Salesforce is having the kind of year that makes investors question everything they thought they knew about enterprise software. The stock has been obliterated — down over 30% year-to-date — making it the 11th worst performer in the S&P 500 in 2026. And with earnings dropping Wednesday afternoon, the anxiety is only getting louder.
On Monday, three of Wall Street’s heaviest hitters took an axe to their Salesforce price targets. Barclays cut to $265 from $338. Evercore ISI slashed to $260 from $340. Jefferies chopped to $250 from a lofty $375. Mizuho, BMO Capital, Citigroup, and UBS had already trimmed their numbers in the days prior. That’s a Wall Street consensus in full retreat.
But here’s the twist that should make contrarian investors sit up: every single one of those firms maintained their bullish ratings. Barclays kept Overweight. Evercore stayed at Outperform. Jefferies held its Buy. In other words, the same analysts who just slashed their targets by 20-30% are simultaneously telling you the stock could rally 35% to 50% from here. That’s not indecision — that’s a bet that the market has overcorrected.
The fear gripping Salesforce — and the entire SaaS sector — is straightforward: artificial intelligence is coming for enterprise software. The thesis goes that AI agents will eventually replace the dashboards, workflows, and CRM tools that companies like Salesforce sell for billions. Jim Cramer put it bluntly on Monday: “I’m on the wrong side of history with Salesforce.” Reddit sentiment has cratered to 28 out of 100. The vibes are apocalyptic.
But the numbers tell a different story. Salesforce’s Q3 net income surged 36.6% to $2.09 billion. Revenue grew 9% to $10.26 billion — not explosive, but steady for a $180 billion company. The real kicker: Agentforce, Salesforce’s own AI platform, hit nearly $1.4 billion in annual recurring revenue, up 114% year-over-year. The company returned $4.2 billion to shareholders in Q3 alone through buybacks and dividends. At a forward P/E of roughly 14x, this is the cheapest Salesforce has been in over a decade.
Wednesday’s Q4 report is a make-or-break moment. If Agentforce momentum holds and management guides confidently on AI adoption, the narrative could flip overnight. But if growth decelerates further or the AI transition looks slower than hoped, the selloff has more room to run. The entire enterprise software sector is watching this earnings print as a referendum on whether SaaS companies can adapt to the AI era or get eaten by it.
Here’s what makes this setup compelling for traders: maximum fear plus institutional conviction equals opportunity — if the catalyst hits. When every analyst who just cut their target still rates the stock a Buy, it usually means the bad news is priced in and the market is waiting for permission to turn bullish again. Wednesday’s earnings could be that permission slip.