Is Salesforce, Inc. (CRM) the Best Dow Stock?

We recently published a list of The Best and Worst Dow Stocks. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) stands against other best and worst Dow stocks.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average is a benchmark index of the top 30 companies in the US. It represents the strength of the US economy and carries great historical significance as well.

It also acts as a reference point for analysts and investors. However, not all stocks within this elite group of companies perform equally. While some thrive on innovation and economic boom, others struggle due to various setbacks and economic trends.

We decided to break down the index and find out the best and worst stocks, looking at what was making them perform unexpectedly this year.

Methodology

In order to come up with our ranking of the best and worst Dow stocks, we first assigned a rank to each stock based on the number of hedge funds holding the stock. We then looked at the short interest in each stock and assigned the top rank to the company with the least short interest.

We then combined the two ranks to see which stock was the best on average. The list is in ascending order, with the best stock taking the number one spot.

Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 373.4% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 218 percentage points (see more details here).

A customer service team in an office setting using the company’s Customer 360 platform to communicate with customers.

Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 162

Short Interest as of Apr 30, 2025: 1.33%

Salesforce, Inc. operates as a customer relationship management (CRM) technology provider. It connects customers and companies globally. CRM provides Salesforce Starter, Tableau, Slack, integration and analytics solutions, Agentforce, Industries AI, and Data Cloud.

Investment firm Needham’s analyst Scott Berg maintained its Buy rating on the stock, along with the price target of $400. Analysts presented a bullish outlook by saying that the company’s agent development and improvement are becoming more efficient. Moreover, the investment firm is also impressed by the artificial intelligence agent Agentforce.

Analyst Scott Berg commented:

“The newly released Testing Center and an in-pilot Agent Interaction module will further enhance the AI feedback cycle.”

Bank of America Securities also provided a bullish outlook on the company by reiterating its Buy rating and the target price of $350. In a recession, analysts usually prefer companies like Salesforce due to their enterprise presence, strong free cash flow, and stable business model.

Overall, CRM ranks 9th on our list of best and worst Dow stocks. While we acknowledge the potential of CRM as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter time frame. There is an AI stock that went up since the beginning of 2025, while popular AI stocks lost around 25%. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than CRM but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about this cheapest AI stock.

READ NEXT: 20 Best AI Stocks To Buy Now and 30 Best Stocks to Buy Now According to Billionaires.

Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.