Tech Sector Weakness Drags Salesforce Lower

Salesforce Inc. (CRM) shares took a hit on Wednesday, declining 1.35% to $237.81 as technology stocks faced broad selling pressure. With the tech sector down approximately 1.9%, the Nasdaq falling 1.54%, and the S&P 500 dropping 0.81%, Salesforce's move wasn't exactly shocking. Sometimes stocks just move with the herd.

Interestingly, the company did catch some positive attention from analysts this week. Barclays maintained its Overweight rating and bumped its price target from $330 to $338, pointing to the general availability of Slackbot, described as a deeply personal agent for work built directly into Slack. Not bad news, but clearly not enough to overcome the broader market malaise.

The AI Investment Paradox

Here's where things get interesting. Salesforce is down 10% this year while navigating a notable slowdown in sales growth. The company is betting heavily on artificial intelligence through its Agentforce platform and Data 360 product, which consolidates information from across Salesforce and other cloud systems.

Early AI revenue reached $540 million last quarter, which sounds impressive until you zoom out and see the bigger picture. Enterprise customers are tightening their wallets, consolidating vendors, and pushing back against rising SaaS prices. Even Salesforce's core CRM business is feeling the squeeze as its tools increasingly overlap with larger productivity platforms, creating fresh competitive pressure.

Sales Cloud growth tells the story pretty clearly: it slowed to 8.4% year-over-year from 9.5% in the previous quarter, well below the 11.2% growth rate from a year earlier. That's not the trajectory anyone wants to see.

Technical Picture Shows Clear Weakness

The technical indicators aren't doing the stock any favors. Salesforce is trading 8.4% below its 20-day simple moving average and 4.2% under its 100-day, pointing to clear short to medium-term weakness. Over the past year, the stock has slid roughly 25.88%, leaving it much closer to its 52-week lows than its highs.

The RSI sits at 35.35, which keeps it in neutral territory, but the MACD has dipped below its signal line, signaling bearish momentum. Taken together, the indicators paint a picture of mixed momentum, though the overall tone leans negative.

Key levels to watch: resistance at $267.50 and support at $222.00.

What the Scorecard Says

Looking at a market scorecard for Salesforce reveals some interesting contrasts. The momentum score comes in weak at 10.51 out of 100, confirming the stock is underperforming the broader market. The quality score, however, sits strong at 78.62, suggesting the balance sheet remains healthy.

The value score is concerning at just 5.87, indicating the stock is trading at a steep premium relative to peers. Growth lands in neutral territory at 66.88, suggesting moderate growth potential ahead.

The verdict? It's a mixed bag. While the company's financial foundation appears solid, the stock is clearly struggling to gain traction in the current market environment. The combination of slowing core business growth, intensifying competition, and cautious enterprise spending creates a challenging backdrop, even as the company pours resources into its AI ambitions.

CRM Price Action: Salesforce shares were down 1.21% at $238.15 at the time of publication on Wednesday.