Salesforce Stock Plunges Amid Fresh Caution and Growth Fears

Salesforce stock has taken a hit amid fresh concerns over leverage and debt-funded buyback. Investors digested the latest news with caution about leverage, causing a decline in the stock's value. Additionally, growth fears have intensified, contributing to the company's stock falling.

CRM shares fell 5.8% to $182.50 on March 24, extending a punishing 2026 decline that has seen the stock drop roughly 26% year-to-date. The selloff was triggered by fresh fears that AI agents could displace core enterprise software functionality, after Anthropic released a new tool enabling its Claude AI to autonomously complete tasks using mouse, keyboard, and applications.

The concerns compound existing skepticism around Salesforce's own AI strategy. Northland Securities cut its price target from $267 to $229 on March 10 with a "market perform" rating, citing questions about the pace of Agentforce platform adoption. Salesforce has positioned Agentforce as its next growth engine, but investors remain unconvinced that the platform can generate meaningful revenue quickly enough to offset the broader risk that autonomous AI agents may reduce enterprise dependence on traditional CRM and SaaS tools.

The broader SaaS sector has been caught in what some analysts are calling the "SaaSpocalypse," with NOW, CRM, and ADBE all down 25-30% year-to-date. While bears argue that AI will fundamentally compress enterprise software margins, bulls counter that the selloff has overshot, noting that Salesforce's installed base and data moat make it a likely beneficiary of, rather than victim to, the AI agent revolution.