Jim Cramer used his July 9, 2026, CNBC Mad Dash segment to explain why Salesforce (NYSE:CRM | CRM Price Prediction) has been one of the most painful stocks to hold in enterprise software. The stock is down 36.79% year-to-date and 38.6% over the past year, and Cramer’s view is that cheap can still get cheaper when the growth engine stalls.
Why KeyBanc Turned Bearish on Salesforce
Cramer built his segment around a call from KeyBanc analyst Jackson Ader, who downgraded Salesforce from Buy to Hold. KeyBanc downgraded the stock from “Overweight” to “Sector Weight,” citing soft customer feedback on Agentforce and a CIO survey that raised concerns about the company’s future business. Shares dipped 1.7% on the note.
As Cramer framed it: “This decline in software is being aided by Jackson going from difficult to find evidence of future upside… downgrading. He’s taking it from a Buy to a Hold.”
Agentforce Is Growing, But Investors Want More
The tension is that Agentforce numbers still look large in absolute terms. Q1 FY27 Agentforce ARR reached $1.2 billion, up 205% year over year, with combined Agentforce and Data 360 ARR at nearly $3.4 billion and 3.8 billion Agentic Work Units delivered.
Agentforce ARR growth ran 330% in Q3 FY26, then 169% in Q4 FY26, then 205% in Q1 FY27. That is the “slowing adoption” Cramer described: “He sees slowing adoption in Agentforce, which is really… that was going to be the future.”
AI Budget Shifts Could Pressure Salesforce’s Business Model
The second leg of the bear case is pricing. Cramer described a CIO conversation where budgets get redirected toward cheaper agent and analytics options: “The people who make the budget say, listen, let’s see if we can not spend as much money on a Salesforce, which they think is expensive, let’s see what we can come up with for Anthropic, say a dashboard versus a Tableau.”
The software sector is declining amid hardware weakness, with SanDisk and Micron cited as examples. Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) is down 8.07% over the past week even after posting Q3 FY2026 revenue of $41.46 billion, up 346% year over year. The AI infrastructure jitters are bleeding into the application layer, and Salesforce is the highest-profile casualty.
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Why Cramer Says Cheap Doesn’t Always Mean Buy
Marc Benioff has responded by delivering capital returns. Salesforce funded a $25 billion accelerated share repurchase with 103 million shares delivered upfront, part of a $50 billion authorization, and management has anchored to an FY30 revenue target of $63 billion.
The trade-off is a balance sheet that now carries noncurrent debt of $39.3 billion, up from $10.4 billion, with total liabilities up 90.93% year over year. Jim Cramer’s read on the stock’s valuation was that there’s always a chance things can get worse before they get better: “The stock is cheap. But he’s just saying given the slower adoption it can get even cheaper.”
What to Watch Next
Salesforce trades at a forward P/E near 12, well below the 200-day moving average of $211.54 and 52-week high of $271.70. Analysts’ consensus price target sits at $246.44 across 33 Buy and 6 Strong Buy ratings.
Bulls see a market leader trading at a historically inexpensive valuation, while bears argue slowing adoption and changing enterprise spending priorities justify lower multiples. The next Agentforce update could prove decisive, because if growth reaccelerates, today’s valuation may look compelling.
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