Shares of Salesforce (CRM 3.31%) were bouncing back today after the software sector got pounded yesterday in response to Citrini Research's doomsday AI blog post.
Today, Salesforce and its peers were gaining even as Anthropic released a new set of tools and plug-ins, perhaps a sign that the sector has found some resilience or even a bottom. Salesforce also benefited from some favorable analyst notes ahead of its fourth-quarter earnings report tomorrow afternoon.
As of 2:24 p.m. ET, the stock was up 4.3%.
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What's happening with Salesforce today
Salesforce has been a poster child for the sell-off in the software sector this year, but several Wall Street firms stood by the stock this morning.
HSBC said that enterprise software "will not be threatened by AI" and is instead positioned to take advantage of it, arguing that these companies are doing the work to get the most value out of AI.
Wedbush similarly applauded Anthropic's recent demos, but said the software-disruption hype was overdone.
Additionally, KeyBanc lowered its price target on Salesforce from $400 to $300, reflecting the recent sell-off in the stock, but maintained an overweight rating as it sees Agentforce beginning to deliver meaningful results.
NYSE: CRM
Key Data Points
We'll learn more tomorrow
Salesforce will likely give a full-throated defense of Agentforce and its AI strategy at its earnings call tomorrow, and the stock could be rewarded if investors are pleased with the update.
The SaaS leader currently trades at a price-to-earnings ratio of just 25 based on generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) earnings, which looks like a great price to pay if the company emerges as one of the leaders in AI. We'll learn more from the earnings report, but at this point, the stock seems ovesold.
