Salesforce rises as Baird makes it top large-cap software pick
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Contributor since / Followers
Contributor since / Followers
2 months ago
John M. Chase
- Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) shares rose fractionally on Thursday as Baird named the cloud computing software company its top large-cap idea, citing recent channel checks.
- “Checks and confidence in the Data Cloud strategy have improved after Dreamforce, and we believe the existential challenge from GenAI has diminished, if not fully disappeared,” analyst Rob Oliver wrote in an investor note. “We view the two recent tuck-in data acquisitions as meaningful. Investor sentiment from recent marketing remains mixed (potential bull tailwind). Macro is the biggest needle-mover near term for CRM – we are not macro experts; however, with Street expectations muted (+9% growth next few years) and valuation ~20.5x NTM FCF, we like the risk/ reward.”
- Oliver kept his Outperform rating and upped his price target on Salesforce to $340 from $315.
- Delving deeper, the company’s data cloud strategy has become clearer, after a period of what Oliver called “mixed customer feedback and uncertainty.”
- “Our conversations during Dreamforce were broadly positive, with positive feedback from product demos, which were largely focused on Data Cloud and Agentforce,” Oliver added. “Recent tuck-in acquisitions (Own Company, Zoomin) further support our improving view of the broader Data Cloud strategy.”