<\/p>\n
Salesforce (CRM) rarely draws a downgrade from two research firms at once. This week it did.<\/p>\n
On Thursday, July 9, KeyBanc Capital Markets and Bernstein downgraded Salesforce to a Hold. The stock fell roughly 3% to 4% at its low before steadying the next day.<\/p>\n
However, what matters beyond the price drop is why both firms stepped back at the same time, and what that means for anyone who owns the stock.<\/p>\n
The message inside the Salesforce downgrades<\/p>\n
KeyBanc moved Salesforce to Sector Weight from Overweight. Bernstein also downgraded the stock to Sector Weight from Outperform, according to Investing.com.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Both firms had the same concern. The adoption of Agentforce, the company’s flagship AI agent platform, is progressing more slowly than the headline numbers suggest.<\/p>\n
According to Benzinga, KeyBanc analyst Jackson Ader was blunt, saying the only real reason to buy the stock now is that it’s cheap.\u00a0<\/p>\n
More AI stocks:<\/p>\n
Wall Street expects ServiceNow stock to gain 52%, despite AI threatMorningstar drops bombshell warning on AI stocks’Big Short’ investor Michael Burry issues blunt 4-word warning on AI stocks<\/p>\n
Ader\u2019s team kept noting the same thing: customer data is not organized enough for real AI work, and Agentforce \u201cjust isn’t there\u201d yet as a product, TipRanks reported.<\/p>\n
A recent survey of chief information officers, the executives who control software budgets, deepened the worry.\u00a0<\/p>\n
More of them plan to trim Salesforce spending over the next year than raise it. The downgrades quickly spread caution across other software names, Barron’s noted.<\/p>\n
Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff staked the company’s next decade on Agentforce, the AI product now drawing analyst skepticism.<\/p>\n
Frank Brennan / Getty Images<\/p>\n
What \u201cAgentforce isn’t there yet\u201d means for CRM shareholders<\/p>\n
Agentforce is Salesforce’s wager that AI agents, software that carries out tasks on its own instead of just answering questions, will power its next decade of growth.<\/p>\n
Here is the catch for shareholders:<\/p>\n
Salesforce has sold its software the same way for 25 years, charging per user, or \u201cper seat.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
If agents handle work people used to do, customers may need fewer seats, which could shrink revenue rather than grow it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The company is now trying to charge for the work its agents complete instead of for headcount, though that model is still unproven at scale.<\/p>\n
Related: Salesforce bets another $1 billion despite AI spending cratering its stock<\/p>\n
The analyst checks matter because they test the changes the company wants to make against reality.\u00a0<\/p>\n
If customers need months to get their data ready before agents can run, the revenue Salesforce promises will arrive later than bulls expect.<\/p>\n
The numbers Salesforce leans on to defend Agentforce<\/p>\n
Salesforce released its first-quarter fiscal 2027 report on May 27. According to Salesforce, Agentforce’s annual recurring revenue reached $1.2 billion.<\/p>\n
That’s up 205% from a year earlier, which is the fastest ramp of any product in its history.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Revenue also rose 13% to about $11.1 billion, operating margins set a record, and management raised its full-year guidance, according to an SEC release.\u00a0<\/p>\n
CEO Marc Benioff has kept spending into the shift, pledging $1 billion to Switzerland this week on top of earlier commitments to Italy and France, Salesforce reported.<\/p>\n
That is the standoff. <\/p>\n
Management points to booming AI metrics, while the analysts who just downgraded the stock hear hesitation from the customers who have to deploy the technology.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It is a rare split between what a company reports and what its buyers say on the ground.<\/p>\n
What CRM investors should watch next<\/p>\n
For readers, the question is simple. Will Agentforce show up in the growth numbers, or stay a promise?<\/p>\n
Three signals that would ease the bear caseSigned deals set to become revenue over the next year growing in the mid-teens or better.Agentforce revenue climbing well beyond $1 billion on new customers, not just upsells to existing ones.Guidance that beats Wall Street when the company reports next.<\/p>\n
The stock is hardly expensive after a roughly 37% slide this year.\u00a0<\/p>\n
CRM trades near 19 times earnings, pays a dividend, and sits about 80% below its post-2020 free-cash-flow peak, GuruFocus data shows.\u00a0<\/p>\n
For perspective, CRM has been one of the Dow’s weakest members in 2026, even as the wider market climbed.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Even so, being cheap did not stop the downgrades, as both firms argued that the discount would fade once slower growth is priced in.<\/p>\n
Salesforce is still a deeply rooted platform, its customers are unlikely to walk away from it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The unresolved question is whether Agentforce becomes a real growth engine.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The next earnings report will provide more answers.<\/p>\n
Related: Top Analyst strongly resets AMD stock price target<\/p>\n
#Salesforce #receives #double #blow #product<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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