Salesforce Inc (NYSE:CRM, ETR:FOO) shares jumped more than 9% on Wednesday morning after delivering a solid third quarter earnings report that suggests the company is leading the way in the agentic AI cycle with Agentforce, according to Bank of America analysts who raised their price target on the stock post-earnings.
Management commentary suggests meaningful customer interest in Agentforce, which allows users to build and customize AI agents, since its release in October, analysts noted.
“Agentforce was included in 200 deals at the end of the quarter, only one week since generally available, underscoring healthy early interest,” they wrote.
“Commentary suggests meaningful pipeline builds for Agentforce for both Service and Sales. The release of Agentforce for sales in 2025 is likely to provide a catalyst for deal closure in the coming quarters.”
They noted management’s commentary suggests Salesforce’s Q4 guidance of current remaining performance obligation (cRPO) growth of 9% does not include any contribution for Agentforce, meaning an early Agentforce deal closure could be a source of upside.
The bank’s analysts also highlighted that Salesforce’s margin results suggest the company continues to operate under a balanced growth philosophy.
“Margin results suggest that Salesforce continues to operate under a balanced growth philosophy. Operating margin of 33.1% exceeded our estimate by 120 basis points with leverage from topline upside and operational efficiencies via ongoing efforts to streamline sales operations,” they wrote.
“Salesforce is deploying Agentforce internally to drive efficiency in service case deflection. This is likely a contributing factor to margin expansion in the midst of renewed sales hiring (1,400 representatives for Agentforce).”
The analysts repeated their ‘Buy’ rating on Salesforce and raised their price objective to $440 to reflect an acceleration in its core business from agents and multi-cloud strength and continued margin expansion.
Shares of Salesforce traded up 9.2% at about $361.50 late morning on Wednesday.