Salesforce Shares Plunge to New Lows Amid Strategic Shift

The investment case for Salesforce, once a celebrated leader in the cloud software sector, is facing its most severe test in recent memory. The company’s stock has plummeted to a fresh 52-week low, triggering a significant sell-off among investors. This downturn arrives at a particularly inopportune moment, coinciding with the completion of a multi-billion dollar acquisition intended to bolster its artificial intelligence capabilities. Market participants are now questioning whether the purchase of Informatica can reverse the company’s fortunes or if the former high-flier is descending into a prolonged period of instability.

Growth Concerns Overshadow Major Acquisition

At the heart of the market’s pessimism is a dramatic slowdown in Salesforce’s revenue expansion. The company’s growth trajectory has decelerated sharply, falling from historically strong double-digit percentages to a mere 8.7% increase in the first half of fiscal year 2026. For a firm long viewed as a reliable growth engine, this decline has served as a major alarm bell for the investment community.

Despite this challenging backdrop, Salesforce has executed a significant strategic move by finalizing the acquisition of data management specialist Informatica for approximately $8.3 billion in cash. The company’s leadership is betting that Informatica’s comprehensive data governance and integration tools will provide a superior foundation for its AI applications, potentially allowing it to regain ground in the intensely competitive artificial intelligence race. However, this strategic rationale has so far failed to impress a skeptical market.

Technical and Price Performance Breakdown

The stock’s price action tells a grim story. Shares recently touched a new 52-week low of €197.50, cementing a devastating downtrend. Over the past twelve months, the equity has shed more than 36% of its value, with losses nearing 39% since the start of the calendar year. This decline is especially stark when contrasted with the broader market’s general upward movement; Salesforce’s weakness has been pronounced enough to exert a measurable drag on the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

Should investors sell immediately? Or is it worth buying Salesforce?

The technical picture appears equally damaged. The share price now trades more than 43% below its all-time peak of €350, which was recorded as recently as December 2024. From a chart perspective, the stock is technically broken, having decisively breached all key moving average support levels. Elevated trading volumes in recent sessions confirm that investors are liquidating their positions with conviction.

All Eyes on the December Earnings Report

The Wall Street analyst community presents a divided front. Bank of America recently reduced its price target to $305, while maintaining a positive rating on the shares. Cantor Fitzgerald has expressed a more optimistic outlook, assigning a $325 price target. Both projections sit substantially above the current trading level, creating a significant discrepancy between analyst expectations and market sentiment.

The upcoming earnings report on December 3, 2025, for the third quarter is widely seen as a critical juncture. Investors will scrutinize the results for clear signals: Is the AI initiative beginning to deliver tangible results? Is the revenue growth rate showing signs of stabilization? Or will the company deliver another disappointing performance that further erodes confidence?

Amid the turmoil, the company’s underlying financial health shows some resilience. A gross margin of 77.65% remains robust, and a Piotroski Score of 9 indicates a fundamentally strong financial structure. Nevertheless, the stock market is a forward-looking mechanism, and the current narrative being priced in is overwhelmingly negative. The December report will be pivotal in determining whether that narrative can be changed.