Software Stocks Pressured by Anthropic's New AI Functionality
Written by Emily J. Thompson, Senior Investment Analyst
Updated: Apr 10 2026
0mins
Should l Buy CRM?
Source: stocktwits
- Stock Declines: Shares of Salesforce, Snowflake, and Workday hit multi-year lows on Thursday, with Salesforce dropping nearly 3% to $170.85, marking its lowest point since March 2023, and a cumulative 9% decline over four days, indicating market concerns over AI competition.
- AI Functionality Impact: The new features launched by Anthropic on its Cowork platform are perceived as a challenge to existing software products, exacerbating valuation pressures in the software sector, particularly negatively affecting demand for Salesforce and Snowflake, with Snowflake's stock plummeting 13% to $132.24, its lowest since August 2024.
- Buyback Plans and Investor Confidence: Despite the stock price declines, Salesforce announced an accelerated buyback plan of up to $25 billion, and board members each purchased $500,000 in shares last month, reflecting confidence in the company's future.
- Analyst Rating Changes: Citi sharply lowered its price target for Workday from $247 to $148, while Rothschild reduced it from $270 to $210, highlighting concerns over the company's decelerating sales trends and uncertainty regarding future strategy following the CEO change.
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Analyst Views on CRM
Wall Street analysts forecast CRM stock price to rise
39 Analyst Rating
29 Buy
9 Hold
1 Sell
Moderate Buy
Current: 181.220
Low
223.00
Averages
326.40
High
405.00
Current: 181.220
Low
223.00
Averages
326.40
High
405.00
About CRM
Salesforce, Inc. is a customer relationship management (CRM) technology company. Its artificial intelligence (AI) powered Agentforce 360 Platform offers sales, service, marketing, commerce, collaboration, data management, integration, analytics, and information technology (IT) service solutions. It enables customers to build and deploy digital labor for employees and customers, leveraging autonomous AI agents across business functions. Its service offerings include Agentforce Sales, Agentforce Service, Agentforce 360 Platform, Slack and Others. The Agentforce Sales provides sales capabilities and tools built for organizations across prospecting, sales engagement, team collaboration, sales analytics and AI, sales programs, sales performance, partner management, and revenue and orders. The Agentforce Service provides field service solutions that enable companies to connect service agents, dispatchers and mobile employees through platform to schedule, dispatch and manage jobs.
About the author
Emily J. Thompson
Emily J. Thompson, a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) with 12 years in investment research, graduated with honors from the Wharton School. Specializing in industrial and technology stocks, she provides in-depth analysis for Intellectia’s earnings and market brief reports.
Salesforce CEO Benioff Rebuts AI Disruption Fears
- Sales Growth: Salesforce's recent quarterly sales increased by 12% to $11.2 billion, exceeding Wall Street expectations, although a soft fiscal first-quarter forecast has created cautious sentiment regarding the company's future performance.
- Agentforce Platform Progress: Since its launch in late 2024, Salesforce's Agentforce platform is now utilized by 23,000 of its 150,000 customers, indicating its potential in automating workflows and possibly generating new revenue streams for the company.
- AI Investment Strategy: Salesforce has invested over $300 million in AI startup Anthropic since 2023, which was recently valued at $380 billion and plans to go public later this year, a strategy that could support Salesforce's long-term growth.
- Analyst Optimism: Despite CRM shares declining over 30% in 2026, 35 out of 46 analysts recommend 'Buy' or higher, with an average price target of $268.87, implying a 48% upside, reflecting market confidence in a potential rebound.
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- Semiconductor Supply Chain Investment: Bridgewater's second-largest tech holding is Lam Research, accounting for about 1.9% of the portfolio, and despite a modest 12% reduction last quarter, the company reported a 22% year-over-year revenue increase to $5.34 billion, indicating significant long-term growth potential driven by rising AI demand.
- Salesforce Software Positioning: Bridgewater holds approximately 1.8% in Salesforce, which saw a slight reduction, yet its Agentforce platform's annual recurring revenue surged 169% year-over-year to $800 million, showcasing strong growth in enterprise AI software, with management raising the FY30 revenue target to $63 billion.
- Alphabet Cloud Investment: Bridgewater maintains a significant position in Alphabet, representing about 1.8% of the portfolio, and despite a 40% reduction last quarter, Google Cloud's revenue jumped 48% year-over-year to $17.66 billion, indicating strong long-term benefits in AI and cloud computing, with planned capital expenditures of $175 billion to $185 billion in 2026.
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- Growth Potential Analysis: Truist highlighted that Salesforce is poised to benefit from the agentic AI innovation cycle, new customer opportunities, and changes in pricing and packaging related to AI agents, which will drive accelerated growth and strengthen its market position.
- Share Repurchase Program: Salesforce recently announced a $25 billion accelerated share repurchase program, indicating confidence in its own valuation, while also reflecting its strong competitive position in the agentic AI space, with the stock trading at about 9.5 times its estimated free cash flow for calendar year 2027, suggesting significant undervaluation.
- Slackbot Innovation Potential: Truist also pointed out the potential of agentic AI within Slackbot, which it believes is not fully recognized, and expects further updates and innovations related to Agentforce at the upcoming TDX developer conference, which could further propel the company's business development.
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- Rapid Recovery: The S&P 500 rebounded from near correction territory (down about 9%) to an all-time high in just 11 trading days, marking the fastest recovery since at least 1990, indicating strong investor sentiment amid geopolitical developments.
- Software Stock Comeback: Beaten-down software stocks like Microsoft, CrowdStrike, and Salesforce emerged as top gainers, with Microsoft up 14% week-to-date, CrowdStrike gaining 11.9%, and Salesforce rising 10.4%, suggesting a renewed confidence in the software sector.
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- Distorted Demand Signals: While AI demand appears explosive, CEO Dario Amodei of Anthropic highlights that data centers take 1-2 years to build, leading companies to commit billions without verified demand, risking customer loss or delayed revenues, which could impact financial stability.
- Pricing Model Shift: Anthropic is transitioning from flat-rate enterprise pricing to per-token billing, ensuring that revenue reflects actual usage, a strategy aimed at addressing the economic imbalance caused by changes in agentic AI usage patterns, thereby enhancing the company's competitive position in the market.
- Increasing Industry Pressure: As the AI industry gradually accepts per-token billing models, companies like OpenAI face similar transformation pressures, potentially leading their customers to reassess AI usage efficiency, which could affect future market performance and investor confidence.
- Investor Focus: Anthropic and OpenAI are expected to pursue IPOs this year, with investors likely to first scrutinize the authenticity of demand; Anthropic's per-token billing provides clearer data on customer value, while OpenAI may face greater challenges in proving the authenticity of its growth figures.
See More
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- High Call Option Activity: Within Salesforce, the $185 strike call option has seen 5,234 contracts traded today, representing around 523,400 underlying shares, suggesting that investors have a strong bullish outlook for the stock ahead of its April 2026 expiration.
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See More
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- Sales Growth: Salesforce's recent quarterly sales increased by 12% to $11.2 billion, exceeding Wall Street expectations, although a soft fiscal first-quarter forecast has created cautious sentiment regarding the company's future performance.
- Agentforce Platform Progress: Since its launch in late 2024, Salesforce's Agentforce platform is now utilized by 23,000 of its 150,000 customers, indicating its potential in automating workflows and possibly generating new revenue streams for the company.
- AI Investment Strategy: Salesforce has invested over $300 million in AI startup Anthropic since 2023, which was recently valued at $380 billion and plans to go public later this year, a strategy that could support Salesforce's long-term growth.
- Analyst Optimism: Despite CRM shares declining over 30% in 2026, 35 out of 46 analysts recommend 'Buy' or higher, with an average price target of $268.87, implying a 48% upside, reflecting market confidence in a potential rebound.
See More
Bridgewater Increases NVIDIA Stake, Signaling Strong AI Confidence
- NVIDIA Stake Increase: Bridgewater increased its position in NVIDIA by over 54% last quarter, making it approximately 2.6% of the portfolio, reflecting strong confidence in AI chip infrastructure as the company reported a 73% year-over-year revenue increase to $68.13 billion, suggesting robust future demand.
- Semiconductor Supply Chain Investment: Bridgewater's second-largest tech holding is Lam Research, accounting for about 1.9% of the portfolio, and despite a modest 12% reduction last quarter, the company reported a 22% year-over-year revenue increase to $5.34 billion, indicating significant long-term growth potential driven by rising AI demand.
- Salesforce Software Positioning: Bridgewater holds approximately 1.8% in Salesforce, which saw a slight reduction, yet its Agentforce platform's annual recurring revenue surged 169% year-over-year to $800 million, showcasing strong growth in enterprise AI software, with management raising the FY30 revenue target to $63 billion.
- Alphabet Cloud Investment: Bridgewater maintains a significant position in Alphabet, representing about 1.8% of the portfolio, and despite a 40% reduction last quarter, Google Cloud's revenue jumped 48% year-over-year to $17.66 billion, indicating strong long-term benefits in AI and cloud computing, with planned capital expenditures of $175 billion to $185 billion in 2026.
See More
Salesforce Rated as One of the Top Stocks for Next 5 Years
- Buy Rating Reaffirmed: On April 10, Truist Securities reaffirmed its Buy rating on Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) with a price target of $280, reflecting confidence in the company's growth prospects, particularly in the second half of fiscal year 2027.
- Growth Potential Analysis: Truist highlighted that Salesforce is poised to benefit from the agentic AI innovation cycle, new customer opportunities, and changes in pricing and packaging related to AI agents, which will drive accelerated growth and strengthen its market position.
- Share Repurchase Program: Salesforce recently announced a $25 billion accelerated share repurchase program, indicating confidence in its own valuation, while also reflecting its strong competitive position in the agentic AI space, with the stock trading at about 9.5 times its estimated free cash flow for calendar year 2027, suggesting significant undervaluation.
- Slackbot Innovation Potential: Truist also pointed out the potential of agentic AI within Slackbot, which it believes is not fully recognized, and expects further updates and innovations related to Agentforce at the upcoming TDX developer conference, which could further propel the company's business development.
See More
Stocks Surge to Record Highs on Iran Peace Deal Hopes
- Market Rebound: The S&P 500 surged 4% last week, closing above 7,100 for the first time, while the Nasdaq achieved its longest winning streak since 1992 with 13 consecutive days of gains, reflecting optimism over a potential peace deal with Iran.
- Rapid Recovery: The S&P 500 rebounded from near correction territory (down about 9%) to an all-time high in just 11 trading days, marking the fastest recovery since at least 1990, indicating strong investor sentiment amid geopolitical developments.
- Software Stock Comeback: Beaten-down software stocks like Microsoft, CrowdStrike, and Salesforce emerged as top gainers, with Microsoft up 14% week-to-date, CrowdStrike gaining 11.9%, and Salesforce rising 10.4%, suggesting a renewed confidence in the software sector.
- Strong Consumer Spending: JPMorgan reported consumer spending growth exceeding 2025 levels, with credit card spending volume up 9% year-over-year, showcasing resilience among consumers and small businesses despite market volatility driven by the war.
See More
Anthropic Adjusts Pricing to Address AI Demand Uncertainty
- Distorted Demand Signals: While AI demand appears explosive, CEO Dario Amodei of Anthropic highlights that data centers take 1-2 years to build, leading companies to commit billions without verified demand, risking customer loss or delayed revenues, which could impact financial stability.
- Pricing Model Shift: Anthropic is transitioning from flat-rate enterprise pricing to per-token billing, ensuring that revenue reflects actual usage, a strategy aimed at addressing the economic imbalance caused by changes in agentic AI usage patterns, thereby enhancing the company's competitive position in the market.
- Increasing Industry Pressure: As the AI industry gradually accepts per-token billing models, companies like OpenAI face similar transformation pressures, potentially leading their customers to reassess AI usage efficiency, which could affect future market performance and investor confidence.
- Investor Focus: Anthropic and OpenAI are expected to pursue IPOs this year, with investors likely to first scrutinize the authenticity of demand; Anthropic's per-token billing provides clearer data on customer value, while OpenAI may face greater challenges in proving the authenticity of its growth figures.
See More
Salesforce and Fortinet See High Options Trading Volume
- Salesforce Options Volume: Salesforce Inc saw options trading volume of 61,385 contracts, equating to approximately 6.1 million shares, which represents about 45.2% of its average daily trading volume of 13.6 million shares over the past month, indicating strong market interest in its future performance.
- High Call Option Activity: Within Salesforce, the $185 strike call option has seen 5,234 contracts traded today, representing around 523,400 underlying shares, suggesting that investors have a strong bullish outlook for the stock ahead of its April 2026 expiration.
- Fortinet Options Trading Dynamics: Fortinet Inc's options trading volume reached 29,494 contracts, approximately 2.9 million shares, accounting for 44.7% of its average daily trading volume of 6.6 million shares over the past month, reflecting active market interest in its stock.
- Put Option Trading Volume: For Fortinet, the $76 strike put option has recorded a trading volume of 7,224 contracts today, representing about 722,400 shares, indicating investor concerns regarding potential declines in the stock before its April 2026 expiration.
See More
