KeyCorp Has Pessimistic View of Salesforce FY2028 Earnings

Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) – KeyCorp lowered their FY2028 earnings estimates for Salesforce in a report issued on Wednesday, July 8th. KeyCorp analyst J. Ader now forecasts that the CRM provider will earn $9.82 per share for the year, down from their previous estimate of $9.90. KeyCorp currently has a “Sector Weight” rating on the stock. The consensus estimate for Salesforce’s current full-year earnings is $10.29 per share.

Several other analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $250.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. B. Riley Financial boosted their target price on Salesforce from $205.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Salesforce from $210.00 to $200.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 28th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Friday, June 12th. Finally, HC Wainwright downgraded Salesforce to a “negative” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have given a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $254.42.

Salesforce Stock Performance

Shares of CRM stock opened at $162.65 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $172.25 and a two-hundred day moving average of $194.73. The stock has a market capitalization of $133.21 billion, a PE ratio of 18.83, a P/E/G ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. Salesforce has a 52 week low of $146.32 and a 52 week high of $274.00.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 27th. The CRM provider reported $3.88 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.13 by $0.75. The firm had revenue of $11.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.05 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 18.73% and a return on equity of 18.72%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.58 earnings per share. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 14.060-14.120 EPS and its Q2 2027 guidance at 3.250-3.270 EPS.

Salesforce announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Monday, March 16th that authorizes the company to buyback $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the CRM provider to buy up to 14.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Investors of record on Thursday, June 11th were issued a $0.44 dividend. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 11th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is 20.37%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Marquette Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Salesforce by 707.4% during the 2nd quarter. Marquette Asset Management LLC now owns 218 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 191 shares in the last quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC lifted its stake in Salesforce by 36.7% during the second quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC now owns 17,364 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $2,720,000 after purchasing an additional 4,664 shares during the last quarter. Financial Management Professionals Inc. boosted its holdings in Salesforce by 25.9% in the second quarter. Financial Management Professionals Inc. now owns 491 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $77,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Salesforce by 42.8% in the second quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 2,254 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $353,000 after purchasing an additional 676 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Atlas Brown Inc. increased its stake in Salesforce by 5.8% in the second quarter. Atlas Brown Inc. now owns 7,949 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $1,245,000 after purchasing an additional 436 shares during the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Salesforce News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Negative Sentiment: KeyBanc downgraded Salesforce and removed its price target, citing concerns that Agentforce may not ramp quickly enough to drive near-term growth. Salesforce Stock Downgraded at ‘Possibly Exactly the Wrong Time’
• Negative Sentiment: Market commentary said Salesforce “can’t catch a break” as the stock struggles to recover, reflecting investor concern that the shares could remain under pressure if AI monetization stays slow. Salesforce Can’t Catch A Break: Analyst Downgrades CRM Stock And Finds Little Proof Agentforce Is Gaining Speed
• Neutral Sentiment: Salesforce launched new MCP-powered Slackbot capabilities that can pull CRM data, generate charts, and send DocuSigns, which highlights product innovation but is not yet a clear stock-moving catalyst. Salesforce Launches MCP-Powered Capabilities for Slackbot
• Neutral Sentiment: The company also announced a $1 billion investment in Switzerland to accelerate agentic AI adoption, underscoring long-term commitment to AI, though investors remain focused on near-term returns from that spending. Salesforce bets another $1 billion despite AI spending cratering its stock
• Positive Sentiment: Some analysts remain constructive, with Guggenheim recently upgrading Salesforce and arguing the AI bear case may be overdone, suggesting longer-term upside if execution improves. Salesforce (CRM) Upgraded as AI Bear Case Looks Overdone

Salesforce Company Profile

Salesforce, founded in 1999 and headquartered in San Francisco, is a global provider of cloud-based software focused on customer relationship management (CRM) and enterprise applications. The company popularized the software-as-a-service (SaaS) model for CRM and has built a broad portfolio of products designed to help organizations manage sales, service, marketing, commerce and analytics through a unified, cloud-first platform.

Core offerings include Sales Cloud for sales automation, Service Cloud for customer support, Marketing Cloud for digital marketing and engagement, and Commerce Cloud for e-commerce.