Salesforce stock storms 9% higher to new all-time high above $368

Clay Webster FXStreet

Salesforce stock gained some 9% on Wednesday following Q3 earnings late Tuesday.
Salesforce missed adjusted EPS consensus by about 2%.
Q4 adjusted EPS guidance arrived between $2.57 and $2.62, well above the Q3 result.
CRM stock moved lower midway through Wednesday's session as the market took profits off the table.

Salesforce (CRM) stock is the big winner on Wednesday. Despite missing on the bottom line consensus for third-quarter earnings, Salesforce’s new AI agent has excited the market about future growth.

CRM stock exploded 9% higher, hitting a new intraday and all-time high of $368.70. This led the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) to gain 0.5%, returning to resistance near 45,000.

Salesforce stock news

Salesforce missed the adjusted earnings per share (EPS) consensus by $0.04 when it posted earnings of $2.41 late Wednesday for the third quarter. This is about a 2% miss. Revenue of $9.44 billion rose 8% YoY and beat the Wall Street consensus by $90 million.

Operating cash flow of $1.98 billion and free cash flow of $1.78 billion surged 29% and 30% YoY, respectively.

The customer management software provider also initiated fourth-quarter adjusted EPS guidance of between $2.57 and $2.62 on projected revenue of between $9.9 billion and $10.1 billion.

But Agentforce stole the show. The artificial intelligence (AI) product allows companies to build their own AI customer service agents, billed as a means of reducing overall employee headcount and producing cost savings.

CEO Marc Benioff said Agentforce had already signed some 200 corporations as customers in just a week at the end of Q3, however, he made it clear that this figure was just a drop in the bucket. Benioff expects future quarters to see corporate customer gains number in the thousands.

“Companies like FedEx (FDX), Adecco, Accenture (ACN), ACE Hardware, IBM (IBM), RBC Wealth Management and many more are now building their digital labor forces on the Salesforce platform with Agentforce," Benioff said during the earnings call.

Needham raised its price target from $345 to $375, and Wedbush Securities raised its CRM price target from $375 to $425.

Salesforce stock chart

CRM stock is now slightly overbought on the Relative Strength Index (RSI) based on the session's rally, but that doesn't mean the rally is necessarily over. However, plenty of traders appear to be taking profits as the stock has descended below $360 after reaching the all-time high at $368.70.

From a purely technical view, the new all-time high is diverging from the RSI peaks, which are trending lower. This sometimes precedes a reversal, in this case a bearish one.

Short-term support comes at the November 19 pullback near $316, and the 50-day Simple Moving Average (SMA), which is now near $305, serves as medium-term support.

CRM daily stock chart

Author

Clay Webster

FXStreet

Clay Webster grew up in the US outside Buffalo, New York and Lancaster, Pennsylvania. He began investing after college following the 2008 financial crisis.

AUD/USD jumps to 0.7050, fresh one-month top after hot Australian CPI

AUD/USD attracts buyers for the second straight day on Wednesday, rising to a fresh high since September 23 during the Asian session. A hot Australian CPI print reaffirmed bets for an imminent RBA rate hike in November and boosted the Australian Dollar. Meanwhile, the US Dollar pauses after a three-day rally to a near two-week high ahead of the crucial FOMC rate decision, lending additional support to the currency pair.

USD/JPY sticks to modest gains above 157.50 as traders await Fed, BoJ meetings

USD/JPY attracts buyers for the third straight day, recovering further from a one-month low ahead of Wednesday’s FOMC decision and the BoJ policy update on Friday. Meanwhile, expectations that the BoJ may hold off on aggressive rate hikes weigh on the Japanese Yen, and the US Dollar advances to a nearly two-week high, supporting the currency pair.

Gold comes under pressure, still above $4,000 ahead of FOMC

Gold now gives away part of its recent two-day rebound, although a breach below the key $4,000 mark per troy ounce remains elusive for now. Rising crude oil prices keep the precious metal under pressure ahead of the Fed’s interest rate decision later on Wednesday.

Bitcoin Price Forecast: BTC reclaims $81,000 as traders await Fed policy decision, Big Tech earnings

Bitcoin (BTC) reclaimed $81,000 on Wednesday, extending its recovery as investors wait for the Federal Reserve (Fed) monetary policy decision and upcoming Big Tech earnings. Institutional demand showed mild bullish signs, with spot Bitcoin Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) recording a second consecutive day of inflows this week.

Federal Reserve set to hold interest rates steady despite persistent inflation

The US Fed announces its Interest Rate Decision on Wednesday, following another pivotal meeting that could provide key insights into the bank’s monetary policy outlook heading into the end of the year.

Anthropic pledged $270 billion to Amazon, Google, and Microsoft. Here's who actually gets paid

Anthropic owes Amazon, Google, and Microsoft at least $269.4 billion for computing power, even if it uses less. All three sell its models and handle its billing, and Amazon and Google own stakes and lend it money, so they get paid regardless of how the IPO goes. The Dario Amodei-led Anthropic filed its initial public offering (IPO) on Monday, seeking a listing on the Nasdaq under the ticker ANT.