Jim Cramer Says 'Real Deal Acceleration' As Salesforce's Benioff Flaunts 'Unstoppable' Growth — But Here's Why This Analyst Prefers To Stay On Sidelines

Salesforce, Inc. CRM shares jumped over 4% in after-hours trading on Wednesday after the customer relationship management platform provider reported a beat-and-raise quarter. CNBC Mad Money host Jim Cramer and Piper Sandler analyst Brent Bracelin weighed in on the quarterly performance and outlook.

Unstoppable Growth: As Chairman and CEO Marc Benioff flaunted the company’s accomplishment over the years, Cramer seemed to agree with him. Calling the company’s growth “unstoppable,” Benioff noted that revenue skyrocketed from $4.1 billion in fiscal year 2014 to $38 billion in 2025. “The future is bright,” he said, as he noted that margins are due to nearly double from 16.8% in 2020 to 32.8% in 2025.

Replying to Benioff’s post on X, the stock picker said, “Real deal acceleration.”

Real deal acceleration https://t.co/PmDh6u8wN0

— Jim Cramer (@jimcramer) August 29, 2024

Benioff said in the post the real game changer for Salesforce would be “AgentForce,” the company’s low-code/no-code platform for building autonomous AI agents which can not only offer advice but can also execute tasks.

“Powered by cutting-edge AI, Agentforce is transforming how we drive efficiency, growth, and unparalleled customer success,” he said, adding “This is just the beginning of a new era in sales and engagement.”

See Also: How To Buy Salesforce (CRM) Stock

Piper Sandler Raises Price Target But Remains Cautious: Following the quarterly results, Piper Sandler analyst Bracelin maintained a Neutral rating but raised the price target for the stock from $250 to $268, suggesting roughly 3.5% upside from current levels. The analyst attributed the upward price target revision to Salesforce’s better-than-feared results, which showed 9% forex-neutral growth, and an 11% cRPO (current remaining performance obligation) rebound. cRPO refers to the total future performance obligations arising from contractual relationships

Margin expanded from 32.1% in the first quarter to 33.7% in the second quarter, the analyst said.

On the flip side, the analyst said the second-half growth of 8% would mean there would be a further moderation in growth, impacted by two years of measured spending with several industry constraints flagged in the largest Americas region.

“Macro uncertainty, the CFO departure planned for fiscal year-end, and the pending multi-year model transition from applications to agents keep us on the sidelines,” Piper Sandler said. “Until we see further signs of demand stabilization after three years of moderating top-line growth, we maintain our Neutral rating,” it added.

In after-hours trading, Salesforce shares rose 4.09% to $269.50 after ending the regular session down 2.01% at $258.90, according to Benzinga Pro data.

Read Next:

• Stock Of The Day: Salesforce At This Level Will Inspire Trade Moves

Photo via Shutterstock