Salesforce Shares Rally on Ambitious $60B Forecast Amid AI Growth Push

Salesforce (CRM) surged nearly 6.5% in pre-market trading after unveiling a bullish fiscal 2030 revenue target exceeding $60 billion, defying analyst skepticism labeling the goal as 'aspirational.' The rebound follows a 29% year-to-date slump driven by fears of AI-native competitors eroding its CRM dominance.

CEO Marc Benioff's bet on AI platform Agentforce as a growth catalyst temporarily overshadowed concerns about execution risks in the hypercompetitive AI landscape. The stock's 5.8% climb to $250.40 reflects fragile optimism—a stark contrast to its underperformance relative to cloud peers throughout 2024.

Wall Street remains divided. While the long-term guidance edges above consensus estimates of $59.66B, questions linger about Salesforce's ability to monetize AI tools against specialists like OpenAI and Anthropic. 'This isn't 2015 when they could outspend rivals in cloud,' notes Bernstein analyst Mark Moerdler. 'AI wars demand technical differentiation.'