Analysts Downgrade Salesforce Forecasts Following Q3 Results
Written by Emily J. Thompson, Senior Investment Analyst
Updated: Dec 04 2025
0mins
Should l Buy CRM?
Source: Benzinga
Earnings Report: Salesforce Inc. reported third-quarter revenue of $10.26 billion and adjusted earnings of $3.25 per share, exceeding expectations, while raising its fiscal 2026 revenue guidance to $41.45 billion to $41.55 billion.
Product Performance: The company's Agentforce and Data 360 products contributed significantly to growth, achieving nearly $1.4 billion in annual recurring revenue (ARR) with a 114% year-over-year increase.
Future Projections: For the fourth quarter, Salesforce expects revenue between $11.13 billion and $11.23 billion, with adjusted earnings projected at $3.02 to $3.04 per share, both surpassing analyst estimates.
Analyst Reactions: Following the earnings announcement, several analysts adjusted their price targets for Salesforce, with most maintaining an Outperform rating but lowering their targets, reflecting a cautious outlook.
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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: 187.790
Low
223.00
Averages
326.40
High
405.00
Current: 187.790
Low
223.00
Averages
326.40
High
405.00
About CRM
Salesforce, Inc. is a provider of customer relationship management (CRM) technology. The Company helps organizations of any size reimagine their business for the world of artificial intelligence (AI). With Agentforce, its platform, organizations can bring humans together with AI agents to drive customer success on one deeply unified platform. With the Salesforce platform, it delivers a single source of truth, connecting customer data with integrated AI across systems, apps and devices to help companies sell, service, market and conduct commerce from anywhere. Agentforce is a new layer of the Salesforce platform that enables companies to build and deploy AI agents that can respond to inputs, make decisions and take action autonomously across business functions. Agentforce includes a suite of customizable agents for use across sales, service, marketing and commerce. Datablazer is a data-driven innovator, which leverages the Company’s platform to unlock insights and drive decisions.
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.
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- Free Cash Flow Increase: The company achieved $2.2 billion in free cash flow during Q3, up 22% year-over-year, demonstrating its ability to maintain robust cash flow while integrating AI, thereby enhancing financial stability.
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- Free Cash Flow Increase: The company achieved $2.2 billion in free cash flow during Q3, up 22% year-over-year, demonstrating its ability to maintain robust cash flow while integrating AI, thereby enhancing financial stability.
- Revenue Growth Deceleration: Despite a 9% year-over-year revenue growth in Q3, the slowdown from the previous quarter's 9% raises concerns among investors about whether Salesforce's AI offerings might be cannibalizing its core business, potentially impacting stock performance.
- Future Revenue Commitments Growth: Salesforce's constant-currency growth rate of its future revenue commitments (cRPO) rose 11% year-over-year in Q3, indicating potential revenue acceleration in the next 12 months, which could bolster overall revenue performance if sustained.
See More
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AI's Impact on the Market: The introduction of AI technologies has not negatively impacted the performance of these stocks as previously feared.
See More
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Best Trade in 2026: The most profitable investment strategy in 2026 has been to buy semiconductor stocks while selling software companies.
Performance of Semiconductor Stocks: The iShares Semiconductor ETF has increased by 19% in 2026, following a 40% gain in 2025.
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- Employee Reskilling Initiative: CEO Julie Sweet stated that 550,000 employees have been reskilled in generative AI fundamentals, highlighting the company's commitment to skill enhancement and laying the groundwork for future business transformation.
- Global Employee Impact: While the policy applies to most employees, those in 12 European countries and the division handling U.S. government contracts are exempt, reflecting the company's flexibility and adaptability on a global scale.
- Strategic Partnerships: Accenture has recently partnered with companies like OpenAI and Anthropic to provide AI tool training for tens of thousands of employees, further solidifying its leadership position in AI technology application.
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- Salesforce's Market Rebound: Salesforce's stock has fallen to 15 times forward earnings due to AI concerns, yet it is expected to grow earnings by 18% annually over the next three to five years, and its proactive integration of AI features will enhance customer retention, making it a rebound candidate.
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- Impact of AI on the Market: With global data center spending expected to approach $6.7 trillion by 2030, Taiwan Semiconductor, as a major chip supplier, stands to benefit significantly from this trend, solidifying its core position in the global tech industry.
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- Market Sentiment Shift: In 2025, Palantir Technologies has seen its stock price drop about 22%, while Adobe, Salesforce, and ServiceNow have all slid between 25% and 30%, indicating increasing investor concerns about software stocks despite strong performance reports from these companies.
- Valuation Risk Emergence: With the S&P 500 climbing 78% from 2023 to 2025, many software stocks have run ahead of their underlying fundamentals, leading to a market reassessment of these high-valuation stocks, which could further depress prices.
- Misunderstanding of AI Impact: While AI is viewed as a potential disruptive force, analysis suggests that its application is actually helping incumbents enhance their competitive advantages rather than simply threatening their market positions, indicating that market fears regarding AI may be misguided.
- Long-Term Growth Potential: Despite Palantir's stock price decline year-to-date, it has risen over 80% since the beginning of 2025, reflecting strong revenue growth and profitability, suggesting market recognition of its long-term growth potential.
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