Why Salesforce (CRM) Shares Are Plunging Today

What Happened?

Shares of CRM software giant Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) fell 7.2% in the afternoon session after negative sentiment spread across the software sector as peers including Microsoft (MSFT), SAP (SAP), and ServiceNow (NOW) provided mixed updates. 

The risk-off tone for the industry came after Microsoft showed a slowdown in its Personal Computing business, and SAP reported a mixed quarter. These results sparked concerns among investors about cloud demand, the pace of new deals, and the timeline for companies to see returns from artificial intelligence products. As a large enterprise software company, Salesforce's stock was dragged down by the broader worries regarding corporate IT budgets.

The stock market overreacts to news, and big price drops can present good opportunities to buy high-quality stocks. Is now the time to buy Salesforce? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.

What Is The Market Telling Us

Salesforce’s shares are not very volatile and have only had 7 moves greater than 5% over the last year. In that context, today’s move indicates the market considers this news meaningful, although it might not be something that would fundamentally change its perception of the business.

The previous big move we wrote about was 16 days ago when the stock dropped 6.3% on the news that a wave of competitive anxiety hit the enterprise software sector sparked by a high-profile downgrade of Adobe, triggering a broader sell-off in high-valuation cloud stocks. A major analyst at Oppenheimer downgraded the stock, warning that Adobe's AI tools aren't boosting sales as quickly as everyone hoped. Also, Snowflake took a direct hit after Barclays downgraded it to "Hold," citing intense pressure from heavyweights like Amazon and Oracle, who aggressively bundled their own AI data tools. Simultaneously, DocuSign and Asana struggled against the narrative that their core markets were becoming commoditized.

Salesforce is down 16.5% since the beginning of the year, and at $211.70 per share, it is trading 40.2% below its 52-week high of $354 from January 2025. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of Salesforce’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $938.54.

Do you want to know what moves the business you care about? Add them to your StockStory watchlist and every time a stock significantly moves, we provide you with a timely explanation straight to your inbox. It’s free and will only take you a second.