Software Stocks Continue to Decline: Two Areas Where Insiders Are Investing in the Dip.
Written by Emily J. Thompson, Senior Investment Analyst
Updated: Mar 26 2026
0mins
Should l Buy CRM?
Source: Barron's
- Current Market Situation: Software stocks have experienced a challenging period recently, leading to a decline in their value.
- Insider Activity: Despite the downturn, insiders in the software sector are seizing the opportunity to purchase shares at lower prices, particularly in a company that has been significantly affected.
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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: 186.270
Low
223.00
Averages
326.40
High
405.00
Current: 186.270
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.
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- Lack of Industry Confidence: Despite CEO Marc Benioff's efforts to reassure shareholders by emphasizing the company's proprietary data and in-house AI offerings, investor confidence in the software sector remains low, leading to significant stock selloffs.
- Poor Market Performance: The software and services index has declined approximately 16% since the beginning of the year, significantly underperforming the S&P 500's 3.2% rise, indicating a pessimistic outlook for software companies.
- Threat from AI Tools: As AI tools from companies like Anthropic increasingly encroach on legal, marketing, and customer service sectors, Salesforce and other software firms face mounting competitive pressure that could impact customer loyalty and market share.
See More
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- Strong Economic Data: March retail sales rose by 1.7% month-over-month, exceeding expectations of 1.4%, marking the largest increase in a year, indicating robust consumer spending that may support stock prices.
- Oil Price Recovery: WTI crude oil prices rebounded by over 2% as market speculation intensified regarding Iran's participation in upcoming peace talks, potentially exacerbating the global energy crisis.
- Impressive Earnings Reports: UnitedHealth Group reported Q1 adjusted EPS of $9.23, significantly above the consensus of $6.57, leading to a stock price increase of over 7% and raising its full-year earnings forecast, showcasing strong performance in the health insurance sector.
See More
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- Technical Analysis Tool: Comparing the current share price to the 200-day moving average can provide valuable insights for investors, helping to assess market trends and identify potential buy or sell opportunities.
- ETF Trading Mechanism: Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) trade like stocks, where investors buy and sell 'units' that can be created or destroyed based on demand, impacting the ETF's liquidity and market performance.
- Inflows and Outflows Monitoring: Weekly monitoring of changes in shares outstanding for ETFs helps identify those experiencing significant inflows (new units created) or outflows (old units destroyed), as these liquidity shifts can affect the underlying stocks held within the ETFs.
See More
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- Technical Analysis Tool: The Maya algorithm, grounded entirely in technical analysis, successfully doubled its account during the market recovery phase, demonstrating the effectiveness of a rules-based trading system in an emotionally driven market.
- CRM Rebound Signal: Salesforce (CRM) experienced a brutal 38% decline over the past three months, dragging its RSI below 30, but it rebounded above 30 on April 13, signaling a strong reversal opportunity suitable for mean reversion trading.
- Trade Setup: The targeted 185-190 bull call spread for CRM has a current cost of approximately $2.50, and if the stock exceeds $190 by expiration, a 100% return is achievable, making this a highly probable trade given the broader market rally.
See More
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- Revenue Growth Outlook: ServiceNow anticipates Q1 2026 revenues of $3.75 billion, reflecting a 21.4% year-over-year increase, showcasing robust performance in the cloud platform sector despite intense competition.
- Earnings Improvement: The expected earnings per share of $0.95 indicates a 17.3% growth from the previous year, highlighting the company's success in customer retention and enterprise expansion, which is likely to drive future profitability.
- Expanding Customer Base: By the end of 2025, ServiceNow served over 8,800 global customers, with more than 85% being Fortune 500 companies, demonstrating widespread adoption of its cloud platform among large enterprises and enhancing its competitive edge.
- Increasing Market Challenges: Although the company expects subscription revenues between $3.65 billion and $3.67 billion for 2026, strong competition from AI solutions is projected to create a 150-basis-point headwind to revenue growth, indicating a complex market environment.
See More
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- Oil Price Surge Impacts Markets: The S&P 500 index fell 0.24%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.01%, and the Nasdaq 100 index declined 0.31% on Monday as WTI crude prices surged over 6%, indicating market sensitivity to rising energy costs amid geopolitical tensions.
- Geopolitical Risks Escalate: The closure of the Strait of Hormuz by Iran has raised market concerns, especially following U.S. Navy actions against Iranian tankers, which could exacerbate global oil and fuel shortages, further unsettling investor sentiment.
- Earnings Season Continues: So far, 81% of the 48 S&P 500 companies that reported earnings exceeded expectations, with Q1 earnings projected to rise 12% year-over-year; however, excluding the tech sector, growth is only expected at 3%, highlighting signs of economic weakness.
- Airline Stocks Under Pressure: Airline stocks retreated as rising oil prices weighed on profits, with American Airlines and Alaska Air both down over 4%, reflecting the direct impact of fuel costs on company earnings and potential downward revisions in future profit expectations.
See More
