Salesforce Advances 3% on Bank of America Double Upgrade to Buy With $285 Target; ServiceNow Climbs 3%, Palantir Holds Steady

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM | CRM Price Prediction) stock is up 3% to $236.83 in morning trading after Bank of America double-upgraded the shares to Buy from Underperform. Bank of America’s reversal lands on Salesforce stock, which is still down 9% year to date even after the jump. The call argues that artificial intelligence (AI) can entrench the platforms large companies already run on.

Meanwhile, ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW) stock is up 3% to $144.39, trailing the gain in Salesforce stock. Notably, Palantir Technologies (NASDAQ:PLTR) stock is down 0.2% to $208.60, lagging both software peers.

The iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF (CBOE:IGV) is up 0.6%. At the same time, the Invesco QQQ Trust (NASDAQ:QQQ) is down 0.2%. Thus, the software segment and Salesforce stock in particular are drawing buyers even as large-cap technology goes practically nowhere.

Bank of America Drops Its AI Disruption Worry

Bank of America raised its price target on Salesforce stock to $285 alongside the upgrade, and the bank sees an AI pivot driving the shares higher. Its reversal rests on the view that large enterprises are unlikely to replace the platforms housing their business logic, data, workflows and compliance frameworks, which counters an earlier concern that AI would disintermediate enterprise software. Barron’s headline on the call put it bluntly: “The AI Overhang Is Over, Say Analysts.”

Salesforce sells customer relationship management software on recurring subscriptions and has layered agent products on that base, including Agentforce and the Anthropic-powered Claudeforce announced in late August. In the company’s Q2 FY27 results, Agentforce annual recurring revenue (ARR) exceeded $1.5 billion, up over 240% year over year, and current remaining performance obligations reached $33.5 billion. Marc Benioff, chief executive at the time of that release, stated, “We just delivered one of our best quarters ever, outperforming across every key metric.”

Three Platforms Carry Very Different Price Tags

Beyond Salesforce, ServiceNow offers enterprise workflow software and Palantir sells data and decision platforms, so all three companies are paid to sit underneath a customer’s operations. At 14x forward earnings, Salesforce stock trades well below ServiceNow stock at 28x and Palantir stock at 85x.

Growth rates explain much of that valuation spread, since faster expansion typically earns a higher multiple. Palantir’s Q2 2026 revenue rose 92.8% year over year to $1.94 billion, and the company raised its FY2026 sales outlook to $8.15 billion to $8.16 billion. “This quarter was otherworldly,” Alex Karp, Palantir’s chief executive at the time of that report, declared.

ServiceNow’s Q2 FY26 revenue climbed 24% to $3.99 billion, and its AI business crossed $1 billion in annual contract value. Management also raised its FY26 subscription revenue guidance to $15.76 billion to $15.78 billion.

Salesforce’s Q2 FY27 revenue grew 10.8% to $11.35 billion, and management raised its FY27 sales outlook to $46.1 billion to $46.4 billion. However, adoption of Salesforce’s agent products hasn’t yet reached reported revenue at scale, and the quarter’s earnings leaned on $2.61 billion in net gains on strategic investments.

What to Watch Next

The next quarterly report from Salesforce is the clearest test of the upgrade thesis, since it can show whether agent products are moving the top line and whether management’s raised outlook holds up. Anyone following the group can watch for whether the software fund keeps its lead over the large-cap technology fund.

One rating change doesn’t settle a debate that has run on Salesforce stock all year, especially while agent adoption is still catching up to the story. Investors should size their positions so a single analyst call doesn’t dominate their risk.

Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.