Fed’s Powell opens door to potential rate cuts at Jackson Hole
Investing.com - Citizens JMP analyst Patrick Walravens maintained a Market Outperform rating and $430.00 price target on salesforce.com (NYSE:CRM) ahead of the company’s fiscal second-quarter earnings report. With a market capitalization of $234.59 billion, InvestingPro data shows the company maintains impressive gross profit margins of 77.34%.
The firm collected 29 data points on Salesforce’s business, with 62% being positive compared to 47% positive in the previous quarter, according to the research note.
Salesforce is scheduled to report its F2Q results after market close on Wednesday, September 3.
The stock has fallen 26% year to date, compared to a 9% increase for the S&P 500 and an 8% increase for the Russell 3000 index.
The analyst noted that the stock decline stems from concerns about growth slowing into single digits, increasing competition, M&A overhead from the pending Informatica acquisition, and questions about the company’s relevance in an AI-first world.
In other recent news, Salesforce Inc. and ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW) Inc. are in advanced discussions to invest approximately $1.5 billion in Genesys Cloud Services Inc., with each company contributing around $750 million. This investment values Genesys at about $15 billion and marks a unique collaboration between competing enterprise software companies. Additionally, Salesforce’s fiscal second-quarter results showed consistent to modestly better trends, according to Stifel, which subsequently lowered its price target for Salesforce stock to $325 from $375, while maintaining a Buy rating. Stifel’s decision was based on multiple compression despite a positive long-term outlook for the company.
Meanwhile, Citizens has reiterated its Market Outperform rating on Salesforce stock, setting a price target of $430. This reaffirmation followed a discussion at the Citizens Technology Forum with Richard Socher, a former Executive Vice President and Chief Scientist at Salesforce. In another development, JMP Securities also maintained its Market Outperform rating and $430 price target on Salesforce after reviewing details of its merger with Informatica. The review revealed that six other potential acquirors were involved in the process, according to Informatica’s preliminary proxy statement filed with the SEC.
This article was generated with the support of AI and reviewed by an editor. For more information see our T&C.