On Monday, Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) reiterated its Overweight rating and $330.00 stock price target on Salesforce.com (NYSE:NYSE:CRM). The firm remains optimistic about Salesforce's potential, particularly with its Agentforce platform, which is expected to contribute positively to revenue forecasts in the future.
Despite the stock's 32% rise over the past three months, Morgan Stanley is cautious about rising investor expectations ahead of the company's fiscal third quarter 2025 earnings report.
Salesforce's Agentforce platform has generated interest, especially in the context of companies benefiting from GenAI. Morgan Stanley anticipates a 0.5-2% tailwind to its revenue forecast from Agentforce, particularly within Customer Service, by FY27/CY26. With the product still in the early stages, the firm expects proof-of-concepts to continue into early next year, with revenue contributions in the latter half of CY25.
The upcoming earnings call is anticipated to address two main questions: the real level of investor expectations and whether management's enthusiasm for Agentforce could lead to less margin expansion.
Salesforce has achieved approximately 12 percentage points of margin expansion from FY22 to FY24 and has indicated potential for further improvement. However, the decision to hire 1,000 new salespeople to support Agentforce raises questions about the company's commitment to margin expansion.
Morgan Stanley notes that the current sales force productivity is below historical levels, indicating significant potential for increased leverage. The firm suggests that investor confidence could be bolstered by commentary on the balance between investments in growth opportunities and ongoing efficiency initiatives in other parts of the organization.
Despite Salesforce's recent outperformance in the market, its stock valuation does not appear expensive, trading at 26 times P/E and 1.8 times PEG, which is below the large-cap software average.
Morgan Stanley concludes that Salesforce offers an attractive risk/reward profile, with potential catalysts for accelerating revenue growth and EPS expected more in the second half of FY26/CY25 rather than the upcoming fiscal third quarter earnings report.
In other recent news, Salesforce has reported strong second-quarter earnings, with earnings per share of $2.56, an 8% increase in sales, and a 9% rise in subscription and support revenues. The company also made strategic acquisitions of Zoomin and Own Company for $1.9 billion in cash and announced plans to hire 1,000 new employees to support Agentforce sales.
Several analysts have adjusted their outlook on Salesforce, with Truist Securities, Deutsche Bank (ETR:DBKGn), and Goldman Sachs maintaining a Buy rating and increasing their price targets, while TD Cowen and Erste Group downgraded the stock to Hold.
Salesforce also introduced a suite of AI agent testing tools, including the Agentforce Testing Center, Sandboxes for Agentforce and Data Cloud, and monitoring tools for Agentforce. These are recent developments that highlight Salesforce's growth and diversification strategies, including the increased adoption of Agentforce and the expansion of Data Cloud.
InvestingPro Insights
Salesforce's strong market position and financial performance are further highlighted by recent InvestingPro data. The company boasts a substantial market capitalization of $326.97 billion, reflecting its prominence in the software industry. With a gross profit margin of 76.35% for the last twelve months as of Q2 2025, Salesforce demonstrates impressive profitability, aligning with Morgan Stanley's positive outlook.
InvestingPro Tips reinforce the company's strong performance, noting that Salesforce has a "perfect Piotroski Score of 9," indicating robust financial health. This score supports Morgan Stanley's view on Salesforce's potential for continued growth and efficiency. Additionally, the tip highlighting "strong return over the last three months" corroborates the 32% stock rise mentioned in the article.
While the article discusses potential margin expansion, an InvestingPro Tip suggests that Salesforce is "trading at a high earnings multiple." This could be a point of consideration for investors weighing the company's growth prospects against its current valuation.
For readers seeking a more comprehensive analysis, InvestingPro offers 20 additional tips on Salesforce, providing deeper insights into the company's financial health and market position.
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