Citizens is heading into Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM)’s fiscal second-quarter 2027 print with a bullish view. The firm reiterated a Market Outperform rating on the stock with a $315.00 price target, citing positive industry checks. As per the firm, 50% of checks came positive in Q2 compared to 22% in the first quarter of fiscal 2027.
However, the stock is down more than 19% year-to-date, entering the print as one of the most beaten-down stocks in tech. Against this backdrop, improving channel checks serve as a meaningful positive against a market that has been weighed down over concerns around AI agent economics and cash flow.
Bull Case: Better Checks, Stronger AI Momentum
Salesforce came under the brunt of a massive sector-wide selloff amongst software-as-a-service (SaaS) companies, dubbed the “SaaSpocalypse.” Investors believed that AI would take business away from SaaS enterprises such as Salesforce. However, the stock’s recent results have been challenging the most bearish version of this thesis.
For the fiscal first quarter, the company reported a record revenue of $11.1 billion, up 13% year over year. This strong start led it to raise its full-year revenue forecast to a range of $45.9 billion to $46.2 billion. Its AI metrics also moved well, with annualized revenue from Agentforce reaching $1.2 billion, up 205% year over year. Previously, Agentforce had been struggling and making less than a billion in ARR.
Meanwhile, bookings for Agentforce One edition and Agentforce for Apps grew almost 60% year-over-year. Its CRPO (Current Remaining Performance Obligation), a key forward demand indicator, was $33.6 billion, up approximately 14% nominal and 13% in constant currency.
BTIG analyst Allan Verkhovski also cited some positives ahead of the print, including signs of renewed customer interest in core Sales Cloud deployments, and CRM closing a large deal with a utilities company that moved to an unlimited credit license.
Citizens channel checks therefore arrive at a crucial time, with the bull case easier to defend if they manage to translate into better bookings and guidance.
Bear Case: Headline Growth Rate May Be Misleading
The stock is entering its Q2 print with expectations of total revenues between $11.27 billion and $11.35 billion (midpoint at $11.31 billion). While the management is guiding for reported revenue growth of 10% to 11%, just over four percentage points of this is going to come from Informatica. Stripping out this acquisition benefit implies Salesforce hasn’t actually returned to a double-digit growth rate as being implied.
Moreover, Salesforce partners have yet to see any meaningful revenue from Agentforce.
What the Hedge Fund Numbers Are Saying
Hedge fund interest in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) remains robust. According to Insider Monkey’s database, 101 hedge funds held positions in the stock in the first quarter of 2026. The number modestly slipped by two in the second quarter, with hedge funds holding 99 positions in the stock.
Recent filings show institutional interest has been building despite the broader concerns over AI. Harris Associates increased its position by 9% during the second quarter to 16.15 million shares, while Arrowstreet Capital raised its stake by 5% to 13.28 million shares. First Eagle Investment Management increased its position by 20% to about 7.31 million shares.
Overall, Citizens improving checks strengthen the bullish case for Salesforce. However, Wednesday’s earnings need to demonstrate more than another growth headline. If Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) manages to show that Agentforce and Data360 have started to push cRPo and organic growth higher, the path toward $315 looks more credible.
READ NEXT: NVIDIA (NVDA): What Foxconn and Super Micro Are Telling Us about the AI Boom and Pony AI Is Scaling Robotaxis Fast—Can the Stock Reach BofA’s $17 Target?
Disclosure: None. Follow Insider Monkey on Google News.
