Analyst Ratings January 23, 2026

KeyBanc Maintains Overweight Rating on Salesforce Amid Life Sciences Cloud Expansion

Salesforce positioned for growth with $400 price target, boosted by competitive dynamics and strategic platform enhancements

By Caleb Monroe CRM
KeyBanc Maintains Overweight Rating on Salesforce Amid Life Sciences Cloud Expansion
CRM

KeyBanc Capital Markets has reaffirmed its Overweight rating on Salesforce.com with a price target of $400, pointing to the company's expanding opportunities in the Life Sciences Cloud market. Despite trading near its yearly lows, Salesforce's prospects remain promising as it intensifies its competition with Veeva and progressively incorporates AI-driven tools, while notable customer wins like Novartis underscore its sector traction.

Key Points

  • KeyBanc reiterates Overweight rating on Salesforce with a $400 price target, highlighting substantial upside potential from current prices.
  • Competitive pressures between Salesforce and Veeva have increased, particularly in the Life Sciences Cloud segment, seen as a growth avenue for Salesforce.
  • Salesforce advances its AI integration with the rollout of a new Slackbot and secures significant client adoption with Novartis's selection of Agentforce platform.

KeyBanc Capital Markets has upheld an Overweight rating on Salesforce.com (NYSE:CRM), setting a price target of $400 per share. This projection suggests a robust potential upside relative to Salesforce's latest trading price, which hovers near $228.09 and close to the stock's 52-week low of $218.96. Contrasting this, the 52-week peak stands at $367.09, highlighting the volatility seen in the past year.

The firm highlights the growing competition within the Life Sciences Cloud space, where Salesforce and Veeva Systems have intensified rivalry following the discontinuation of their earlier partnership. KeyBanc sees this area as a particularly compelling opportunity for Salesforce, supporting a broader analyst sentiment that remains optimistic about CRM's future. Analysts currently assign an average rating of 1.64 to Salesforce, indicating a consensus leaning toward strong buy recommendations.

While the Life Sciences Cloud segment may not represent the primary engine of Salesforce's growth, KeyBanc identifies it as a meaningful contributor within a portfolio of growth drivers supporting the company’s projected acceleration.

The analysis further details recent competitive outcomes in the Life Sciences sector, comparing Salesforce's and Veeva's strengths and weaknesses in relation to platform capabilities and market share gains. This competitive evaluation serves as an important framework for investors considering Salesforce’s positioning in this evolving landscape.

Beyond the Life Sciences focus, Salesforce recently introduced a redesigned, AI-powered Slackbot, now generally available and incorporated into Slack for Business+ and Enterprise+ tiers. The rollout unfurls in phases continuing through February, signaling ongoing innovation in Salesforce’s AI integration efforts.

In a significant customer development, pharmaceutical giant Novartis has chosen Salesforce’s Agentforce Life Sciences platform to enhance engagement with customers across multiple departments globally. The implementation is slated to expand over the next five years, underscoring Salesforce’s foothold in the healthcare vertical.

Additional analyst updates reinforce positive market perceptions. Wolfe Research reaffirmed its Outperform rating on Salesforce, citing momentum in the company’s AI initiatives, notably its Agentforce platform. Cantor Fitzgerald sustained an Overweight rating, emphasizing Salesforce's strategic goal to reach $60 billion in revenue by fiscal 2030. Goldman Sachs recently commenced coverage with a Buy rating, focusing on the growth potential spearheaded by Agentforce.

Collectively, these developments portray Salesforce’s commitment to expanding its market presence through innovation and strategic customer engagements, supported by a broad wave of analyst confidence in its long-term growth trajectory.

Risks

  • Intensified competition with Veeva in the Life Sciences Cloud market could impact Salesforce's market share and growth prospects.
  • Stock currently trades near 52-week lows, indicating potential market uncertainty or downward pressure in the near term.
  • Execution risks related to broad AI product rollouts and multi-year customer implementations, such as with Novartis, could affect growth forecasts.

More from Analyst Ratings

Disney Shares Slip as Analysts Question Whether Parks Overshadow Content Strategy Feb 2, 2026 Stifel trims Eagle Materials price target to $232 as housing softness weighs on wallboard results Feb 2, 2026 UBS Sticks With Buy on McDonald’s Ahead of Q4 Results, Flags 2026 Upside Feb 2, 2026 Truist Raises Caterpillar Target to $786 After Record Backlog, Analysts Follow Suit Feb 2, 2026 UBS Sticks With Buy on Yum! Brands Ahead of Q4 Results, Flags Marketing Impact at Pizza Hut Feb 2, 2026