CRM Stock Snags Second Rating Downgrade This Month – Analyst Says Risk/Reward On Salesforce Balanced In Absence Of Notable Growth Inflection

Morgan Stanley believes Salesforce is ‘actively disrupting itself to position for the agentic era.’

• Koyfin data shows that Wall Street is still largely bullish on CRM, with 39 out of 53 analysts covering the stock, rating it a ‘buy’ or higher.
• Earlier this month, KeyBanc Capital Markets also downgraded Salesforce to ‘sector weight’ from ‘overweight.’
• In June, the company made headlines for its $3.6 billion acquisition of Fin in a push to bolster its agentic AI offering for enterprises.

Shares of Salesforce (CRM) edged lower in Tuesday’s premarket trade after Morgan Stanley moved away from its bullish stance on the business software company and significantly slashed its price target on the stock.

At the time of writing, CRM was down nearly 4%.

Morgan Stanley’s Takeaway

Morgan Stanley believes Salesforce is "actively disrupting itself to position for the agentic era," per a report from TheFly. The firm said strong Agentforce performance is yet to drive an inflection in the company's organic growth amid ongoing legacy portfolio drags. They think shares will continue to hover at current levels in the absence of a notable growth inflection.

According to a report from Investing.com, Analyst Adam Wood pointed out to investors a disconnect between strong artificial intelligence momentum and continued weakness in subscription revenue growth at the company. The firm highlighted that Commerce and Tableau underperformance continues to weigh on the company overall. 

Morgan Stanley downgraded CRM stock to ‘equal weight’ from ‘overweight’ and set a new price target of $187, cutting it by more than $100, which now implies an upside potential of just over 6% as of the stock’s last closing price on Monday. The firm also views the risk/reward scenario as balanced at current share price levels.

Koyfin data shows that Wall Street is still largely bullish on CRM, with 39 out of 53 analysts covering the stock, rating it a ‘buy’ or higher; 12 rate it a ‘Hold’ and 2 ‘Strong Sell.’

KeyBanc Doesn’t See CRM Stock Pullback As Buying Opportunity

Earlier this month, KeyBanc Capital Markets also downgraded Salesforce to ‘sector weight’ from ‘overweight,’ citing a lack of evidence to support stock upside in the future. The firm noted the significant pullback in shares in 2026 but did not see it as a buying opportunity.

"Our checks and customer conversations have not been strong, nor has the feedback been on Agentforce. What we can piece together in the disclosed numbers does not signal building momentum, and, most recently, our CIO survey delivered another blow with Salesforce being a standout for the wrong reasons," KeyBanc analysts, led by Jackson Ader, told investors in a note that was seen by Seeking Alpha.

Salesforce’s Fin Acquisition

In June, the company made headlines for its $3.6 billion acquisition of Fin in a push to bolster its agentic AI offering and help enterprises improve autonomous resolution, save costs, and ramp up AI adoption.

Salesforce's rationale for the Fin acquisition was its AI agent, which can address customer queries across various channels, including live chat, email, WhatsApp, SMS, phone, and Slack.

On Stocktwits, retail sentiment toward the stock remained in ‘extremely bearish’ territory over the last 24 hours. 

CRM stock has fallen more than 30% so far this year and over the last 12 months, underperforming the S&P 500.

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