Salesforce Just Gave Investors a Reason to Rethink This Beaten-Down Stock
Salesforce spent most of 2026 getting crushed by fears that AI would kill its business model, and then one earnings report flipped the entire narrative. Here is what the numbers actually reveal about whether this recovery has legs or is…
Salesforce (NYSE:CRM | CRM Price Prediction) has spent most of 2026 in the penalty box, but the August earnings report finally gave the bulls something to work with.
Our 24/7 Wall St. price target for Salesforce is $363.85, implying roughly 48.88% upside from the $244.20 close on September 9, 2026. Our recommendation is buy, and the model registers high confidence at 90%.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Current Price | $244.20 |
| 24/7 Wall St. Price Target | $363.85 |
| Upside | 48.88% |
| Recommendation | BUY |
| Confidence Level | 90% |
From SaaSpocalypse Panic to a Fresh Bid
Salesforce started 2026 near $254 and bled steadily lower, touching a 52-week low of $146.32 as investors debated whether generative AI would gut the seat-based SaaS model. The stock is still down 7.35% year to date and 2.3% over the last year, yet it has ripped 23.62% over the past month as the narrative shifted.
The pivot came with Q2 FY27 on August 26, 2026. Revenue landed at $11.35 billion, up 10.8%, while non-GAAP EPS hit $5.90 against a $3.27 consensus, an 80.36% beat and the sixth straight. Agentforce ARR now exceeds $1.5 billion, up over 240% year over year, and management raised FY27 revenue guidance to $46.1 billion to $46.4 billion.
Why Bulls See a Breakout Ahead
The bull case rests on Agentforce monetization. Combined Agentforce and Data 360 ARR is now nearly $3.90 billion, up over 210%. CEO Marc Benioff called it “one of our best quarters ever” and framed the CloudForce partnership with Anthropic as “the number one AI meeting the number one CRM.”
Premium editions required for CloudForce carry a 60% to 80% premium, and only 5% of knowledge workers have upgraded, leaving a massive upsell runway.
Capital returns amplify the setup. The $25 billion accelerated share repurchase has already pulled diluted share count to 821 million from 962 million. Our bull-case scenario points to $405.75 within a year, roughly 66.02% upside.
What Could Go Wrong
The bear case starts with EPS quality. GAAP EPS of $4.29 included a $2.43 per-share lift from $2.61 billion in strategic investment gains, which are inherently non-recurring. Restructuring charges also jumped to $94 million from $4 million a year ago.
Bulls will correctly note the operating story remains intact: free cash flow rose 81.49% to $1.098 billion, and cRPO growth accelerated to 14%.
Integration risk from Informatica, Contentful, and Fin is real, and license revenue plus analytics were cited as volatile on the call. Our bear-case one-year target is $294.20, still above today’s price.
How Salesforce Compares to Microsoft and Oracle
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) is the most direct AI-and-enterprise-software rival, monetizing Copilot across the same buyer base Salesforce targets. Microsoft trades at a forward P/E of 25 with a 45.1% operating margin and 17.7% revenue growth.
That premium multiple, paired with far higher profitability, sets the ceiling: Salesforce’s 19 forward P/E looks reasonable and arguably cheap if Agentforce sustains triple-digit growth.
Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) is the enterprise valuation contrast. Oracle sports a forward P/E of 20, quarterly revenue growth of 20.6%, and ROE of 53.4%, with a 52-week range spanning $114.5 to $327.27 as AI infrastructure demand re-rated the stock. If a slower-growing infrastructure vendor commands that multiple, our Salesforce target implies a fair re-rating.
| Company | Forward P/E | Quarterly Rev Growth YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Salesforce | 19 | 10.8% |
| Microsoft | 25 | 17.7% |
| Oracle | 20 | 20.6% |
Where Salesforce Stands After the Q2 Beat
My 24/7 Wall St. price target of $363.85 with 90% confidence lines up with a buy. The scale tips on Agentforce: at $1.5 billion ARR growing over 240%, this is no longer a story stock.
I’d be a buyer here if CloudForce adoption and premium-edition upgrades show up in the Q3 cRPO report. I’d stay on the sidelines if organic revenue reacceleration slips or Informatica integration drags on FY27 margins.
Looking further ahead, here is where our model projects Salesforce could trade, assuming current growth trajectories and margin trends hold.
| Year | 24/7 Wall St. Price Target |
|---|---|
| 2026 | $273.96 |
| 2027 | $366.61 |
| 2028 | $478.03 |
| 2029 | $586.10 |
| 2030 | $665.17 |
These projections assume Salesforce executes on its $63 billion FY30 revenue target. Significant upside or downside could result from Agentforce monetization pace and integration outcomes for Contentful, Fin, and Informatica.
Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.
Vandita Jadeja is a financial publisher with over a decade of experience writing about financial topics, including investment, savings, retirement, insurance and banking. Vandita is a Chartered Accountant who loves to debunk financial concepts for readers.
Her work has appeared on sites that include The Motley Fool, InvestorPlace, and Benzinga. She covers investing and focuses on stock picks and price prediction for 24/7 Wall St.
When not looking for the next stock investment opportunity, she can be found traveling, reading, chasing sunsets and enjoying her iced latte.
