The tech stock market has had a difficult start to 2025, with NVIDIA’s stock dropping by 17% this week, and Tesla and Nasdaq also experiencing declines. The announcement of DeepSeek’s R1 model as the world’s top-performing AI system has sent shockwaves through Silicon Valley, capturing attention and raising the stakes in the AI race.
Despite this, Salesforce remains a topic of positive discussions on Wall Street, with two prominent investors naming it as their top stock pick for 2025.
Investors “Bullish” on Salesforce
Despite this shaky start for the tech market, both Needham and Bank of America Securities are confident that Salesforce will massively outperform its peers this year.
Needham have set a target price of $400 – $49 above their current share price – accrediting this to CEO Marc Benioff’s newfound focus on agents and Agentforce.
According to Needham’s research note, “Our bullish thesis is highly leveraged to [Salesforce’s] ability to execute and monetize its new Agentforce strategy.”
Agentforce has already enjoyed some minor success in its early stages, closing 1000 deals by the end of Q4. Benioff also stated that Salesforce itself was using Agentforce to solve 83% of customer inquiries already.
Bank of America are equally as “bullish”, and are excited to see CRM companies capitalizing on AI and agents.
“The US software sector is not inexpensive after rallying 59% in 2023 and 23% in 2024. However, revenue multiples and growth expectations remain below [five]-year median and pre-COVID levels, indicating that upside from the unfolding agentic AI wave.”
BoA analysts further stated that agentic AI has already showcased “PhD-level intelligence on some tasks and could displace workers as early as 2H25”.
Is Agentforce All Hype?
Expectations are high for Agentforce, and to be backed this openly by well-known investment firms is a huge vote of confidence in a product that Salesforce are heavily relying on. But questions about Agentforce’s true potential still leave many skeptical.
Guggenheim Stock Analyst John Difucci claims Wall Street has got carried away with Salesforce’s stock pricing, and that the company won’t profit on Agentforce unless they acquire other companies that have had previous success in building AI tools.
“We do not believe that [Salesforce] will meaningfully monetize Agentforce unless it acquires several assets that have been doing, over the past decade, what Agentforce aspires to do.
“[The company’s] status as a system of record gives it staying power, but in our view doesn’t give it any advantage in providing AI solutions that require dynamic data with rich context versus the static data that CRM houses.”
Many within the ecosystem also have considerable doubts. Speaking to Salesforce Ben, Pietro Piga, a Salesforce Business Analyst, said: “My prediction is that Agentforce will generate a lot of initial excitement but will burn out quickly for many. 90% of stakeholders – including both customers and consultancies – are unprepared.”
Final Thoughts
Agentforce has sparked widespread debate, with bold predictions emerging from all sides. While opinions differ, one thing is clear: the spotlight is firmly on Salesforce’s latest innovation.
Investor confidence in Salesforce speaks volumes about the company’s vision and leadership. Marc Benioff’s ambitious outlook for Agentforce has certainly captured attention, but the true measure of success will lie in its ability to deliver on these promises – a story that’s still very much unfolding.