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Salesforce provides enterprise cloud computing solutions. The company offers customer relationship management technology that brings companies and customers together. Its Customer 360 platform helps the group to deliver a single source of truth, connecting customer data across systems, apps, and devices to help companies sell, service, market, and conduct commerce. It also offers Service Cloud for customer support, Marketing Cloud for digital marketing campaigns, Commerce Cloud as an e-commerce engine, the Salesforce Platform, which allows enterprises to build applications, and other solutions, such as MuleSoft for data integration.

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Salesforce presenta Agentforce for Retail y Retail Cloud with Modern POS, herramientas IA para transformar la experiencia minorista.

Salesforce (CRM) lanza soluciones de IA para minoristas, pero sus acciones caen

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Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/CRM#NYSE">CRM</a>) shares are trading higher on Tuesday. The company disclosed that SharkNinja, Inc. (NYSE:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/SN#NYSE">SN</a>) is adopting its Agentforce and Commerce Cloud solutions to enhance personalized customer service through autonomous agents and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.benzinga.com/pressreleases/25/01/b42971491/sharkninja-powers-up-global-customer-service-with-agentforce" rel="noreferrer noopener">support its global expansion efforts</a>.
Agentforce is expected to aid SharkNinja in deploying AI agents that autonomously handle tasks across various business functions.
Notably, Agentforce will provide SharkNinja with a 24/7 digital workforce to assist customers with purchases, product inquiries, troubleshooting, and returns, reducing human agent workloads and enabling them to focus on more impactful interactions.
Agentforce is anticipated to streamline tasks such as guiding purchases, resolving product queries, and managing returns, allowing human agents to focus on high-value engagements and enhancing the overall customer experience.
SharkNinja will leverage Commerce Cloud to unify customer data, enabling personalized shopping experiences and better tracking of global customer engagement.
Adam Evans, EVP &amp; GM of Salesforce AI Platform, said, &#8220;By integrating customer data with service and support functions, Agentforce enables SharkNinja to deliver an exceptional experience at every touchpoint — building customer loyalty and keeping them coming back time and time again.&#8221;
Investors can gain exposure to the CRM stock via&nbsp;iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF (BATS:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/IGV#BATS">IGV</a>) and First Trust DJ Internet Index Fund (NYSE:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/FDN#NYSE">FDN</a>).
Price Action: CRM shares are up 1.3% at $323.21 at the last check Tuesday.
Read Next:
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<li><a href="https://www.benzinga.com/25/01/42917603/salesforce-empowers-retailers-with-ai-to-boost-efficiency-and-sales" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Salesforce Launches Retail Cloud And Agentforce Solutions: Details</a></li>
</ul>
Image sourced from Shutterstock.

SharkNinja Taps Salesforce Solutions For Personalized Customer Journeys: Details

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Shares of technology companies are trading lower amid the White House's decision to restrict AI chip exports.

Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/CRM#NYSE">CRM</a>) shares are trading lower on Friday. The company introduced two new AI-driven solutions for retailers: Agentforce <a target="_blank" href="https://www.benzinga.com/pressreleases/25/01/b42910317/salesforce-unveils-agentforce-for-retail-to-boost-productivity-with-digital-labor-and-retail-cloud" rel="noreferrer noopener">for Retail and Retail Cloud with Modern POS</a>.
These solutions aim to enhance productivity for store associates, customer service teams, digital merchants and deliver more personalized shopping experiences.
Agentforce for Retail offers a pre-built library of agent skills, enabling retailers to deploy AI agents that automate tasks like order management and appointment scheduling, improving shopper engagement at scale.
On the other hand, Retail Cloud with Modern POS integrates online and in-store data into a unified platform, providing mobile POS, clienteling, endless aisle, mixed cart checkout, omnichannel fulfillment, and inventory management, helping associates serve customers more efficiently.
The company stated that Retail Cloud with Modern POS is expected to be generally available by April 2025.
Additionally, Salesforce will introduce enhanced reasoning and retrieval-augmented generation capabilities in February 2025.
Also, Commerce Skills for Guided Shopping, which includes features such as product search, product recommendations, add to cart, re-order, and WISMO (Where Is My Order), will be available in March 2025, alongside Commerce Skills for Order Management.
Notably, SharkNinja and Saks are using Salesforce solutions to enhance employee efficiency and improve customer interactions.
Nitin Mangtani, SVP and GM of Retail at Salesforce, said that the combination of AI-powered digital tools and a modern POS system can significantly expand retailers&#8217; operational capabilities. With the newly introduced Agentforce skills and an intuitive cloud-based POS solution, Salesforce aims to enable retailers to provide seamless, connected shopping experiences across both physical and digital channels, driving efficiency gains and fueling enterprise-wide growth.
Investors can gain exposure to the stock via&nbsp;iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF (BATS:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/IGV#BATS">IGV</a>) and First Trust DJ Internet Index Fund&nbsp;&nbsp;(NYSE:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/FDN#NYSE">FDN</a>).
Price Action: CRM shares are down 2.41% at $319.03 at the last check Friday.
Read Next:
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Image via Shutterstock.

Salesforce Launches Retail Cloud And Agentforce Solutions: Details

Top Wall Street analysts changed their outlook on these top names. For a complete view of all analyst rating changes, including upgrades and downgrades, please see our <a href="https://www.benzinga.com/analyst-stock-ratings">analyst ratings page</a>.
<ul>
<li>Needham raised the price target for Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/CRM#NYSE">CRM</a>) from $375 to $400. Needham analyst Scott Berg maintained a Buy rating. Salesforce shares closed at $324.93 on Tuesday. <a href="https://www.benzinga.com/quote/CRM/analyst-ratings">See how other analysts view this stock</a>.</li>
<li>Truist Securities slashed Merck &amp; Co., Inc. (NYSE:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/MRK#NYSE">MRK</a>) price target from $130 to $110. Truist Securities analyst Robyn Karnauskas downgraded the stock from Buy to Hold. Wendy&#8217;s shares closed at $101.02 on Tuesday. <a href="https://www.benzinga.com/quote/MRK/analyst-ratings">See how other analysts view this stock.</a></li>
<li>Canaccord Genuity raised the price target for Intuitive Machines, Inc. (NASDAQ:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/LUNR#NASDAQ">LUNR</a>) from $17.5 to $26. Canaccord Genuity analyst Austin Moeller maintained a Buy rating. Intuitive Machines shares closed at $19.87 on Tuesday. <a href="https://www.benzinga.com/quote/LUNR/analyst-ratings">See how other analysts view this stock.</a></li>
<li>Piper Sandler increased the price target for Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/ADSK#NASDAQ">ADSK</a>) from $311 to $357. Piper Sandler analyst Clarke Jeffries upgraded the stock from Neutral to Overweight. Autodesk shares closed at $290.82 on Tuesday. See how other analysts view this stock.</li>
<li>B of A Securities boosted Ferguson Enterprises Inc. (NYSE FERG) price target from $185 to $225. B of A Securities analyst Arnaud Lehmann upgraded the stock from Underperform to Buy. Ferguson shares settled at $172.21 on Tuesday. <a href="https://www.benzinga.com/quote/FERG/analyst-ratings">See how other analysts view this stock</a>.</li>
<li>Jefferies raised GE HealthCare Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/GEHC#NASDAQ">GEHC</a>) price target from $95 to $103. Jefferies analyst Matthew Taylor upgraded the stock from Hold to Buy. GE HealthCare shares closed at $83.37 on Tuesday. <a href="https://www.benzinga.com/quote/GEHC/analyst-ratings">See how other analysts view this stock.</a></li>
<li>Deutsche Bank raised Workday, Inc. (NASDAQ:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/WDAY#NASDAQ">WDAY</a>) price target from $265 to $300. Deutsche Bank analyst Brad Zelnick upgraded the stock from Hold to Buy. Workday shares closed at $249.68 on Tuesday.  <a href="https://www.benzinga.com/quote/WDAY/analyst-ratings">See how other analysts view this stock</a>.</li>
<li>Morgan Stanley boosted the price target for NetEase, Inc. (NASDAQ:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/NTES#NASDAQ">NTES</a>) from $90 to $108. Morgan Stanley analyst Alex Poon upgraded the stock from Equal-Weight to Overweight. NetEase shares settled at $89.72 on Tuesday. <a href="https://www.benzinga.com/quote/NTES/analyst-ratings">See how other analysts view this stock</a>.</li>
<li>Truist Securities raised Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (NYSE:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/BMY#NYSE">BMY</a>) price target from $62 to $65. Truist Securities analyst Robyn Karnauskas maintained a Buy rating. Bristol-Myers Squibb shares closed at $57.14 on Tuesday. <a href="https://www.benzinga.com/quote/BMY/analyst-ratings">See how other analysts view this stock</a>.</li>
<li>JP Morgan cut MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/MELI#NASDAQ">MELI</a>) price target from $2,150 to $1,950. JP Morgan analyst Marcelo Santos maintained a Neutral rating. MercadoLibre shares closed at $1,771.22 on Tuesday. <a href="https://www.benzinga.com/quote/MELI/analyst-ratings">See how other analysts view this stock</a>.</li>
</ul>
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Salesforce To Rally More Than 23%? Here Are 10 Top Analyst Forecasts For Wednesday

Needham analyst Scott Berg maintains Salesforce (NYSE:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/CRM#NYSE">CRM</a>) with a Buy and raises the price target from $375 to $400.

Needham Maintains Buy on Salesforce, Raises Price Target to $400

Guggenheim analyst John Difucci downgrades Salesforce (NYSE:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/CRM#NYSE">CRM</a>) from Neutral to Sell and maintains the price target from $247 to $247.

Downgrades

Guggenheim Downgrades Salesforce to Sell, Maintains Price Target to $247

Financial giants have made a conspicuous bullish move on Salesforce. Our analysis of options history for Salesforce (NYSE:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/CRM#NYSE">CRM</a>) revealed 28 unusual trades.
Delving into the details, we found 57% of traders were bullish, while 28% showed bearish tendencies. Out of all the trades we spotted, 14 were puts, with a value of $1,346,310, and 14 were calls, valued at $725,654.
<h3>Expected Price Movements</h3>
Based on the trading activity, it appears that the significant investors are aiming for a price territory stretching from $200.0 to $370.0 for Salesforce over the recent three months. 
<h3>Volume &amp; Open Interest Trends</h3>
In today's trading context, the average open interest for options of Salesforce stands at 1295.29, with a total volume reaching 4,137.00. The accompanying chart delineates the progression of both call and put option volume and open interest for high-value trades in Salesforce, situated within the strike price corridor from $200.0 to $370.0, throughout the last 30 days.
<h3>Salesforce 30-Day Option Volume &amp; Interest Snapshot</h3>
<img src="https://www.benzinga.com/files/images/story/2025/1735924527_0.png" alt="Options Call Chart" />
<h3>Largest Options Trades Observed:</h3>

<table>
<thead>
<tr>
<th>Symbol</th>
<th>PUT/CALL</th>
<th>Trade Type</th>
<th>Sentiment</th>
<th>Exp. Date</th>
<th>Ask</th>
<th>Bid</th>
<th>Price</th>
<th>Strike Price</th>
<th>Total Trade Price</th>
<th>Open Interest</th>
<th align="right">Volume</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>CRM</td>
<td>PUT</td>
<td>SWEEP</td>
<td>BEARISH</td>
<td>03/21/25</td>
<td>$19.1</td>
<td>$19.05</td>
<td>$19.1</td>
<td>$330.00</td>
<td>$317.0K</td>
<td>663</td>
<td align="right">252</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>CRM</td>
<td>PUT</td>
<td>SWEEP</td>
<td>BULLISH</td>
<td>06/20/25</td>
<td>$21.95</td>
<td>$21.9</td>
<td>$21.9</td>
<td>$320.00</td>
<td>$221.2K</td>
<td>713</td>
<td align="right">104</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>CRM</td>
<td>PUT</td>
<td>SWEEP</td>
<td>BULLISH</td>
<td>03/21/25</td>
<td>$19.4</td>
<td>$18.85</td>
<td>$18.85</td>
<td>$330.00</td>
<td>$205.4K</td>
<td>663</td>
<td align="right">415</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>CRM</td>
<td>PUT</td>
<td>SWEEP</td>
<td>BEARISH</td>
<td>03/21/25</td>
<td>$19.1</td>
<td>$19.05</td>
<td>$19.1</td>
<td>$330.00</td>
<td>$137.5K</td>
<td>663</td>
<td align="right">85</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>CRM</td>
<td>CALL</td>
<td>TRADE</td>
<td>NEUTRAL</td>
<td>01/17/25</td>
<td>$131.3</td>
<td>$130.2</td>
<td>$130.7</td>
<td>$200.00</td>
<td>$130.7K</td>
<td>1.2K</td>
<td align="right">15</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>

<h3>About Salesforce</h3>
Salesforce provides enterprise cloud computing solutions. The company offers customer relationship management technology that brings companies and customers together. Its Customer 360 platform helps the group to deliver a single source of truth, connecting customer data across systems, apps, and devices to help companies sell, service, market, and conduct commerce. It also offers Service Cloud for customer support, Marketing Cloud for digital marketing campaigns, Commerce Cloud as an e-commerce engine, the Salesforce Platform, which allows enterprises to build applications, and other solutions, such as MuleSoft for data integration.
In light of the recent options history for Salesforce, it's now appropriate to focus on the company itself. We aim to explore its current performance.
<h3>Where Is Salesforce Standing Right Now?</h3>
<ul>
<li>With a trading volume of 1,263,444, the price of CRM is up by 0.41%, reaching $332.02.</li>
<li>Current RSI values indicate that the stock is is currently neutral between overbought and oversold.</li>
<li>Next earnings report is scheduled for 54 days from now.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Expert Opinions on Salesforce</h3>
Over the past month, 5 industry analysts have shared their insights on this stock, proposing an average target price of $404.0.
Turn $1000 into $1270 in just 20 days?
20-year pro options trader reveals his one-line chart technique that shows when to buy and sell. Copy his trades, which have had averaged a 27% profit every 20 days. <a href="https://www.benzinga.com/premium/ideas/options-moneyline-2/?t=Moop1arja3be22op14&amp;utm_source=benzinga-insights">Click here for access</a>. 
&#x2A; An analyst from JMP Securities downgraded its action to Market Outperform with a price target of $450. 
&#x2A; An analyst from Macquarie has revised its rating downward to Neutral, adjusting the price target to $370. 
&#x2A; An analyst from Macquarie has decided to maintain their Neutral rating on Salesforce, which currently sits at a price target of $370. 
&#x2A; In a cautious move, an analyst from Wedbush downgraded its rating to Outperform, setting a price target of $425. 
&#x2A; An analyst from Piper Sandler persists with their Overweight rating on Salesforce, maintaining a target price of $405. 
Options trading presents higher risks and potential rewards. Astute traders manage these risks by continually educating themselves, adapting their strategies, monitoring multiple indicators, and keeping a close eye on market movements. Stay informed about the latest Salesforce options trades with real-time alerts from <a href="https://benzinga.grsm.io/register174">Benzinga Pro</a>.

Options

Market Whales and Their Recent Bets on CRM Options

Whales with a lot of money to spend have taken a noticeably bearish stance on Salesforce.
Looking at options history for Salesforce (NYSE:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/CRM#NYSE">CRM</a>) we detected 51 trades.
If we consider the specifics of each trade, it is accurate to state that 25% of the investors opened trades with bullish expectations and 52% with bearish.
From the overall spotted trades, 12 are puts, for a total amount of $718,304 and 39, calls, for a total amount of $2,085,751.
<h3>Expected Price Movements</h3>
Analyzing the Volume and Open Interest in these contracts, it seems that the big players have been eyeing a price window from $175.0 to $500.0 for Salesforce during the past quarter. 
<h3>Analyzing Volume &amp; Open Interest</h3>
Assessing the volume and open interest is a strategic step in options trading. These metrics shed light on the liquidity and investor interest in Salesforce's options at specified strike prices. The forthcoming data visualizes the fluctuation in volume and open interest for both calls and puts, linked to Salesforce's substantial trades, within a strike price spectrum from $175.0 to $500.0 over the preceding 30 days.
<h3>Salesforce Call and Put Volume: 30-Day Overview</h3>
<img src="https://www.benzinga.com/files/images/story/2025/1735844424_0.png" alt="Options Call Chart" />
<h3>Biggest Options Spotted:</h3>

<table>
<thead>
<tr>
<th>Symbol</th>
<th>PUT/CALL</th>
<th>Trade Type</th>
<th>Sentiment</th>
<th>Exp. Date</th>
<th>Ask</th>
<th>Bid</th>
<th>Price</th>
<th>Strike Price</th>
<th>Total Trade Price</th>
<th align="right">Open Interest</th>
<th>Volume</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>CRM</td>
<td>PUT</td>
<td>SWEEP</td>
<td>NEUTRAL</td>
<td>06/18/26</td>
<td>$85.95</td>
<td>$85.85</td>
<td>$85.95</td>
<td>$400.00</td>
<td>$180.4K</td>
<td align="right">3</td>
<td>27</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>CRM</td>
<td>CALL</td>
<td>SWEEP</td>
<td>BEARISH</td>
<td>01/17/25</td>
<td>$6.85</td>
<td>$6.55</td>
<td>$6.55</td>
<td>$332.50</td>
<td>$149.9K</td>
<td align="right">37</td>
<td>28</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>CRM</td>
<td>CALL</td>
<td>SWEEP</td>
<td>BULLISH</td>
<td>01/10/25</td>
<td>$2.01</td>
<td>$1.87</td>
<td>$2.15</td>
<td>$342.50</td>
<td>$105.7K</td>
<td align="right">127</td>
<td>1.1K</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>CRM</td>
<td>CALL</td>
<td>SWEEP</td>
<td>BEARISH</td>
<td>06/20/25</td>
<td>$161.9</td>
<td>$161.25</td>
<td>$161.25</td>
<td>$175.00</td>
<td>$96.7K</td>
<td align="right">112</td>
<td>11</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>CRM</td>
<td>CALL</td>
<td>TRADE</td>
<td>NEUTRAL</td>
<td>05/16/25</td>
<td>$7.1</td>
<td>$6.9</td>
<td>$7.0</td>
<td>$400.00</td>
<td>$91.0K</td>
<td align="right">850</td>
<td>136</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>

<h3>About Salesforce</h3>
Salesforce provides enterprise cloud computing solutions. The company offers customer relationship management technology that brings companies and customers together. Its Customer 360 platform helps the group to deliver a single source of truth, connecting customer data across systems, apps, and devices to help companies sell, service, market, and conduct commerce. It also offers Service Cloud for customer support, Marketing Cloud for digital marketing campaigns, Commerce Cloud as an e-commerce engine, the Salesforce Platform, which allows enterprises to build applications, and other solutions, such as MuleSoft for data integration.
In light of the recent options history for Salesforce, it's now appropriate to focus on the company itself. We aim to explore its current performance.
<h3>Where Is Salesforce Standing Right Now?</h3>
<ul>
<li>With a trading volume of 2,523,597, the price of CRM is down by -1.41%, reaching $329.61.</li>
<li>Current RSI values indicate that the stock is may be oversold.</li>
<li>Next earnings report is scheduled for 55 days from now.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Expert Opinions on Salesforce</h3>
A total of 5 professional analysts have given their take on this stock in the last 30 days, setting an average price target of $425.0.
Turn $1000 into $1270 in just 20 days?
20-year pro options trader reveals his one-line chart technique that shows when to buy and sell. Copy his trades, which have had averaged a 27% profit every 20 days. <a href="https://www.benzinga.com/premium/ideas/options-moneyline-2/?t=Moop1arja3be22op14&amp;utm_source=benzinga-insights">Click here for access</a>. 
&#x2A; An analyst from Morgan Stanley persists with their Overweight rating on Salesforce, maintaining a target price of $405. 
&#x2A; An analyst from Scotiabank persists with their Sector Outperform rating on Salesforce, maintaining a target price of $440. 
&#x2A; Consistent in their evaluation, an analyst from Stifel keeps a Buy rating on Salesforce with a target price of $425. 
&#x2A; In a cautious move, an analyst from JMP Securities downgraded its rating to Market Outperform, setting a price target of $450. 
&#x2A; An analyst from Piper Sandler persists with their Overweight rating on Salesforce, maintaining a target price of $405. 
Options are a riskier asset compared to just trading the stock, but they have higher profit potential. Serious options traders manage this risk by educating themselves daily, scaling in and out of trades, following more than one indicator, and following the markets closely.
If you want to stay updated on the latest options trades for Salesforce, <a href="https://benzinga.grsm.io/register174">Benzinga Pro</a> gives you real-time options trades alerts.

What the Options Market Tells Us About Salesforce

In the current session, the stock is trading at $337.80, after a 0.61% increase. Over the past month, Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/CRM#NYSE">CRM</a>) stock increased by 1.30%, and in the past year, by 33.31%. With performance like this, long-term shareholders are optimistic but others are more likely to look into the price-to-earnings ratio to see if the stock might be overvalued.

<img src="https://www.benzinga.com/files/images/story/2024/1735650907_0.png" alt="Past Year Chart" />

<h3>Comparing Salesforce P/E Against Its Peers</h3>
The P/E ratio measures the current share price to the company's EPS. It is used by long-term investors to analyze the company's current performance against it's past earnings, historical data and aggregate market data for the industry or the indices, such as S&amp;P 500. A higher P/E indicates that investors expect the company to perform better in the future, and the stock is probably overvalued, but not necessarily. It also could indicate that investors are willing to pay a higher share price currently, because they expect the company to perform better in the upcoming quarters. This leads investors to also remain optimistic about rising dividends in the future. 
Salesforce has a lower P/E than the aggregate P/E of 92.73 of the Software industry. Ideally, one might believe that the stock might perform worse than its peers, but it's also probable that the stock is undervalued. 

<img src="https://www.benzinga.com/files/images/story/2024/1735650907_1.png" alt="Guage" />

In summary, while the price-to-earnings ratio is a valuable tool for investors to evaluate a company's market performance, it should be used with caution. A low P/E ratio can be an indication of undervaluation, but it can also suggest weak growth prospects or financial instability. Moreover, the P/E ratio is just one of many metrics that investors should consider when making investment decisions, and it should be evaluated alongside other financial ratios, industry trends, and qualitative factors. By taking a comprehensive approach to analyzing a company's financial health, investors can make well-informed decisions that are more likely to lead to successful outcomes.

Intraday Update

P/E Ratio Insights for Salesforce

On Monday, Wedbush analyst Dan Ives unveiled his top 10 tech winners for the AI revolution into 2025, leaving two major Magnificent 7 players notably absent from the list.
What Happened:&nbsp; In his post, Ives said that the companies are poised to ride the wave of a $2 trillion AI capital expenditure boom over the next three years.
His list of top 10 tech winners for the AI revolution: Nvidia Corporation (NASDAQ:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/NVDA#NASDAQ">NVDA</a>), Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/MSFT#NASDAQ">MSFT</a>), Palantir Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/PLTR#NASDAQ">PLTR</a>), Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/TSLA#NASDAQ">TSLA</a>), Alphabet Inc.'s (NASDAQ:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/GOOG#NASDAQ">GOOG</a>) (NASDAQ:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/GOOGL#NASDAQ">GOOGL</a>) Google, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/AAPL#NASDAQ">AAPL</a>), MongoDB Inc. (NASDAQ:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/MDB#NASDAQ">MDB</a>), Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/PEGA#NASDAQ">PEGA</a>), Snowflake Inc. (NYSE:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/SNOW#NYSE">SNOW</a>), and Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/CRM#NYSE">CRM</a>).&nbsp;
&#8216;Magnificent 7&#8217; heavyweights Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/AMZN#NASDAQ">AMZN</a>) and Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/META#NASDAQ">META</a>) were conspicuously absent from the list.
See Also: <a href="https://www.benzinga.com/tech/24/12/42715441/openais-for-profit-transition-trumps-ai-advisor-and-googles-code-red-this-week-in-ai?itm_source=parsely-api">OpenAI&#8217;s For-Profit Transition, Trump&#8217;s AI Advisor, And Google&#8217;s Code Red: This Week In AI</a>
"We expect tech stocks to be up 25% in 2025," Ives stated, adding that it will be bolstered by "a goldilocks foundation for Big Tech and Tesla" and reduced regulatory hurdles under a Donald Trump-led administration.
Ives also cautioned about potential "white-knuckle moments" in 2025, citing concerns around Fed actions, China trade dynamics, and stretched valuations.
However, he said, &#8220;This will create the opportunities to own the tech theme and key names which has been our core investing tech playbook the last 2 years.&#8221;
<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"> 
<div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">We expect tech stocks to be up 25% in 2025 as the Street further digests a less regulatory spider web under Trump in the White House with Khan/FTC days in the rear-view mirror, stronger AI initiatives within the Beltway, and a goldilocks foundation for Big Tech into 2025 &#x1f525;&#x1f3c6;&#x1f402; <a href="https://t.co/buam9doR6K">pic.twitter.com/buam9doR6K</a>
&mdash; Dan Ives (@DivesTech) <a href="https://twitter.com/DivesTech/status/1873877365572723044?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 30, 2024</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>
</figure>
Why It Matters: Apple currently leads the market with an impressive valuation of $3.812 trillion, and its stock has surged by 35.85% year-to-date.
Cupertino introduced Apple Intelligence this year, a robust collection of AI tools and features designed to greatly improve the user experience on its devices.
Following closely is Nvidia, with a market cap of $3.367 trillion and an impressive 185.43% year-to-date increase. Nvidia is anticipated to launch its next-generation RTX 5000 series GPUs at <a href="https://www.benzinga.com/markets/24/12/42677149/nvidia-ces-2025-keynote-how-to-watch-jensen-huang-unveil-the-rtx-5000-series-gpus">CES 2025 scheduled for the second week</a> of January.
Microsoft secures the third spot with a valuation of $3.158 trillion. Alphabet, the parent company of Google, holds a market cap of $2.350.
Amazon rounds out the top five with a valuation of $2.326 trillion, while Meta and Tesla are at number seven and eight with a market cap of $1.492 trillion and $1.339 trillion, respectively.
Image via Shutterstock
Read Next:
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.benzinga.com/markets/equities/24/12/42717000/palantir-was-not-part-of-cool-kids-club-says-dan-ives-as-stock-surges-376-institutional-investors-were-stuck">Palantir Was Not Part Of &#8216;Cool Kids Club,&#8217; Says Dan Ives, As Stock Surges 376%: &#8216;Group Think&#8217; Mentality Of Institutional Investors Gave Retail The Edge</a></li>
</ul>
Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of <a href="https://www.benzinga.com/author/benzinga-neuro">Benzinga Neuro</a> and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.

Palantir, Salesforce, And Snowflake Made The Cut, But 2 'Magnificent 7' Giants Left Out From Dan Ives' Top 10 Tech Winners For The AI Revolution In 2025 List

Investors with a lot of money to spend have taken a bearish stance on Salesforce (NYSE:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/CRM#NYSE">CRM</a>).
And retail traders should know.
We noticed this today when the trades showed up on publicly available options history that we track here at Benzinga.
Whether these are institutions or just wealthy individuals, we don't know. But when something this big happens with CRM, it often means somebody knows something is about to happen.
So how do we know what these investors just did? 
Today, <a href="https://pro.benzinga.com/?utm_source=insights">Benzinga</a>'s options scanner spotted 16 uncommon options trades for Salesforce.
This isn't normal.
The overall sentiment of these big-money traders is split between 18% bullish and 75%, bearish.
Out of all of the special options we uncovered, 14 are puts, for a total amount of $800,252, and 2 are calls, for a total amount of $78,016.
<h3>Predicted Price Range</h3>
Taking into account the Volume and Open Interest on these contracts, it appears that whales have been targeting a price range from $270.0 to $450.0 for Salesforce over the last 3 months. 
<h3>Volume &amp; Open Interest Development</h3>
In terms of liquidity and interest, the mean open interest for Salesforce options trades today is 916.89 with a total volume of 1,968.00.
In the following chart, we are able to follow the development of volume and open interest of call and put options for Salesforce's big money trades within a strike price range of $270.0 to $450.0 over the last 30 days.
<h3>Salesforce 30-Day Option Volume &amp; Interest Snapshot</h3>
<img src="https://www.benzinga.com/files/images/story/2024/1735312537_0.png" alt="Options Call Chart" />
<h3>Largest Options Trades Observed:</h3>

<table>
<thead>
<tr>
<th>Symbol</th>
<th>PUT/CALL</th>
<th>Trade Type</th>
<th>Sentiment</th>
<th>Exp. Date</th>
<th>Ask</th>
<th>Bid</th>
<th>Price</th>
<th>Strike Price</th>
<th>Total Trade Price</th>
<th>Open Interest</th>
<th align="right">Volume</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>CRM</td>
<td>PUT</td>
<td>SWEEP</td>
<td>BEARISH</td>
<td>01/17/25</td>
<td>$23.65</td>
<td>$23.4</td>
<td>$23.65</td>
<td>$360.00</td>
<td>$115.8K</td>
<td>2.0K</td>
<td align="right">304</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>CRM</td>
<td>PUT</td>
<td>SWEEP</td>
<td>BEARISH</td>
<td>01/17/25</td>
<td>$21.3</td>
<td>$20.45</td>
<td>$21.3</td>
<td>$360.00</td>
<td>$100.1K</td>
<td>2.0K</td>
<td align="right">2</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>CRM</td>
<td>PUT</td>
<td>TRADE</td>
<td>BEARISH</td>
<td>03/21/25</td>
<td>$17.15</td>
<td>$16.65</td>
<td>$17.15</td>
<td>$330.00</td>
<td>$90.8K</td>
<td>656</td>
<td align="right">101</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>CRM</td>
<td>PUT</td>
<td>TRADE</td>
<td>BULLISH</td>
<td>01/10/25</td>
<td>$9.5</td>
<td>$8.95</td>
<td>$9.05</td>
<td>$342.50</td>
<td>$81.4K</td>
<td>7</td>
<td align="right">96</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>CRM</td>
<td>PUT</td>
<td>TRADE</td>
<td>BEARISH</td>
<td>01/10/25</td>
<td>$6.55</td>
<td>$6.4</td>
<td>$6.55</td>
<td>$337.50</td>
<td>$58.9K</td>
<td>14</td>
<td align="right">100</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>

<h3>About Salesforce</h3>
Salesforce provides enterprise cloud computing solutions. The company offers customer relationship management technology that brings companies and customers together. Its Customer 360 platform helps the group to deliver a single source of truth, connecting customer data across systems, apps, and devices to help companies sell, service, market, and conduct commerce. It also offers Service Cloud for customer support, Marketing Cloud for digital marketing campaigns, Commerce Cloud as an e-commerce engine, the Salesforce Platform, which allows enterprises to build applications, and other solutions, such as MuleSoft for data integration.
After a thorough review of the options trading surrounding Salesforce, we move to examine the company in more detail. This includes an assessment of its current market status and performance.
<h3>Salesforce's Current Market Status</h3>
<ul>
<li>With a volume of 425,816, the price of CRM is down -0.55% at $339.82. </li>
<li>RSI indicators hint that the underlying stock may be approaching overbought.</li>
<li>Next earnings are expected to be released in 61 days.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Professional Analyst Ratings for Salesforce</h3>
5 market experts have recently issued ratings for this stock, with a consensus target price of $414.0.
Unusual Options Activity Detected: Smart Money on the Move
Benzinga Edge's Unusual Options board spots potential market movers before they happen. See what positions big money is taking on your favorite stocks. <a href="https://www.benzinga.com/premium/ideas/benzinga-edge-checkout/?t=Be8be9arja3be22bz20&amp;utm_source=benzinga-insights">Click here for access</a>. 
&#x2A; Reflecting concerns, an analyst from JMP Securities lowers its rating to Market Outperform with a new price target of $450. 
&#x2A; Consistent in their evaluation, an analyst from Barclays keeps a Overweight rating on Salesforce with a target price of $425. 
&#x2A; An analyst from Truist Securities downgraded its action to Buy with a price target of $400. 
&#x2A; An analyst from Citigroup persists with their Neutral rating on Salesforce, maintaining a target price of $390. 
&#x2A; Maintaining their stance, an analyst from Piper Sandler continues to hold a Overweight rating for Salesforce, targeting a price of $405. 
Options are a riskier asset compared to just trading the stock, but they have higher profit potential. Serious options traders manage this risk by educating themselves daily, scaling in and out of trades, following more than one indicator, and following the markets closely.
If you want to stay updated on the latest options trades for Salesforce, <a href="https://benzinga.grsm.io/register174">Benzinga Pro</a> gives you real-time options trades alerts.

Palantir Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/PLTR#NASDAQ">PLTR</a>) has delivered a <a href="https://www.benzinga.com/markets/equities/24/12/42696805/palantir-touted-as-next-oracle-by-dan-ives-here-is-why-the-wedbush-analyst-called-the-company-a-table-pounder">remarkable </a>395% return this year, outperforming the entire S&amp;P 500. Despite this strong performance, concerns are growing about the stock&#8217;s lofty valuation, with a few analysts expressing caution due to potential overbought conditions. 
What Happened: Palantir&#8217;s shares are trading at a price nearly 172 times over its 2025 earnings, according to <a href="https://pro.benzinga.com/dashboard">Benzinga Pro</a> data. At the same time, the average forward price-to-earnings of its peers stand at 59.440 times, implying that PLTR is nearly three times more expensive than its industry's average. 
<figure class="wp-block-table is-style-stripes"> 
<table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>Stocks</td>
<td>Forward P/E</td>
<td>YTD Performance</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Palantir Technologies Inc </td>
<td>172.414 </td>
<td>395.42%</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Salesforce Inc (NYSE:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/CRM#NYSE">CRM</a>) </td>
<td>30.581 </td>
<td>33.42%</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>SAP SE (ETR: SAP) </td>
<td>38.462 </td>
<td>74.60%</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Adobe Inc (NASDAQ:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/ADBE#NASDAQ">ADBE</a>) </td>
<td>22.075 </td>
<td>-22.40%</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Intuit Inc (NASDAQ:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/INTU#NASDAQ">INTU</a>) </td>
<td>33.670 </td>
<td>7.03%</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Average P/E </td>
<td>59.440</td>
<td>(As of Dec. 26 Close)</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Source: <a href="https://pro.benzinga.com/dashboard">Benzinga Pro</a></figcaption></figure>
The technical analysis of daily moving averages indicates a strong uptrend.
The stock ended at $82.41 apiece on Thursday. This was above its eight and 50-day simple moving average of $78.50 and $74.57, respectively. According to <a href="https://pro.benzinga.com/dashboard">Benzinga Pro</a> data, its current stock price was also higher than the 50-day moving average of $61.73, and its 200-day moving average of $36.13.
On the other hand, the relative strength index of 71.99 suggests the stock is overbought and could potentially be nearing a price correction.
<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><a href="https://pro.benzinga.com/dashboard"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="576" src="https://editorial-assets.benzinga.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/27071739/Palantir-Chart-Tech-1024x576.png" alt="" class="wp-image-709115" srcset="https://editorial-assets.benzinga.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/27071739/Palantir-Chart-Tech-1024x576.png 1024w,https://editorial-assets.benzinga.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/27071739/Palantir-Chart-Tech-300x169.png 300w,https://editorial-assets.benzinga.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/27071739/Palantir-Chart-Tech-768x432.png 768w,https://editorial-assets.benzinga.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/27071739/Palantir-Chart-Tech-1536x864.png 1536w,https://editorial-assets.benzinga.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/27071739/Palantir-Chart-Tech.png 1920w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a></figure>
See Also: <a href="https://www.benzinga.com/general/market-summary/24/12/42680125/nvda-could-go-up-to-170-in-q1-after-breaching-145-level-as-traders-turn-bullish-on-jensen-huangs-ai-giant">NVDA Could Go Up To $170 In Q1 After Breaching $145 Level As Traders Turn Bullish On Jensen Huang&#8217;s AI Giant </a>
Why It Matters: According to <a href="https://www.benzinga.com">Benzinga</a>, PLTR has a consensus &#8216;sell&#8217; with a price target of $35.58 based on the ratings of 20 analysts.
The highest price target out of all the <a href="https://www.benzinga.com/quote/PLTR/analyst-ratings">analysts</a> tracked by <a href="https://www.benzinga.com">Benzinga </a>is $80 issued by UBS with a &#8216;neutral&#8217; rating on Dec. 19. UBS is bullish on Palantir&#8217;s AI-driven growth potential but remains sidelined due to its extremely high valuation. UBS believes the current valuation is unjustified with 49 times revenue and 124 times free cash flow on 2025 estimates. Despite this, Palantir&#8217;s impressive growth and increasing institutional interest make it a stock to watch for potential future investment opportunities, says UBS.
Wedbush analyst Dan Ives, a strong Palantir bull with a $75 price target issued on Nov. 25 with an &#8216;outperform&#8217; rating. He believes AI spending will surge in 2025. He lauds Palantir as &#8220;the Messi of AI,&#8221; emphasizing its leading role in the AI revolution. Ives highlights the expanding use cases for Palantir&#8217;s products, a growing partner ecosystem, and rising demand for its enterprise AI solutions.
Mizuho raised its price target to $44 while maintaining an &#8216;underperform&#8217; rating. This increase reflects broader software sector multiple expansions. Mizuho identifies key trends driving software growth: digital transformation, AI, data analytics, cloud migrations, DevOps, and cybersecurity. While the risk/reward is more balanced, Mizuho sees continued attractiveness in the software sector.
The lowest target price of $7.5 per share, maintaining an &#8216;underperform&#8217; from Wolfe Research was adjusted on Aug. 8, 2023. The average price target of $64.67 between UBS, Mizuho, and Baird implies a 20.96% downside for PLTR.
<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://www.benzinga.com/quote/PLTR/analyst-ratings"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="946" height="363" src="https://editorial-assets.benzinga.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/27071904/PLTR-ANR.png" alt="" class="wp-image-709122" srcset="https://editorial-assets.benzinga.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/27071904/PLTR-ANR.png 946w,https://editorial-assets.benzinga.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/27071904/PLTR-ANR-300x115.png 300w,https://editorial-assets.benzinga.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/27071904/PLTR-ANR-768x295.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 946px) 100vw, 946px" /></a></figure>
Price Action: Shares were down 0.41% in the premarket to $81.81 apiece, whereas the Invesco QQQ Trust, Series 1 (NASDAQ:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/QQQ#NASDAQ">QQQ</a>) declined by 0.2% at $528.55.
Read Next:
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.benzinga.com/analyst-ratings/analyst-color/24/12/42678014/top-7-blue-chip-stocks-with-the-best-return-potential-going-into-2025">S&amp;P 500 Hits 57 All-Time Highs In Record-Breaking 2024: Magnificent 7 Drive 30% Of Nasdaq&#8217;s Surge</a></li>
</ul>
Image via Shutterstock

Market Summary

Broad U.S. Equity ETFs

Upgrades

Technicals

Initiation

Reiteration

ETFs

General

ADBE

Palantir Nearly 3X More Expensive Than Industry Average: PLTR Stock Zooms Over 395% Amid Overbought Conditions

The year 2024 saw the U.S. stock market make new records, with major indices breaching key milestones. While many stocks witnessed a stellar rally this year, analysts still expect some blue-chip equities to rise further as they forecast a better return potential.
Dow&#8217;s Performance In 2024
The Dow Jones Industrial Average index hit a record eight 1,000-point milestones this year. It started the year around the 37,000 level and breached the 45,000 level at the beginning of December. It took only seven trading days for the index to go from 44,000 to 45,000, the second fastest 1,000-point milestone ever.
Following that the index also saw one of its longest 10-day losing streak, the first ever since 1974. These 10 days of underperformance stems from a confluence of factors. 
The Dow doesn&#8217;t include all &#8220;Magnificent 7&#8221; stocks like Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/TSLA#NASDAQ">TSLA</a>) and Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/GOOG#NASDAQ">GOOG</a>) (NASDAQ:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/GOOGL#NASDAQ">GOOGL</a>). The recent inclusion of Nvidia Corporation (NASDAQ:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/NVDA#NASDAQ">NVDA</a>) in the Dow has also pulled the index down because of the stock&#8217;s underperformance.
Dow&#8217;s constituent UnitedHealth Group Inc (NYSE:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/UNH#NYSE">UNH</a>) has experienced a substantial decline this month following the tragedy with its CEO&#8217;s shooting. Moreover, in essence, the Dow&#8217;s historical advantage of its price-weighted indexing has become a significant disadvantage in today&#8217;s market. This is because, unlike market capitalization-weighted indices, higher-priced stocks have more weight in the calculation of a price-weighted index.
<h4 class="wp-block-heading">Dow Jones Stocks With The Best And Worst Return Potential</h4>
Analysts still expect that a group of stocks led by Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/CAT#NYSE">CAT</a>), UnitedHealth and Sherwin-Williams Co (NYSE:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/SHW#NYSE">SHW</a>) within the Dow will rise even more, according to estimates compiled by <a href="https://www.benzinga.com">Benzinga</a>. Others on the list are the Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/AMZN#NASDAQ">AMZN</a>), Johnson &amp; Johnson (NYSE:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/JNJ#NYSE">JNJ</a>), Chevron Corp (NYSE:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/CVX#NYSE">CVX</a>) and Merck &amp; Co Inc (NYSE:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/MRK#NYSE">MRK</a>).
To be sure, analysts keep updating their forecasts based on company performance and may change their estimates as the new earnings season begins.
Selection Criteria:
<ul>
<li>The thirty blue-chip stocks in Down Jones.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>The highest and lowest return potential is based on the average 12-month target prices from <a href="https://pro.benzinga.com/dashboard">Benzinga Pro data</a>.</li>
</ul>
<figure class="wp-block-table is-style-stripes"> 
<table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>Companies</td>
<td>M-Cap</td>
<td>Highest PT ($/Share)</td>
<td>Lowest PT ($/Share)</td>
<td>Consensus PT ($/Share)</td>
<td>Upside/Downside Potential</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/CAT#NYSE">CAT</a>)</td>
<td>176.73B</td>
<td>515</td>
<td>174</td>
<td>331.35</td>
<td>31.68%</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>UnitedHealth Group Inc (NYSE:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/UNH#NYSE">UNH</a>)</td>
<td>460.26B</td>
<td>675</td>
<td>460</td>
<td>608.16</td>
<td>28.95%</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Sherwin-Williams Co (NYSE:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/SHW#NYSE">SHW</a>)</td>
<td>86.71B</td>
<td>450</td>
<td>249</td>
<td>371.19</td>
<td>24.08%</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/AMZN#NASDAQ">AMZN</a>)</td>
<td>2,365.04B</td>
<td>290</td>
<td>197</td>
<td>247.05</td>
<td>23.82%</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Johnson &amp; Johnson (NYSE:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/JNJ#NYSE">JNJ</a>)</td>
<td>347.83B</td>
<td>215</td>
<td>40</td>
<td>168</td>
<td>22.41%</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Chevron Corp (NYSE:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/CVX#NYSE">CVX</a>)</td>
<td>256.71B</td>
<td>212</td>
<td>160</td>
<td>179.36</td>
<td>21.42%</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Merck &amp; Co Inc (NYSE: MRK</td>
<td>248.03B</td>
<td>155</td>
<td>104</td>
<td>126.24</td>
<td>20.76%</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Salesforce Inc. (NYSE: <a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/crm#NYSE">CRM</a>)</td>
<td>328.87B</td>
<td>450</td>
<td>236</td>
<td>378.52</td>
<td>20.60%</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/MSFT#NASDAQ">MSFT</a>)</td>
<td>3,246.07B</td>
<td>600</td>
<td>465</td>
<td>508</td>
<td>18.21%</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Visa Inc. (NYSE:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/V#NYSE">V</a>)</td>
<td>622.63B</td>
<td>375</td>
<td>252</td>
<td>318.42</td>
<td>17.69%</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Source: Benzinga.com (Data as of Dec. 22, 2024)</figcaption></figure>
See Also: <a href="https://www.benzinga.com/24/12/42430296/carson-researchs-50-year-study-suggests-that-the-26-months-old-bull-market-is-far-from-over">Is The 26-Month Bull Market Over? Here Is What Carson Research&#8217;s 50-Year Old Study Tells Us</a>
<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Caterpillar Inc</h3>
<ul>
<li>Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/CAT#NYSE">CAT</a>) has the highest return potential of 31.68% among the Dow Jones constituents.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>The 28 analysts tracking the company have a consensus price target of $331.35 per share, according to <a href="https://www.benzinga.com/quote/CAT/analyst-ratings">Benzinga</a>. </li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Truist Securities&#8217; Jamie Cook raised the price target from $454 to $471 per share on Dec. 19, 2024 as he expects significant investments in infrastructure, likely driven by government initiatives and private sector projects to fuel demand for Caterpillar&#8217;s equipment.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Citigroup analyst Kyle Menges maintained a &#8216;buy&#8217; rating on the company and raised the price target from $435 to $460 apiece on Dec. 9, 2024.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>On Dec. 9, JPMorgan analyst Tami Zakaria also reaffirmed her bullish stance on Caterpillar, maintaining a &#8216;buy&#8217; rating on the stock. Concurrently, she raised the firm&#8217;s price target for Caterpillar from $500 to $515 per share.</li>
</ul>
<h3 class="wp-block-heading">UnitedHealth Group</h3>
<ul>
<li>UnitedHealth Group Inc (NYSE:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/UNH#NYSE">UNH</a>) has the second highest return potential of 28.95% among the Dow Jones constituents.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>The 26 analysts tracking the company have a consensus price target of $331.35 per share, according to <a href="https://www.benzinga.com/quote/UNH/analyst-ratings">Benzinga</a>.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Oppenheimer raised its price target to $640 from $610 apiece on Dec.6, 2024. The primary reason for the price target increase is that the Oppenheimer analyst is updating their financial model. This update appears to be based solely on the publicly available information disclosed by UnitedHealth in their 8-K filing.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Stephens &amp; Co raised its target price to $675 from $605 per share on Dec. 5, 2024, after conducting a detailed review of the 2025 guidance metrics that UnitedHealth had shared before the fatal shooting of CEO Brian Thompson that led to the cancellation of their investor conference.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Deutsche Bank also increased its target from $595 to $625 apiece as it believes investor positioning into the event is mostly neutral to positive, with almost no one expecting a negative revision versus the third quarter outlook.</li>
</ul>
<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Sherwin-Williams Company</h3>
<ul>
<li>Sherwin-Williams Co (NYSE:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/SHW#NYSE">SHW</a>) has a return potential of 24.08% going into 2025.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>A consensus price target of $371.19 per share was maintained by 25 analysts that track the company, as per <a href="https://www.benzinga.com/quote/SHW/analyst-ratings">Benzinga</a>. </li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Greg Melich from Evercore ISI raised the price target of the Ohio-based paints, coatings and related products manufacturer to $420 from $400 per share on Nov. 7, 2024.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>RBC Capital&#8217;s Arun Viswanathan lowered his target on the company from $455 to $446 per share on Oct. 24, 2024. While acknowledging that third-quarter results might not have met investor expectations, Viswanathan emphasized the company&#8217;s potential for market share gains and the positive impact of its upcoming price increase scheduled for January 2025.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Citigroup adjusted its price target from $430 to $420 apiece on Oct. 24 as it anticipates choppy demand in the first half of 2025, which could hinder the rapid pass-through of interest rate cuts.</li>
</ul>
See Also: <a href="https://www.benzinga.com/markets/equities/24/11/42383725/trump-administrations-deregulation-efforts-to-lift-energy-oil-and-gas-sectors-ai-frenzy-to-aid-faang-stocks-and-nvidia-says-fintech-insider">Trump&#8217;s Deregulation Efforts To Benefit Energy, Oil And Gas Sectors, While AI Frenzy Will Boost FAANG Stocks And Nvidia, Says Fintech Insider</a>
<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Amazon.com Inc</h3>
<ul>
<li>Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/AMZN#NASDAQ">AMZN</a>) has a return potential of 23.82% going into 2025.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>A consensus price target of $247.05 per share was maintained by 39 analysts that track the company, as per <a href="https://www.benzinga.com/quote/AMZN/analyst-ratings">Benzinga</a>. </li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Tigress Financial&#8217;s Ivan Feinseth umped is price target from $245 to $290 apiece on Dec.20, 2024 as it believes Amazon is well-positioned for continued success, driven by robust retail trends, effective utilization of generative AI and its fulfillment network, and the strategic integration of AI across its entire business.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>The expectations of strong long-term growth driven by operational efficiency and sustained momentum across its business segments led Bernstein to raise its target price from $235 to $265 per share on Dec. 18, 2024.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>According to JPMorgan analyst Douglas Anmuth, Amazon is a best idea for 2025, and confidence in AWS growth in the months to come is a major reason for that. He raised its target price from $250 to $280 apiece on Dec. 18, 2024.</li>
</ul>
<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Johnson &amp; Johnson</h3>
<ul>
<li>Johnson &amp; Johnson (NYSE:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/JNJ#NYSE">JNJ</a>) has the fifth highest return potential in Dow of 22.41% going into 2025.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>The 21 analysts tracking the company have a consensus price target of $168 apiece, according to <a href="https://www.benzinga.com/quote/JNJ/analyst-ratings">Benzinga</a>. </li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Citigroup&#8217;s Joanne Wuensch lowered Johnson &amp; Johnson&#8217;s price target from $185 to $175 per share while maintaining a &#8216;buy&#8217; rating on Dec. 11, 2024.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>BofA Securities reinstated coverage of Johnson &amp; Johnson with a &#8216;neutral&#8217; rating and a $166 price target on Dec. 10, 2024. BofA notes that J&amp;J&#8217;s current valuation premium to peers may limit upside potential. However, the analyst acknowledges a &#8220;fairly interesting&#8221; pipeline and anticipates that resolving the talc litigation in 2025 would be beneficial. This analysis was part of BofA&#8217;s broader coverage initiation of 11 large-cap U.S. pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Wolfe Research analyst Alexandria Hammond commenced coverage of Johnson &amp; Johnson with an &#8216;outperform&#8217; recommendation and established a price target of $190 per share on Nov. 15, 2024</li>
</ul>
<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Chevron Corporation</h3>
<ul>
<li>Chevron Corporation (NYSE:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/CVX#NYSE">CVX</a>) has a return potential of 21.42% going into 2025.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>The 24 analysts tracking the company have a consensus price target of $179.36 apiece, according to <a href="https://www.benzinga.com/quote/CVX/analyst-ratings">Benzinga</a>.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Piper Sandler analyst Ryan Todd reduced his price target on the company from $184 to $173 per share on Dec. 19, 2024, while maintaining a &#8216;buy&#8217; rating. Piper Sandler suggests the valuation gap between Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/XOM#NYSE">XOM</a>) and Chevron implies a probability of over 65% of the Hess Corporation (NYSE:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/HES#NYSE">HES</a>) deal failing out. This scenario presents a potential 15%-25% upside, while a successful deal offers a 5%-10% downside ahead of the upcoming arbitration.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Despite this deal uncertainty, Piper expects Chevron to deliver strong portfolio performance in 2025, driven by project starts and controlled capital expenditures. This is projected to result in a significant free cash flow increase of $6-$7 billion.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Wells Fargo analyst Roger Read raised his target price from $171 to $188 apiece on Dec. 9, 2024</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Truist Securities raised its price target on Chevron to $160 from $155 while maintaining a &#8216;hold&#8217; rating, on Dec. 6, 2024. The analyst highlights Chevron&#8217;s significant inventory, including ample royalties, and expects improved capital efficiency to drive a cash flow inflection in the coming year.</li>
</ul>
<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Merck &amp; Co Inc</h3>
<ul>
<li>Merck &amp; Co Inc (NYSE:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/MRK#NYSE">MRK</a>) has the seventh highest return potential in Dow of 20.76% going into 2025.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>The 27 analysts tracking the company have a consensus price target of $126.24 apiece, according to <a href="https://www.benzinga.com/quote/MRK/analyst-ratings">Benzinga</a>.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>BMO Capital Markets downgraded Merck to &#8216;market perform&#8217; from &#8216;outperform&#8217; lowering the price target from $136 to $105 apiece, on Dec. 20, 2024. The downgrade reflects concerns about the company&#8217;s Gardasil franchise in China and the potential revenue gap as Keytruda faces increased competition from biosimilars and generic drugs.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Tim Anderson from BofA Securities maintains his bullish stance on Merck with a &#8216;buy&#8217; rating, while adjusting the price target downward to $121 from $127 per share, on Dec. 10, 2024.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Truist analyst Robyn Karnauskas reaffirms a &#8216;buy&#8217; rating for Merck on Nov. 7, 2024, but lowers the price target to $130 from $132 apiece.</li>
</ul>
Read Next:
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.benzinga.com/24/12/42642834/market-breadth-turns-positive-after-a-rare-14-day-negative-streak-history-suggests-gains-ahead">Market Breadth Rebounds As Risk Appetite Makes A Comeback: This Analyst Predicts Gains Ahead After S&amp;P 500&#8217;s Record Negative Streak</a></li>
</ul>
Photo courtesy: Shutterstock

Top 7 Blue-Chip Stocks With The Best Return Potential Going Into 2025

Salesforce (NYSE:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/CRM#NYSE">CRM</a>) has outperformed the market over the past 5 years by 3.06% on an annualized basis producing an average annual return of 16.22%. Currently, Salesforce has a market capitalization of $329.34 billion. 
Buying $1000 In CRM: If an investor had bought $1000 of CRM stock 5 years ago, it would be worth $2,088.13 today based on a price of $344.50 for CRM at the time of writing.
<h3>Salesforce's Performance Over Last 5 Years</h3>
<img src="https://www.benzinga.com/files/images/story/2024/1735051521_0.png" alt="comp_fig" />
Finally -- what's the point of all this? The key insight to take from this article is to note how much of a difference compounded returns can make in your cash growth over a period of time.
This article was generated by Benzinga's automated content engine and reviewed by an editor.

Here's How Much $1000 Invested In Salesforce 5 Years Ago Would Be Worth Today

Investors with a lot of money to spend have taken a bullish stance on Salesforce (NYSE:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/CRM#NYSE">CRM</a>).
And retail traders should know.
We noticed this today when the trades showed up on publicly available options history that we track here at Benzinga.
Whether these are institutions or just wealthy individuals, we don't know. But when something this big happens with CRM, it often means somebody knows something is about to happen.
So how do we know what these investors just did? 
Today, <a href="https://pro.benzinga.com/?utm_source=insights">Benzinga</a>'s options scanner spotted 13 uncommon options trades for Salesforce.
This isn't normal.
The overall sentiment of these big-money traders is split between 46% bullish and 23%, bearish.
Out of all of the special options we uncovered, 5 are puts, for a total amount of $1,917,240, and 8 are calls, for a total amount of $930,560.
<h3>Expected Price Movements</h3>
After evaluating the trading volumes and Open Interest, it's evident that the major market movers are focusing on a price band between $250.0 and $400.0 for Salesforce, spanning the last three months.
<h3>Volume &amp; Open Interest Trends</h3>
Examining the volume and open interest provides crucial insights into stock research. This information is key in gauging liquidity and interest levels for Salesforce's options at certain strike prices. Below, we present a snapshot of the trends in volume and open interest for calls and puts across Salesforce's significant trades, within a strike price range of $250.0 to $400.0, over the past month.
<h3>Salesforce Option Volume And Open Interest Over Last 30 Days</h3>
<img src="https://www.benzinga.com/files/images/story/2024/1734706834_0_0.png" alt="Options Call Chart" />
<h3>Biggest Options Spotted:</h3>

<table>
<thead>
<tr>
<th>Symbol</th>
<th>PUT/CALL</th>
<th>Trade Type</th>
<th>Sentiment</th>
<th>Exp. Date</th>
<th>Ask</th>
<th>Bid</th>
<th>Price</th>
<th>Strike Price</th>
<th>Total Trade Price</th>
<th>Open Interest</th>
<th>Volume</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>CRM</td>
<td>PUT</td>
<td>TRADE</td>
<td>NEUTRAL</td>
<td>01/17/25</td>
<td>$19.15</td>
<td>$18.15</td>
<td>$18.6</td>
<td>$350.00</td>
<td>$712.3K</td>
<td>2.3K</td>
<td>1.5K</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>CRM</td>
<td>PUT</td>
<td>SWEEP</td>
<td>BEARISH</td>
<td>01/17/25</td>
<td>$18.6</td>
<td>$17.55</td>
<td>$18.55</td>
<td>$350.00</td>
<td>$556.5K</td>
<td>2.3K</td>
<td>907</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>CRM</td>
<td>PUT</td>
<td>SWEEP</td>
<td>BULLISH</td>
<td>01/17/25</td>
<td>$19.35</td>
<td>$18.25</td>
<td>$18.5</td>
<td>$350.00</td>
<td>$555.0K</td>
<td>2.3K</td>
<td>455</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>CRM</td>
<td>CALL</td>
<td>SWEEP</td>
<td>NEUTRAL</td>
<td>01/16/26</td>
<td>$110.6</td>
<td>$108.6</td>
<td>$110.5</td>
<td>$250.00</td>
<td>$508.1K</td>
<td>590</td>
<td>46</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>CRM</td>
<td>CALL</td>
<td>TRADE</td>
<td>BULLISH</td>
<td>01/17/25</td>
<td>$88.5</td>
<td>$88.0</td>
<td>$88.5</td>
<td>$250.00</td>
<td>$106.2K</td>
<td>2.8K</td>
<td>12</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>

<h3>About Salesforce</h3>
Salesforce provides enterprise cloud computing solutions. The company offers customer relationship management technology that brings companies and customers together. Its Customer 360 platform helps the group to deliver a single source of truth, connecting customer data across systems, apps, and devices to help companies sell, service, market, and conduct commerce. It also offers Service Cloud for customer support, Marketing Cloud for digital marketing campaigns, Commerce Cloud as an e-commerce engine, the Salesforce Platform, which allows enterprises to build applications, and other solutions, such as MuleSoft for data integration.
In light of the recent options history for Salesforce, it's now appropriate to focus on the company itself. We aim to explore its current performance.
<h3>Current Position of Salesforce</h3>
<ul>
<li>With a volume of 1,491,455, the price of CRM is down -0.05% at $336.07. </li>
<li>RSI indicators hint that the underlying stock is currently neutral between overbought and oversold.</li>
<li>Next earnings are expected to be released in 68 days.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Professional Analyst Ratings for Salesforce</h3>
5 market experts have recently issued ratings for this stock, with a consensus target price of $422.0.
Unusual Options Activity Detected: Smart Money on the Move
Benzinga Edge's Unusual Options board spots potential market movers before they happen. See what positions big money is taking on your favorite stocks. <a href="https://www.benzinga.com/premium/ideas/benzinga-edge-checkout/?t=Be8be9arja3be22bz20&amp;utm_source=benzinga-insights">Click here for access</a>. 
&#x2A; Consistent in their evaluation, an analyst from Piper Sandler keeps a Overweight rating on Salesforce with a target price of $405. 
&#x2A; In a cautious move, an analyst from JMP Securities downgraded its rating to Market Outperform, setting a price target of $450. 
&#x2A; An analyst from RBC Capital persists with their Outperform rating on Salesforce, maintaining a target price of $420. 
&#x2A; An analyst from Piper Sandler has decided to maintain their Overweight rating on Salesforce, which currently sits at a price target of $405. 
&#x2A; Maintaining their stance, an analyst from Baird continues to hold a Outperform rating for Salesforce, targeting a price of $430. 
Options trading presents higher risks and potential rewards. Astute traders manage these risks by continually educating themselves, adapting their strategies, monitoring multiple indicators, and keeping a close eye on market movements. Stay informed about the latest Salesforce options trades with real-time alerts from <a href="https://benzinga.grsm.io/register174">Benzinga Pro</a>.

Smart Money Is Betting Big In CRM Options

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MAWSON INFRSTRUCTURE GRP by Mawson Infrastructure Group Inc.

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Shares of stocks in the broader software sector are trading lower amid overall market weakness following the Fed's rate decision to cut rates by 25 basis points.

Wall Street analysts rerated Salesforce, Inc (NYSE:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/CRM#NYSE">CRM</a>) after it announced that a second generation&nbsp;of its Agentforce technology, capable of tackling questions in Salesforce&#8217;s Slack communications app, will be&nbsp;available in February 2025. The company also announced plans to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.benzinga.com/media/24/12/42550951/salesforce-doubles-ai-hiring-goal-to-add-2k-sales-roles" rel="noreferrer noopener">hire 2,000 artificial intelligence-focused salespeople.</a>
Needham analyst Scott Berg maintained Salesforce with a Buy and a $375 price target. BofA Securities analyst Brad Sills reiterated a Buy on Salesforce with a price target of $440.
Goldman Sachs analyst Kash Rangan maintained a Buy rating on Salesforce with a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.benzinga.com/quote/CRM/analyst-ratings" rel="noreferrer noopener">price target of $400.</a>
Truist analyst Terry Tillman reiterated a Buy rating on Salesforce with a price target of $400. Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives maintained Salesforce with an Outperform and a $425 price target.
Also Read: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.benzinga.com/media/24/12/42535990/mccormick-eyes-1-billion-deal-to-acquire-dukes-mayonnaise-maker" rel="noreferrer noopener">McCormick Eyes $1 Billion Deal To Acquire Duke&#8217;s Mayonnaise Maker</a>
Needham: Berg virtually attended Salesforce&#8217;s Agentforce 2.0 release, coming away optimistic regarding updated Agentforce deal metrics (1000+ deals closed versus 200+ as of third-quarter) along with the expanded capabilities of the new platform.
Compared to version 1.0, which focuses on Sales and Service-oriented support, 2.0 looks to help internal processes and enterprise information gathering by leveraging Slack as the central Agent &#8220;hub&#8221; to pull information together across enterprise platforms.
Agentforce 2.0 highlights the Halo effect with Mulesoft and Data Cloud even more than Gen 1. Enhancements to the Atlas Reasoning Engine will further expand usage into more complex use cases. With an estimated TAM expansion of over $740 billion through AI spending, Agentforce seems poised to drive incremental top-line growth, which Berg noted as more tilted toward fiscal 2027. Berg projected fourth-quarter revenue of $10.04 billion and adjusted EPS of $2.60.
BofA Securities: Sills attended Salesforce&#8217;s Agentforce 2.0 launch virtually on Tuesday. The analyst is encouraged by the platform&#8217;s progress, which is now embedded into sales, marketing, Slack, and others. Also, the company is expanding the scope of Agentforce to integrate data for workflow across key third-party applications.
Finally, Agentforce 2.0 bolsters the AI platform with enhanced reasoning via the Atlas engine. Sills remains bullish on the agent opportunity for Salesforce in fiscal 2026 and the longer term. The analyst estimates Agentforce could provide incremental 1%-2% points of revenue growth in fiscal 2026 and 2027 each. The stock remains his top pick.
Goldman Sachs: Rangan rerated on the back of Salesforce&#8217;s Agentforce 2.0 event, which continues to amplify the company&#8217;s technical leadership. The analyst returned incrementally positive on Salesforce&#8217;s execution of its Gen-AI product roadmap with the development of enhanced capabilities within months of Agentforce&#8217;s release in September and delivery of quick-to-value productivity benefits.
With Agentforce 2.0 seamlessly connecting workflows with a knowledge graph across the entire product suite, Rangan noted Salesforce further solidifying its value proposition beyond a traditional tool. With over 1,000 Agentforce deals closed and thousands more in the pipeline, Rangan highlighted early proof points supporting Salesforce&#8217;s product-market fit and long-term growth durability. These deals indicate that Salesforce is well-positioned to capture a share in the growing digital labor market as the proliferation of Gen-AI augments human capacity.
While this might take time to drive meaningful revenue contribution, Rangan noted near-term tailwinds stemming from macro improvement, IT budget unlock as AI spending moves into the application layer, Data Cloud&#8217;s added contribution as it approaches ~$1 billion, and cyclical improvements in Marketing and Commerce Cloud.
Truist: Tillman virtually attended Salesforce&#8217;s Agentforce 2.0 unveiling event. Along with several product roadmap updates, the company has disclosed closing 1,000 paid Agentforce deals. Recall that Salesforce signed 200 Agentforce deals in the third quarter of 2025, which Tillman noted was approximately quadruple the company&#8217;s initial expectations.
Other highlights included notable internal efficiency stats with Agentforce, currently available Agent skills updates, and a fulsome roadmap, including several critical upcoming updates to Salesforce&#8217;s Atlas Reasoning Engine. Tillman noted that the company maintains an improved pace of innovation with Agentforce capabilities and anticipates major releases through the calendar of 2025, including Agentforce 3.0 in May.
Tillman noted that the premium on revenue versus peers is well justified given that the company offers an attractive balance of growth at scale and expanding profitability and cash flow, all with multiple capital allocation avenues setting the stage for consistent long-term shareholder returns. Also, the potential for growth acceleration while continuing to expand margins bodes well for potential upside and higher valuation implications
Wedbush: The company&#8217;s agents are built to handle routine use cases so humans can focus on handling difficult situations with significantly higher resolution on sales and services issues, with ~5k conversations being passed to humans out of ~32k conversations per week.
With the AI Revolution entering the software phase heading into 2025, Salesforce is well positioned to capture its fair share of market expansion as the AI monetization phase will catalyze Salesforce&#8217;s development over the next 12 to 18 months with a $7 trillion digital labor market opportunity on the horizon for Salesforce. 
Ives noted Salesforce is a clear second derivative beneficiary of the AI Revolution that could add ~$80 per share to the Salesforce story as this monetization story takes shape over the next 12 to 18 months with CEO Marc Benioff leading the charge and this new era of AI growth. Ives projected fourth-quarter revenue of $10.01 billion and adjusted EPS of $2.60.
Price Action: CRM stock traded higher by 0.23% to $351.77 at the last check on Wednesday.
Also Read:
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<li><a href="https://www.benzinga.com/government/regulations/24/12/42530171/walmart-teams-up-with-chinas-meituan-to-boost-e-commerce" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Walmart Teams Up With China&#8217;s Meituan to Boost E-Commerce</a></li>
</ul>
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Wall Street Analysts Are Bullish On Salesforce's AI Vision - Here's Why

Macquarie analyst Steve Koenig maintains Salesforce (NYSE:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/CRM#NYSE">CRM</a>) with a Neutral and maintains $370 price target.

Macquarie Maintains Neutral on Salesforce, Maintains $370 Price Target

Cloud-based private company Databricks isn't in a <a href="https://www.benzinga.com/general/politics/24/03/37896102/nancy-pelosi-cathie-wood-nvidia-now-share-investments-in-this-pre-ipo-high-growth-artificial-int">rush to go public</a>.
What Happened: While the San Francisco-based company is experiencing growth and was recently valued at $62 billion, 2024 wasn&#8217;t the year to file an initial public offering, Databricks CEO and co-founder Ali Ghodsi said at the recent <a href="https://www.axios.com/2024/12/10/watch-axios-event-ai-sf-summit-2024">Axios </a>AI Summit.
"This year was an election year. We wanted to get some stability — people are worried about interest rates, inflation,&#8221; he said, as reported by <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2024/12/17/its-dumb-to-ipo-this-year-databricks-ceo-explains-why-hes-waiting-to-go-public/">TechCrunch</a>. &#8220;So we said &#8216;Look, it's dumb to IPO this year,&#8217; so we're definitely going to wait.&#8221;
Ghodsi said the recent Series J round allowed some early employees the ability to cash out. The funding round, which was large at $10 billion, could have been larger based on demand, according to Ghodsi.
"I saw this Excel sheet where they kept a tally of all the people that want to invest. It was $19 billion of interest, and I almost fell off the chair,&#8221; he said. 
The original goal was to raise $3 billion to $4 billion, before the company pushed the funding amount higher.
While Databricks didn't choose the IPO route in 2024, the company could be one of many to go public next year.
"The earliest theoretical possibility of an IPO would be next year,&#8221; Ghodsi said, noting that the IPO could also push out to 2026 instead. It's less important to go public now than in past years, he explained.
Ghodsi also recognizes that high interest in artificial intelligence companies and ballooning valuations could signal a potential bubble for the sector.
"I mean, it's peak AI bubble. It doesn't take a genius to know that a company with five people which has no product, no innovation, no IP — just recent grads — (is not) worth hundreds of millions, sometimes billions."
Billion-dollar valuations on AI startups that have no product signal a bubble, Ghodsi added.
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Why It's Important: A potential IPO of Databricks could come with high investor interest thanks to its high growth and <a href="https://www.benzinga.com/news/24/06/39305440/ai-startup-which-counts-nancy-pelosi-cathie-wood-and-nvidia-among-its-investors-forecasts-2-4b-annua">popular backers</a>, including Nvidia Corporation (NASDAQ:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/NVDA#NASDAQ">NVDA</a>), U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Cathie Wood.
Pelosi and her venture capitalist husband Paul Pelosi took a $1 million to $5 million stake in the company according to a filing from the former Speaker earlier this year.
Pelosi represents District 11 of California in the U.S. House of Representatives. The region includes San Francisco, where Databricks is based.
Wood and Ark Invest own a stake in the company through the Ark Venture Fund (ARKVX), which <a href="https://www.benzinga.com/markets/cryptocurrency/22/02/25420755/ark-funds-launching-new-fund-that-could-invest-in-private-companies" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">launched in 2022</a>&nbsp;and gives investors access to private companies. Databricks is the tenth largest <a href="https://www.ark-funds.com/funds/arkvx#hold">holding </a>in the fund as of Nov. 30, representing 3.6% of assets.
Nvidia has been an investor and partner in the company for several years. Companies that have gone public via SPAC merger or IPO, and later disclose Nvidia as an investor, have <a href="https://www.benzinga.com/news/24/07/39860370/serve-robotics-stock-rises-after-nvidia-discloses-10-stake">seen shares rise</a> with increased investor interest.
Databricks&nbsp;<a href="https://www.databricks.com/company/newsroom/press-releases/databricks-raises-series-i-investment-43b-valuation#:~:text=San%20Francisco%2C%20CA%20%E2%80%94%20September%2014,price%20per%20share%20at%20%2473.50." target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">raised&nbsp;</a>$500 million in funding in September 2023 with the company valued at $43 billion.&nbsp;T. Rowe Price Group Inc&nbsp;(NASDAQ:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/TROW#NASDAQ">TROW</a>) led the investment round.
Other investors in the <a href="https://www.benzinga.com/startups/23/10/35065151/databricks-valuation-skyrockets-to-43-billion-techs-new-powerhouse-backed-by-nvidia-and-capital-one">September funding round</a> included&nbsp;Andreessen Horowitz, Baillie Gifford, ClearBridge Investments, Fidelity Management, Franklin Templeton, Counterpoint Global, Ontario Teachers&#8217; Pension Plan&nbsp;and&nbsp;Capital One Financial Corp&nbsp;(NYSE:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/COF#NYSE">COF</a>).
Databricks competes with Snowflake Inc (NYSE:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/SNOW#NYSE">SNOW</a>), which went public at $120 per share in 2020. The company saw shares open at $245 due to huge demand. Snowflake stock is down 11% year-to-date.
Ghodsi hinted that Databricks is focusing on its rivalry with Snowflake to gain new business.
"We had a program called ‘SnowMelt.' We were going after Snowflake and we demonized them, but that's behind us," Ghodsi said at the Axios event. Databricks is also working on competing with larger companies like Salesforce (NYSE:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/CRM#NYSE">CRM</a>) and Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/MSFT#NASDAQ">MSFT</a>) according to the report.
Data and AI will be more important in people's lives going forward and Databricks is well-positioned to take advantage of this trend, Ghodsi predicts.
The company expects to hit positive free cash flow for the first time and have a $3 billion revenue run rate for the fiscal year ending Jan. 31.
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Image: Shutterstock

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