Core Insights - Salesforce Inc. has experienced a pullback from its all-time high of $369 in December 2024, which analysts view as an attractive entry point for investors [1][3] - As of January 17, Salesforce shares were trading at $324.56, reflecting a 12.20% decline from its December peak [2] Analyst Upgrades and Price Targets - TD Cowen upgraded Salesforce stock to 'Buy' from 'Hold,' setting a price target of $400, citing a favorable IT survey and strong market interest in its AI platform, Agentforce [3][4] - Bank of America analyst assigned a price target of $440, recognizing Salesforce's leadership in AI-driven CRM solutions [6] - Needham & Co. reiterated a $400 price target, highlighting CEO Marc Benioff's focus on AI and the adoption of Agentforce [6] Growth Drivers and Market Position - Agentforce is expected to have a minimal revenue contribution in 2025 but will significantly impact remaining performance obligations (CRPO) in the second half of the year, setting the stage for revenue acceleration in 2026 [4] - Salesforce's Data Cloud serves 25% of Fortune 100 companies, including IBM, and is integral to the company's AI strategy [5] - In Q3 of the previous year, Salesforce closed 200 paid deals for Agentforce, surpassing 1,000 paid deals by December 2024, positioning the company for long-term value in the AI-powered CRM market [7]

Core Insights - Salesforce and Cloudflare stocks are experiencing positive market reactions following upgrades to "buy" ratings from TD Cowen and Citigroup respectively [1][2] Group 1: Salesforce Inc (NYSE:CRM) - TD Cowen upgraded Salesforce stock to "buy" from "hold" and raised its price target to $400 from $380, citing a "compelling entry point" after an 8.8% pullback over the past month [1] - In premarket trading, Salesforce stock is up 2.2%, aiming to reclaim its all-time high of $369 reached on December 4 [1] - The Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) for Salesforce stands at 0.99, indicating a bearish positioning among short-term options traders, higher than 84% of readings from the past year [3] Group 2: Cloudflare Inc (NYSE:NET) - Citigroup upgraded Cloudflare stock to "buy" from "neutral" and increased its price target to $145 from $95, expressing confidence in the company's fundamentals and growth potential [2] - Cloudflare stock is up 4.2% in premarket trading and is on track to open near its mid-December two-year highs, having already increased by 49% year-over-year [2] - The Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) for Cloudflare is at 1.39, indicating an extreme put bias and placing it in the highest possible percentile of annual readings [3] Group 3: Options Market Insights - Options for both Salesforce and Cloudflare are attractively priced, with Salesforce's Schaeffer's Volatility Index (SVI) at 26%, ranking in the 10th percentile of its annual range, suggesting lower volatility expectations [4] - Cloudflare's SVI stands at 55%, ranking in the 21st percentile, also indicating lower volatility expectations [4]

Group 1 - Salesforce is recognized as a leading company in the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) industry [1] - The stock analysis provided by HedgeMix includes a BUY rating based on growth prospects [1] - The analysis utilizes the Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) model to evaluate cash flow generation under various business models [1]

One of the biggest themes in the stock market in 2024 was artificial intelligence (AI), which is showing signs of becoming a breakthrough technology. That said, AI still appears to be in the early innings, with 2025 still promising a lot of opportunities in the sector.Let's look at three AI stocks to buy this month.1. NvidiaNvidia (NVDA -3.00%) has arguably been the biggest winner from AI, as its revenue absolutely skyrocketed the past two years. In fiscal year 2024, ended in January of last year, its reven ...

AI and Machine Learning Industry - The growing sophistication of frontier AI systems is paving the way for truly capable "agents" that can autonomously make decisions and take actions, potentially disrupting how businesses operate [1] - The author is a DevOps Engineer for a major subsidiary of a Fortune 500 company, with deep expertise in AI tools and applications, including machine learning algorithms, model training, and deployment [1] - The author is currently pursuing advanced AWS machine learning certifications to further enhance AI and machine learning expertise [1] Author's Background and Expertise - The author is ranked 1,410 out of 30,477 financial bloggers and 2,337 out of 39,772 experts on TipRanks as of 1/9/25 [1] - The author contributes to Seeking Alpha to share AI and machine learning insights through an investment-focused lens [1]

Bert Hochfeld graduated with a degree in economics from the University of Pennsylvania and received an MBA from Harvard. Mr. Hochfeld has enjoyed a long career in the tech world, working for IBM, Memorex/Telex, Raytheon Data Systems, and BMC Software. Starting in the 1990s, Mr. Hochfeld worked as a sell-side analyst and won awards from the Wall Street Journal for his coverage of the software space. In 2001, Mr. Hochfeld formed his own independent research company, Hochfeld Independent Research Group, which ...

Generative artificial intelligence (AI) has been the first big usage of AI. However, the next major wave may be agentic AI. Generative AI uses generative software models to create text, image, video, or audio content in response to a user prompt. An example would be asking ChatGPT a question and getting a text response. With agentic AI, meanwhile, automated AI agents will go out and complete assigned tasks autonomously without constant human supervision.Let's look at two stocks looking to benefit from agent ...

Salesforce, Inc. (CRM) closed 2024 on a high note, delivering a robust 27% gain in a turbulent market. This impressive performance outpaced the Zacks Computer – Software industry’s 14.7% growth and the S&P 500’s 24.4% rise.It has also exceeded other peers in the space, including Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) , Intuit Inc. (INTU) and Adobe Inc. (ADBE) , positioning Salesforce as a standout in its industry. MSFT and INTU shares have risen 12.1% and 0.5%, respectively, while ADBE declined 25.5% in 2024.2024 Pri ...

AI Software Industry Trends - 2025 is shaping up to be the year of AI software, with a shift from semiconductor stocks like Nvidia to software companies capitalizing on the AI boom [1] - Agentic AI is rapidly becoming a buzzword, with autonomous agents being one of the most immediate applications of generative AI beyond chatbots [1] - The broader software space is expected to benefit from AI, with use cases exploding [1] Salesforce's Agentic AI Leadership - Salesforce is poised to be a leader in agentic AI with its product Agentforce, leveraging its long history in CRM software [2][3] - Agentforce allows users to build and customize autonomous AI agents that can serve employees and customers 24/7, resolving 83% of visitor requests on Salesforce's help site [4] - Salesforce's deep customer relationships and 25-year history give it an edge in the agentic AI market [5] Impact of Agentforce on Salesforce - Agentforce has significantly expanded Salesforce's total addressable market (TAM), creating a new market that is much larger than the data management market [5] - Salesforce has already signed 200 deals with Agentforce, with the pipeline described as "incredible" [5] - Agentforce has the potential to deliver high-margin profits due to its scalability and low marginal cost [8] Revenue and Growth Outlook - Salesforce's revenue growth rate has slowed to 8 3% in the third quarter, with no immediate evidence of Agentforce impacting growth [6] - The company forecasts 7% to 9% revenue growth for the fourth quarter and 9% growth in remaining performance obligations (RPO) [6] - It may take a few more quarters for Agentforce and agentic AI to begin impacting Salesforce's growth [7] Potential of AI Software - AI software like Agentforce has the potential to greatly scale productivity, decoupling it from workforce growth [5] - Cloud infrastructure companies have invested tens of billions in Nvidia components to build AI infrastructure, highlighting the massive potential of AI software [9] - Agentforce is expected to be a game changer for Salesforce, though the exact impact on TAM and growth remains unclear [10]

Online spending rose 3% to a record $1.2 trillion globally over the holiday period, with U.S.-sales, specifically, growing 4% to $282 billion. That’s according to a new report from Salesforce, which aggregated data from across its various cloud services, including Agentforce, Commerce Cloud, Marketing Cloud, and Service Cloud, to garner insights into spending activity spanning 1.5 billion shoppers across dozens of countries from November 1 through December 31, 2024. Overall, the figures fall slightly shor ...