Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) and ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW) stocks are both higher this morning, after Guggenheim upgraded the software staples to "buy," from "neutral," arguing that recent weakness has created attractive entry points.
While the firm acknowledged artificial intelligence poses a legitimate competitive threat -- particularly from agentic AI -- it said the market has become overly pessimistic on both companies, with current valuations reflecting an "Armageddon" scenario that is disconnected from reality. Guggenheim established price targets of $228 for Salesforce and $125 for ServiceNow, implying additional upside.
CRM was last seen up 4.8% at $164.17, extending a bounce off a massive 14-day losing streak that culminated in a June 22 three-year low of $146.32. Year to date, the equity is down 38%.
NOW is up 3.6% to trade at $102.86, testing pressure at its 100-day moving average. The stock has struggled to rebound from its April 10 three-year low of $81.24, and is down 33.2% in 2026.
Despite the sharp losses, analyst sentiment is still broadly favorable. Of the 50 analysts covering Salesforce, 34 carry a "buy" or "strong buy" recommendation, while 13 rate the shares a "hold" and two say "strong sell." ServiceNow sports 36 "buy" or "strong buy" ratings, with just four "hold" ratings and one "strong sell."
Options traders have been more optimistic than usual toward both software names. CRM's 50-day call/put volume ratio of 2.78 at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX) ranks higher than 98% of annual readings, while NOW's 50-day ratio of 4.28 sits in the 87th percentile.
