Salesforce stock advances for third straight session on Thursday

• Salesforce stock surges 4% intraday, its third straight session of gains.
• US Durable Goods Orders exploded higher, but it was entirely due to Transportation, tariff front-running.
• US stocks remain bullish on hints of lower China tariffs.
• Bank of America Securities is bullish on CRM benefiting from risk-on sentiment.

Salesforce (CRM) stock surged toward its third-straight advance on Thursday as the US stock market continued on this week's optimistic track following hints that the White House is considering lower tariff rates on China. CRM stock rose more than 4% in the early going, following gains of circa 3% on Tuesday and Wednesday.

US Durable Goods Orders for March printed at 9.2% MoM on Thursday, more than 4 standard deviations above the 2% consensus and February's revised 0.9% figure. The large upward surprise was due to transportation goods front-running the Trump administration's tariffs, particularly sales of aircraft. However, excluding Transportation left the MoM figure flat, which was below the consensus for 0.2% growth.

The market ignored negative outlooks from Chipotle (CMG) and Pepsi (PEP), which both said consumers were tightening their pocketbooks. Additionally, the Existing Home Sales Change dropped 5.9% MoM in March, worse than the expected 3% decline.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA), which includes Salesforce as a constituent, rose 0.6% mid-morning, while the NASDAQ climbed 1.6% on tech enthusiasm.

Salesforce stock news

US stocks continue to favor an upswing based on reports on Tuesday and Wednesday that the White House is mulling reducing the tariff rate on Chinese goods. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told an audience earlier in the week that the current 145% tariff was unsustainable, but US President Donald Trump countered that it wouldn't be a unilateral move.

A Chinese official said the two nations had not yet entered into negotiations and suggested that the US should lower its rate if it were serious about changing the current trade relationship. Earlier reports suggested that Trump was waiting for China to come to the table.

“At present there are absolutely no negotiations on the economy and trade between China and the US,” said a Chinese commerce ministry spokesperson on Thursday.

Separately, Bank of America Securities has taken a liking to Salesforce, earlier this week calling it a beneficiary of any risk-on market dynamic. Due to widespread concern that Trump's tariff policy would cause a recession, the bank's analysts said they were sticking to stocks with high free cash flow and subscription-based revenue models. Salesforce fits both of these criteria.

The analysts are also bullish on the consumer relationship management software maker's Agentforce product, introduced last fall. Agentforce allows corporate clients to build their own customer service AI bots.

"[I]t appears that $0.50 to $1 per conversation is deemed a reasonable price, based on use cases today (consistent with our model assumptions for $0.50 to $0.60)," wrote analysts Brad Sills and Carly Liu on Monday. "Key use cases evolving for Service Cloud include shipment tracking, product information retrieval and renewal sales automation."

Bank of America Securities maintained its $350 price target on CRM stock this week and its linked Buy rating.

Salesforce stock forecast

Salesforce stock has moved swiftly from a long-term demand zone that roughly translates to $225 to $242. This range has acted as both resistance and support since May 2023. Monday's sell-off halted at $232.77.

Bulls will likely hold out for the confluence of several factors in the range surrounding $285. The $285 level acted as support in October 2024. The 50-day Simple Moving Average (SMA) sits just below $280, while the 200-day SMA moves above $292.

Overall, CRM stock remains in a clear downtrend, but the sudden surge in its share price this week means this momentum could carry it another $25-$30 or so higher.

CRM daily stock chart