Salesforce Plans to Raise $25 Billion for Stock Buyback via Bonds
Written by Emily J. Thompson, Senior Investment Analyst
Updated: 1 hour ago
0mins
Should l Buy CRM?
Source: stocktwits
- Leverage Analysis: Oracle stands out as the most leveraged among key enterprise software companies, with a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.9 and a net debt-to-EBITDA ratio of 14.2, indicating significantly higher financial risk compared to Salesforce and its peers.
- Salesforce Bond Plan: Salesforce is reportedly planning to raise up to $25 billion through bond issuance to fund its massive stock buyback plan, underscoring the company's urgency to repurchase shares at depressed prices to enhance shareholder value.
- Market Sentiment Shift: Despite Salesforce's shares declining 26% year-to-date, there are mixed views on its valuation, with some investors believing that the current price levels present an attractive entry point, potentially drawing in more capital.
- Retail Investor Sentiment: Retail sentiment towards Salesforce and its peers remains bearish, particularly after the company lowered its 2027 sales guidance, reflecting concerns over demand for enterprise software.
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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: 198.790
Low
223.00
Averages
326.40
High
405.00
Current: 198.790
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.
Salesforce's AI Platform Sees Strong Growth Amid Market Concerns
- Agentforce Performance: Salesforce's Agentforce platform has closed over 29,000 deals in the first 15 months of fiscal 2026, with annual recurring revenue (ARR) growing 169% to $800 million, indicating strong traction in the enterprise AI space despite a 26% drop in stock price.
- Core Business Resilience: The company reported $41.5 billion in revenue for fiscal 2026, a 10% year-over-year increase, with nearly 95% of revenue coming from subscription and support contracts, ensuring strong visibility into future quarters amid concerns about AI disrupting traditional SaaS models.
- Acquisition and Integration: In November 2025, Salesforce completed an $8 billion acquisition of Informatica, an enterprise AI-powered cloud data management firm, which contributed $399 million to Salesforce's revenue in fiscal 2026, further strengthening its AI ecosystem.
- Shareholder Return Program: Salesforce returned over $14 billion to shareholders in fiscal 2026, representing 99% of its free cash flow, demonstrating a commitment to shareholder value even as its price-to-earnings ratio stands at 25.1, significantly lower than its historical average of 132.06.
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- New Application Development: CEO Mike Sicilia announced the development of three new applications for sales lead generation, sales automation, and website building, which have no direct competitors in the market, aiming to directly challenge Salesforce's core offerings.
- AI Technology Integration: Oracle is rapidly building new SaaS products using small engineering teams and embedding AI agents into existing applications, enhancing product competitiveness and expected to further boost customer sales capabilities, driving enterprise digital transformation.
- Intensifying Market Competition: As Oracle expands its application portfolio to directly challenge Salesforce, analysts note that both companies are increasing investments in industry-specific solutions, intensifying competition and potentially increasing Oracle's market share.
See More
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- Long-Term Outlook Raised: The company raised its long-term revenue expectations, reflecting strong performance and sustained demand in the cloud computing sector, which could drive improvements in earnings over the coming quarters.
- Market Sentiment Shift: Investor sentiment towards the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) shifted from neutral to bearish, indicating caution ahead of the upcoming consumer price index (CPI) data release, which may impact overall market trends.
- Geopolitical Impact: G7 leaders are set to discuss the implications of tensions in the Strait of Hormuz on global energy markets, with the International Energy Agency potentially considering the release of record reserves to stabilize oil prices, which could significantly affect energy-related stocks.
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- ServiceNow's Rebound Potential: ServiceNow's stock is currently over 50% below its early 2025 peak, yet analysts believe its 12-month price target reflects a 62% upside, showcasing market confidence in its sustained growth, particularly with a 98% renewal rate and a 20.5% year-over-year growth.
- Microsoft's Market Confidence: Despite Microsoft's stock stalling in Q4 2025, analysts project a 46% upside in its 12-month price target compared to its current price, indicating trust in its long-term growth potential in AI and cloud services.
- Salesforce's Recovery Outlook: Salesforce's stock has dropped nearly 50% from its 2024 peak, but analysts see a 42% upside in its 12-month price target, with the company expecting accelerated growth in the second half of the fiscal year, reflecting optimism about its recovery.
- Overall Industry Optimism: All three companies are affected by the
See More
Salesforce Plans to Raise $25 Billion for Stock Buyback via Bonds
- Leverage Analysis: Oracle stands out as the most leveraged among key enterprise software companies, with a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.9 and a net debt-to-EBITDA ratio of 14.2, indicating significantly higher financial risk compared to Salesforce and its peers.
- Salesforce Bond Plan: Salesforce is reportedly planning to raise up to $25 billion through bond issuance to fund its massive stock buyback plan, underscoring the company's urgency to repurchase shares at depressed prices to enhance shareholder value.
- Market Sentiment Shift: Despite Salesforce's shares declining 26% year-to-date, there are mixed views on its valuation, with some investors believing that the current price levels present an attractive entry point, potentially drawing in more capital.
- Retail Investor Sentiment: Retail sentiment towards Salesforce and its peers remains bearish, particularly after the company lowered its 2027 sales guidance, reflecting concerns over demand for enterprise software.
See More
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- Salesforce Growth Slowdown: Salesforce's non-GAAP operating margin expanded to 34.2% in Q4 2026, yet its organic revenue growth decelerated to approximately 8%, indicating a weakening growth momentum that could impact future profitability.
- ServiceNow Strong Performance: ServiceNow reported subscription revenue of $3.47 billion in Q4, a 21% year-over-year increase, with current RPO climbing 25% to $12.85 billion, signaling robust market demand and significant future growth potential.
- Successful AI Monetization: Salesforce's Agentforce platform achieved $800 million in annual recurring revenue, a 169% year-over-year increase, while ServiceNow's Now Assist annual contract value surpassed $600 million, showcasing both companies' successful application of AI, potentially driving new growth avenues.
- Stock Buyback Plans: ServiceNow announced an additional $5 billion stock repurchase authorization and a $2 billion accelerated buyback, reflecting management's confidence in the company's future growth while potentially enhancing shareholder value.
See More
Salesforce's AI Platform Sees Strong Growth Amid Market Concerns
- Agentforce Performance: Salesforce's Agentforce platform has closed over 29,000 deals in the first 15 months of fiscal 2026, with annual recurring revenue (ARR) growing 169% to $800 million, indicating strong traction in the enterprise AI space despite a 26% drop in stock price.
- Core Business Resilience: The company reported $41.5 billion in revenue for fiscal 2026, a 10% year-over-year increase, with nearly 95% of revenue coming from subscription and support contracts, ensuring strong visibility into future quarters amid concerns about AI disrupting traditional SaaS models.
- Acquisition and Integration: In November 2025, Salesforce completed an $8 billion acquisition of Informatica, an enterprise AI-powered cloud data management firm, which contributed $399 million to Salesforce's revenue in fiscal 2026, further strengthening its AI ecosystem.
- Shareholder Return Program: Salesforce returned over $14 billion to shareholders in fiscal 2026, representing 99% of its free cash flow, demonstrating a commitment to shareholder value even as its price-to-earnings ratio stands at 25.1, significantly lower than its historical average of 132.06.
See More
Oracle Reports Blowout Q3 Results, Shares Surge 10%
- Strong Earnings Report: Oracle's fiscal third-quarter results exceeded market expectations, with cloud applications revenue increasing by 11% to an annualized run rate of $16.1 billion, leading to a 10% surge in premarket shares, reflecting robust market performance and investor confidence.
- New Application Development: CEO Mike Sicilia announced the development of three new applications for sales lead generation, sales automation, and website building, which have no direct competitors in the market, aiming to directly challenge Salesforce's core offerings.
- AI Technology Integration: Oracle is rapidly building new SaaS products using small engineering teams and embedding AI agents into existing applications, enhancing product competitiveness and expected to further boost customer sales capabilities, driving enterprise digital transformation.
- Intensifying Market Competition: As Oracle expands its application portfolio to directly challenge Salesforce, analysts note that both companies are increasing investments in industry-specific solutions, intensifying competition and potentially increasing Oracle's market share.
See More
Oracle Reports Strong Q4 Earnings, Raises Revenue Outlook
- Earnings Beat: Oracle reported stronger-than-expected fourth-quarter results, with stock surging 10% in pre-market trading, indicating increased market confidence in its future growth and potentially attracting more investor interest.
- Long-Term Outlook Raised: The company raised its long-term revenue expectations, reflecting strong performance and sustained demand in the cloud computing sector, which could drive improvements in earnings over the coming quarters.
- Market Sentiment Shift: Investor sentiment towards the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) shifted from neutral to bearish, indicating caution ahead of the upcoming consumer price index (CPI) data release, which may impact overall market trends.
- Geopolitical Impact: G7 leaders are set to discuss the implications of tensions in the Strait of Hormuz on global energy markets, with the International Energy Agency potentially considering the release of record reserves to stabilize oil prices, which could significantly affect energy-related stocks.
See More
Three Beaten-Down Tech Stocks Poised for 40% Rebound
- ServiceNow's Rebound Potential: ServiceNow's stock is currently over 50% below its early 2025 peak, yet analysts believe its 12-month price target reflects a 62% upside, showcasing market confidence in its sustained growth, particularly with a 98% renewal rate and a 20.5% year-over-year growth.
- Microsoft's Market Confidence: Despite Microsoft's stock stalling in Q4 2025, analysts project a 46% upside in its 12-month price target compared to its current price, indicating trust in its long-term growth potential in AI and cloud services.
- Salesforce's Recovery Outlook: Salesforce's stock has dropped nearly 50% from its 2024 peak, but analysts see a 42% upside in its 12-month price target, with the company expecting accelerated growth in the second half of the fiscal year, reflecting optimism about its recovery.
- Overall Industry Optimism: All three companies are affected by the
See More
Salesforce Plans to Raise $25 Billion for Stock Buyback via Bonds
- Leverage Analysis: Oracle stands out as the most leveraged among key enterprise software companies, with a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.9 and a net debt-to-EBITDA ratio of 14.2, indicating significantly higher financial risk compared to Salesforce and its peers.
- Salesforce Bond Plan: Salesforce is reportedly planning to raise up to $25 billion through bond issuance to fund its massive stock buyback plan, underscoring the company's urgency to repurchase shares at depressed prices to enhance shareholder value.
- Market Sentiment Shift: Despite Salesforce's shares declining 26% year-to-date, there are mixed views on its valuation, with some investors believing that the current price levels present an attractive entry point, potentially drawing in more capital.
- Retail Investor Sentiment: Retail sentiment towards Salesforce and its peers remains bearish, particularly after the company lowered its 2027 sales guidance, reflecting concerns over demand for enterprise software.
See More
Software Stocks Struggle at Start of 2026
- Salesforce Growth Slowdown: Salesforce's non-GAAP operating margin expanded to 34.2% in Q4 2026, yet its organic revenue growth decelerated to approximately 8%, indicating a weakening growth momentum that could impact future profitability.
- ServiceNow Strong Performance: ServiceNow reported subscription revenue of $3.47 billion in Q4, a 21% year-over-year increase, with current RPO climbing 25% to $12.85 billion, signaling robust market demand and significant future growth potential.
- Successful AI Monetization: Salesforce's Agentforce platform achieved $800 million in annual recurring revenue, a 169% year-over-year increase, while ServiceNow's Now Assist annual contract value surpassed $600 million, showcasing both companies' successful application of AI, potentially driving new growth avenues.
- Stock Buyback Plans: ServiceNow announced an additional $5 billion stock repurchase authorization and a $2 billion accelerated buyback, reflecting management's confidence in the company's future growth while potentially enhancing shareholder value.
See More
