Salesforce reports Q1 FY2027 results today with the analyst community more divided than it has been in months — and a late short rebuild adding a layer of ambiguity to an already contested setup.
The bearish analyst turn is the clearest signal heading into the print. Bank of America reinstated coverage with an Underperform rating and a $160 target just ten days ago — a sharp pivot from its prior Buy stance, and the most aggressive bearish call on the stock from a major firm in recent memory. UBS trimmed its target to $185 from $200 last week while staying Neutral. Citigroup made the same move in mid-May, cutting to $188. Against that, BTIG has held firm at Buy with a $255 target through multiple reiterations. The mean analyst target of $260 sits nearly 47% above the current $177.51 price — a gap that partly reflects the breadth of the bull camp rather than a consensus view of near-term upside.
The bull case rests on Salesforce's dominance across enterprise CRM, the Customer 360 platform, and an AI integration story that remains differentiated. Bears point to intensifying competition from Microsoft and Oracle, pricing complexity that limits mid-market penetration, and an ORTEX stock score that has drifted to a six-month low as momentum has deteriorated — relative strength is negative across 91-, 182-, and 365-day windows. The forward P/E has compressed roughly 2% over 30 days to around 12.9x, suggesting the market is already discounting some of that pressure. The dividend score ranks in the 95th percentile, providing a fundamental floor that bulls will lean on.
Short positioning adds a final wrinkle. As the previous note flagged, shorts rebuilt by 2.2% on May 26 after a week of heavy covering, bringing SI back to 6.74% of the free float — still well below the early-May peak near 9.1%, but the directional story has flipped from retreat to re-entry on the eve of the print. Borrow costs have risen 35% on the week to 0.53%, though that remains historically low. Availability is loose at 581% of estimated short interest, so the lending market is imposing no constraint on either side. Options positioning has moderated from last week's extreme bullishness: the put/call ratio is now at 0.77, nearly two standard deviations below its 20-day mean of 0.81, meaning calls still dominate — but the gap has narrowed notably from the prior session's level, consistent with some participants hedging into the close.
The print is therefore less about whether Salesforce is growing and more about whether AI-driven product momentum — specifically Agentforce — is translating into revenue acceleration fast enough to justify the stock's premium to software peers that have held up better year-to-date, with ADBE, HUBS, and NOW all drawing comparisons in a week where the broader software group has sold off sharply.
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