On the back of a new, bearish analyst note, shares of the veteran business software developer lost nearly 4% of their value. That was a steeper drop than the over 2% recorded by the S&P 500 index.
So what
To be fair to Salesforce, the new take on its stock by Jefferies prognosticator Brent Thill wasn't depressingly negative. Thill merely cut his price target on the stock to $250 per share, not too far down from his previous $260. On top of that, he's maintaining his buy recommendation on the specialty tech company.
But it's exceedingly rare for an analyst to make such a move without having concerns. Citing recent research, Thill wrote that Salesforce "faces another tough setup with our survey indicating demand softness from macro impact." Because of this, he continued, expectations for the current quarter are low.
The macroeconomy is a particular worry in the business software world, in which client budgets are often reliant on the general economic climate. Businesses tend to pull back on spending when they feel a slowdown might be in the offing.
Now what
The Jefferies analyst is still a clear believer in Salesforce's potential, though. As well he should be -- the company is still far and away the No. 1 company on this planet for customer relationship management (CRM), which in many circles is considered an essential business tool these days.
Salesforce might have to sail through some stormy waters ahead, but given its talented management and dominant market position, it should be more than able to make its way to calmer seas.
