Salesforce and ServiceNow Initiate Aggressive Stock Buybacks Amid SaaS Sell-Off
Written by Emily J. Thompson, Senior Investment Analyst
Updated: Mar 24 2026
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Should l Buy CRM?
Source: NASDAQ.COM
- Stock Buyback Program: Salesforce initiated a $50 billion stock buyback program in February 2026, recently commencing the repurchase of half that amount, reflecting management's strong confidence in the company's future and aiming to enhance shareholder value while stabilizing stock prices.
- Growth Expectations: Salesforce achieved record fourth-quarter results and management projects double-digit revenue growth for the current fiscal year, maintaining optimism despite market skepticism regarding AI's potential impact on growth.
- Strong Performance from ServiceNow: ServiceNow reported total revenue of $3.56 billion in Q4, a 20.5% year-over-year increase, and provided robust guidance for the full year 2026, indicating a positive outlook despite recent stock price declines due to the SaaS sell-off.
- AI-Driven Market Opportunities: CEO Bill McDermott emphasized that enterprise AI will be the largest driver of the multitrillion-dollar investment super cycle, making ServiceNow's AI platform increasingly relevant in the current market environment, which further boosts investor confidence.
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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: 186.990
Low
223.00
Averages
326.40
High
405.00
Current: 186.990
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.
- Earnings Release Schedule: Salesforce will announce its Q1 FY2027 results on May 27, 2026, after market close, reflecting the company's ongoing commitment to financial transparency and investor communication.
- Investor Call Live Broadcast: The company will host a live broadcast at 2:00 p.m. PT (5:00 p.m. ET) to discuss its financial results, aiming to engage with the investment community and bolster market confidence.
- Replay Availability: The live broadcast and replay of the earnings discussion will be accessible on the Salesforce Investor Relations website, ensuring that all investors can obtain critical information and enhancing information accessibility.
- Salesforce Business Overview: As the world's leading AI CRM platform, Salesforce is dedicated to helping organizations of all sizes integrate humans, agents, apps, and data to unlock unprecedented growth and innovation, showcasing its leadership in the industry.
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- Investor Rotation Trend: As investors shift towards hotter AI stocks, Microsoft is being sold off as a source of funds, resulting in a 14.5% year-to-date decline, reflecting market concerns over its enterprise software business and the disruptive potential of AI startups.
- Financial Performance Analysis: While Microsoft's Productivity and Business Processes unit reported a 16% revenue increase to $35.01 billion in the latest quarter, its legacy segment remains the largest revenue source, highlighting vulnerabilities amid the AI wave.
- Cloud Business Outlook: The Intelligent Cloud segment achieved quarterly revenue of $34.68 billion, nearly double the growth rate of the legacy business, showcasing strong market demand despite concerns over Azure's reliance on its relationship with OpenAI.
- Market Reaction and Ratings: Although Goldman Sachs maintains a bullish outlook with a buy rating and a $610 price target for Microsoft, Jim Cramer expresses caution regarding its future performance, emphasizing the need for Microsoft to swiftly address challenges in its software licensing business.
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- Customer Platform Integration: Salesforce collaborates with Merck Animal Health to build a 360° customer platform using OneCRM, integrating devices, prescriptions, and customer information into a single system, thereby enhancing service convenience and efficiency.
- Enhanced Online Services: The platform is expected to improve Merck Animal Health's online services and customer support, leading to increased customer growth and retention, thereby strengthening market competitiveness.
- Cost and Efficiency Optimization: By leveraging better sales and automation, the system is anticipated to reduce operational costs and improve efficiency, supporting margin growth and enhancing the company's financial health.
- Strategic Collaboration Significance: This partnership not only highlights Salesforce's potential expansion in the healthcare sector but also underscores Merck's commitment to digital transformation, aiming to enhance overall business performance through technological innovation.
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- Strong Earnings Growth: S&P 500 companies are projected to see a 28.2% year-over-year increase in earnings for Q1, marking the highest growth since Q4 2021, which boosts investor confidence amid economic recovery.
- AI Investment Boost: Five major AI hyperscalers are expected to invest $751 billion in capital expenditures by 2026, significantly driving earnings growth in related sectors, particularly semiconductor and tech hardware firms, highlighting the profound impact of AI technology on the economy.
- Stable Economic Backdrop: Despite challenges from rising energy prices, the median earnings growth for S&P 500 companies stands at 12.2%, indicating stronger resilience among businesses in uncertain environments and enhancing market optimism for future earnings.
- Market Valuation Adjustment: The S&P 500's price-to-earnings ratio has decreased from 23.5 to 21.2, yet strong earnings growth continues to support stock market gains, as investors remain focused on the sustainability of earnings, particularly amid ongoing tensions in the Middle East.
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- Job Cuts Announcement: Freshworks has announced a reduction of approximately 500 jobs, representing 11% of its global workforce, as the company grapples with the impact of artificial intelligence on the software industry, highlighting an urgent need for automation and cost control.
- Industry Trends: The move aligns with broader industry trends, as peers like Atlassian also implement layoffs, indicating widespread challenges in the sector, with Freshworks' stock declining about 26% this year.
- Restructuring Costs: The restructuring is expected to incur one-time charges of about $8 million, affecting multiple departments, with the CEO stating that cost savings will be achieved through merging sales teams and reducing management layers.
- Financial Outlook: Freshworks anticipates second-quarter revenue between $232 million and $235 million, exceeding analysts' average estimate of $232.7 million, while first-quarter revenue rose 16% year-over-year, demonstrating the company's potential for growth despite challenges.
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- Current AI Investment Landscape: A ModelOp survey reveals that over two-thirds of enterprises rely on estimates to assess AI investment returns, indicating a widespread challenge in quantifying AI benefits, which may lead to misallocation of resources.
- Monitoring Usage Data: Microsoft's tools assist companies in tracking AI usage, including active users and prompt volume; however, many organizations remain in the experimentation phase, with only 39% reporting measurable impacts on earnings, reflecting limitations in technology application.
- Productivity vs. Cost: In some workplaces, AI usage is viewed as a productivity metric, leading to competition among employees on internal leaderboards; however, this
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