Salesforce poised for biggest daily gain in six years after upbeat forecast
CRM•Shares surge on raised forecast and AI plug-in
Business software provider Salesforce's CRM.N shares jumped as much as 21.6%, putting them on track for their biggest one-day rise since August 26, 2020.
CRM raised its annual revenue and profit forecasts on Wednesday and rolled out a new plug-in combining its capabilities with Anthropic's Claude AI models.
Sector rally and earnings beat support the move
Software stocks gained across the sector, with shares of ServiceNow NOW.N, Atlassian TEAM.O, Adobe ADBE.O and Accenture ACN.N up between 3.9% and 8.7%, lifting the S&P 500 Software & Services index .SPLRCIS to its highest level since December.
Barclays said CRM announced Claudeforce, which enables customers to use CRM data in Claude, adding that, combined with Slack, it could create a major unlock for enterprise adoption.
CRM's second-quarter revenue of $11.35 billion beat estimates of $11.32 billion, while adjusted EPS of $5.9 beat expectations of $3.27, according to data compiled by LSEG.
Fifty-five analysts rate the stock "buy" on average, and their median price target is $270.5, data compiled by LSEG showed. As of the last close, the stock was down 5.6% year to date.
