BAC
CRM
Wall Street’s buzzkill arrives
Bank of America just stepped in with one of the more contrarian calls on Salesforce, landing on an Underperform rating and a $160 price target. That’s basically the financial equivalent of showing up to a party and turning the music down before the dance floor really gets going.
Why investors should care
This matters because Salesforce has spent a lot of time selling investors on its AI glow-up. If one of Wall Street’s biggest banks is questioning the payoff, that can put a dent in the “AI will fix everything” narrative pretty fast.
And for a stock like CRM, sentiment is half the game. If the market starts believing the AI story is more sizzle than steak, the multiple can get squeezed even if the business itself is still huge and profitable.
The bigger picture
BofA’s call doesn’t mean Salesforce is suddenly broken. But it does mean the burden of proof is rising. Investors now have to ask the annoying but important question: is the AI push actually accelerating the business, or just giving it a shinier PowerPoint?
Big picture: when Wall Street starts side-eyeing the hype cycle, the stock usually has to do a little more work to earn its valuation.