BofA Turns Bullish on Salesforce, Lifts Target to $285

Bank of America upgraded Salesforce (NYSE: CRM) to Buy on Oct. 17, 2026, lifting its price target to $285 from $160. The move reversed an Underperform rating the bank had carried on the maker of customer relationship management software.

BofA's analysts expect businesses to keep paying for established software platforms rather than replace them, and they see Salesforce as a leader in enterprise AI adoption, according to the GuruFocus report on the upgrade. GuruFocus framed the call as part of a broader preference for AI features layered into existing enterprise software over unproven replacements.

At $285, the stock would trade at about 16 times expected 2027 free cash flow, slightly above the peer average of 15 times, the report said. GuruFocus said the premium is justified by anticipated AI-driven growth. Salesforce shares traded at $240.70 when the upgrade was published, putting the company's market value at roughly $198 billion.

GuruFocus's GF Value model, which weighs historical trading multiples and past growth against forward-looking estimates, puts Salesforce's intrinsic value at $351.03. The $240.70 price sits 31.4% below that mark, a gap GuruFocus describes as a substantial margin of safety. The trailing price-to-earnings multiple of 21.94 times also runs far below the five-year median of 65.23 times, which GuruFocus reads as a discount to the stock's own history.

Salesforce, which GuruFocus calls a global leader in CRM software, sells cloud subscriptions across sales, service, marketing and commerce. Its Customer 360 platform combines Sales Cloud and Service Cloud with Tableau analytics and Slack collaboration. The AI push runs through Data Cloud and Agentforce, the company's line of autonomous agents.

The composite GF Score of 92 out of 100 puts Salesforce high on a measure that blends financial strength, profitability, growth, valuation and momentum. Growth and momentum each score 10 out of 10. Financial strength trails at 5 out of 10, and the Altman Z-score of 2.79 falls in a grey area GuruFocus treats as a possible signal of financial stress. Profitability and valuation ranks are strong.

Nineteen premium gurus tracked by GuruFocus hold the stock. Nine added positions and nine trimmed over the latest period, a split GuruFocus reads as a balanced view among top investors.

Insider activity over the past year went the other way.

Purchases totaled $27.5 million and sales came to $40.1 million, about $12.6 million of net selling. GuruFocus characterized the insider selling as profit-taking alongside institutional confidence.

AlphaScala's rating system gives CRM an Alpha Score of 48 out of 100, labeled Mixed. The stock's full profile is on its stock page.

BofA's prior $160 target sat alongside the Underperform rating; the new target is roughly 78% higher.