Latest news with #Rangan
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Salesforce (CRM)'s AI Push Won't Show Up Yet – Here's Why Goldman Still Says Buy
We recently published a list of . In this article, we are going to take a look at where Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) stands against other AI stocks that are on analyst's radar today. On May 27, Goldman Sachs analyst Kash Rangan reiterated a 'Buy' rating on Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) with a $340.00 price target. Salesforce is a cloud-based CRM company that has gained popularity after it unveiled its AI-powered platform called Agentforce. Despite its popularity, Rangan believes that Agentforce's revenue contribution isn't likely to be very material heading into earnings. Artificial intelligence is going to be a key topic of conversation, but significant updates on revenue contribution for Salesforce may not be until the Dreamforce event on October 14, 2025. The company is anticipated to report a 7% increase in revenue, a 10% rise in current remaining performance obligations (cRPO), a non-GAAP operating margin (OpM) of 33%, and a non-GAAP earnings per share (EPS) of $2.56. The firm believes that Salesforce will maintain net new revenue levels comparable to fiscal year 2024. A customer service team in an office setting using the company's Customer 360 platform to communicate with customers. Moreover, even though there are certain challenges such as the Department of Justice's oversight, small and medium-sized business execution, and transitions in the CFO/COO roles, stable software spending trends and the company's strategic long-term investments will likely help Salesforce increase its market share. 'We reiterate our Buy rating and $340 price target on Salesforce ahead of F1Q26 earnings (5/28). While artificial intelligence likely remains a focal point, we don't anticipate material updates on Agentforce's revenue contribution until Dreamforce (10/14). In the meantime, we look toward other strength points from Data Cloud and AI (>$900 million annual recurring revenue). Heading into earnings, we expect revenue +7%, current remaining performance obligations +10%, non-GAAP operating margin of 33%, and non-GAAP EPS of $2.56. We feel comfortable with these and for Salesforce to exit FY26 at similar net new revenue levels as FY24, where overhangs from an elevated investment period can be comparable to FY26's perceived risks. We believe current guidance (+7–8% growth) and stock performance year-to-date (−17% vs. Nasdaq flat) has adequately accounted for: 1) Incremental pressure to Public Sector ($5.7 billion ARR in F4Q25) associated with DOGE, 2) Small/Medium Business and Create-and-Close execution, 3) CFO/COO transition. With broader software citing largely stable spending trends, we see Salesforce well-positioned to capture greater wallet share with the maturation of strategic long-term investments, coupled with emerging product momentum that could compound and support revenue re-acceleration. We further note F1Q cRPO growth is typically not a material forward indicator and see limited upside to Street expectations (10% YoY constant currency), whereas F2Q cRPO guidance will likely be a focal point. Despite modest incremental FX tailwind, we don't expect an upward revision to FY26 revenue. We continue to see Salesforce capable of delivering durable growth, 35%+ operating margin, and achieving $17–18 free cash flow per share in FY27, offering a compelling risk/reward at 17x EV/CY26 free cash flow (vs. peers' ~28x).' Overall, CRM ranks 3rd on our list of AI stocks that are on analyst's radar today. 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 have limited downside risk. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than CRM and that has 100x upside potential, 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. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
The Hindu
23-05-2025
- Business
- The Hindu
Liquidity without increase in credit growth can lead to bubbles: SBI Capital report
The Reserve Bank of India's efforts to inject liquidity can only be an enabler and not a prime mover in improving the credit growth of the Indian banking system, according to a report on banking by SBI Capital. 'RBI has kept the liquidity tap flowing with a cumulative OMO of over Rs. 5 trillion in 2025. However, historically, liquidity has boosted deposit more than credit growth. Hence, liquidity can only be an enabler not prime mover of credit, and can lead to bubbles,' the authors of the report found. To be sure, the lag between credit and deposit growth were converging, data in the report found. The credit growth was over 10% in fiscal 2025, and deposit growth dipped to 11% in fiscal 2025, as against 16.3% in the previous fiscal. 'The gap between credit and deposit growth in the Indian banking system has narrowed over the past few quarters. This is partly due to a slight pick-up in deposit growth and also because credit growth has slowed — a result of both demand-side moderation and some supply-side constraints,' said Shrikant Chouhan, Head of Research at Kotak Securities. The increase in liquidity does not have a direct impact on credit said, Anitha Rangan, Economist at Equirus Securities, Economist at Equiris Securities. 'Neither rates nor liquidity can induce credit growth. Okay, credit growth actually comes when there is a demand for credit. Demand for credit comes when there is an underlying growth in the economy,' Ms. Rangan said. The credit growth will not happen when nominal GDP growth is lesser than 10%, Ms. Rangan said, adding that for a meaning full increase in credit growth to take off both public and private capital expenditures to take-off.
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Goldman Sachs Hikes Microsoft (MSFT) Target to $550 on AI Momentum
We recently published a list of . In this article, we are going to take a look at where Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) stands against other AI stocks that are making waves on Wall Street today. The United States recently issued guidance threatening companies not to use advanced computer chips from China, including Huawei's Ascend AI chips. However, China has now urged the country to 'immediately correct its wrongdoings' and stop 'discriminatory' measures against it. A spokesperson for China's Ministry of Commerce has said that the United States has abused its export control measures. He said that the country has imposed stricter restrictions on Chinese chip products based on unfounded allegations, further explaining how the said restrictions contain discriminatory measures and tend to distort the market. The U.S. Commerce Department had issued the guidance last week, with its Bureau of Industry and Security stating that 'these chips were likely developed or produced in violation of U.S. export controls.' 'The U.S. has been abusing export control measures, imposing stricter restrictions on Chinese chip products under unfounded accusations… China firmly opposes this… Trying to trip others won't make oneself run faster.' Opposing the unilateral bullying from the US's end, the Chinese spokesperson said that the restrictions have infringed upon the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese companies. The country has been accused of undermining the preliminary trade agreement reached in Geneva, Switzerland. The spokesperson further urged the country to work with China to jointly safeguard the consensus concluded in the Geneva talks. 'If the United States continues to cause China substantive harm, China will take resolute measures to safeguard its legitimate rights and interests.' For this article, we selected AI stocks by going through news articles, stock analysis, and press releases. These stocks are also popular among hedge funds. The hedge fund data is as of Q4 2024. 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 (). Photo by Microsoft 365 on UnsplashMicrosoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) provides AI-powered cloud, productivity, and business solutions, focusing on efficiency, security, and AI advancements. One of the most notable analyst calls on Tuesday, May 20, was for Microsoft Corporation. Analyst Kash Rangan reiterated his 'Buy' rating on the stock and lifted his price target by $70 to $550. Rangan noted that the four-day Build conference has reinforced his confidence in the company's artificial intelligence investments. 'We believe these investments help position Microsoft at the forefront of developer tool ecosystem (seeing some of the most promising early GenAI adoption) and help establish a robust and interoperable ecosystem for agentic AI. This will not only support consumption of AI compute on Azure, but adoption of Microsoft's platforms and applications, all of which become richer and more dynamic with standardized, interconnected tools.' He further highlighted Microsoft's Model Context Protocol as a 'major evolution' in Microsoft's AI ecosystem. The Protocol enables developers to integrate AI models and external systems. Moreover, Microsoft's GitHub Copilot and Copilot Studio were pointed out as two other impressive parts of the company's rapidly scaling AI business. Two other catalysts are the Azure AI Foundry platform for AI agents and the focus on scaling its Azure cloud regions and data centers. 'We continue to believe that as Gen-AI moves from the Infrastructure layer to the Platform/Application layers, Microsoft is well positioned to capitalize on this shift, wherein a more capital efficient and higher margin recurring revenue model could become a reality, just as it did during the on-prem to cloud transition.' Overall, MSFT ranks 2nd on our list of AI stocks that are making waves on Wall Street today. While we acknowledge the potential of MSFT as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and have limited downside risk. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than MSFT and that has 100x upside potential, 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. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Goldman Sachs Hikes Microsoft (MSFT) Target to $550 on AI Momentum
We recently published a list of . In this article, we are going to take a look at where Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) stands against other AI stocks that are making waves on Wall Street today. The United States recently issued guidance threatening companies not to use advanced computer chips from China, including Huawei's Ascend AI chips. However, China has now urged the country to 'immediately correct its wrongdoings' and stop 'discriminatory' measures against it. A spokesperson for China's Ministry of Commerce has said that the United States has abused its export control measures. He said that the country has imposed stricter restrictions on Chinese chip products based on unfounded allegations, further explaining how the said restrictions contain discriminatory measures and tend to distort the market. The U.S. Commerce Department had issued the guidance last week, with its Bureau of Industry and Security stating that 'these chips were likely developed or produced in violation of U.S. export controls.' 'The U.S. has been abusing export control measures, imposing stricter restrictions on Chinese chip products under unfounded accusations… China firmly opposes this… Trying to trip others won't make oneself run faster.' Opposing the unilateral bullying from the US's end, the Chinese spokesperson said that the restrictions have infringed upon the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese companies. The country has been accused of undermining the preliminary trade agreement reached in Geneva, Switzerland. The spokesperson further urged the country to work with China to jointly safeguard the consensus concluded in the Geneva talks. 'If the United States continues to cause China substantive harm, China will take resolute measures to safeguard its legitimate rights and interests.' For this article, we selected AI stocks by going through news articles, stock analysis, and press releases. These stocks are also popular among hedge funds. The hedge fund data is as of Q4 2024. 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 (). Photo by Microsoft 365 on UnsplashMicrosoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) provides AI-powered cloud, productivity, and business solutions, focusing on efficiency, security, and AI advancements. One of the most notable analyst calls on Tuesday, May 20, was for Microsoft Corporation. Analyst Kash Rangan reiterated his 'Buy' rating on the stock and lifted his price target by $70 to $550. Rangan noted that the four-day Build conference has reinforced his confidence in the company's artificial intelligence investments. 'We believe these investments help position Microsoft at the forefront of developer tool ecosystem (seeing some of the most promising early GenAI adoption) and help establish a robust and interoperable ecosystem for agentic AI. This will not only support consumption of AI compute on Azure, but adoption of Microsoft's platforms and applications, all of which become richer and more dynamic with standardized, interconnected tools.' He further highlighted Microsoft's Model Context Protocol as a 'major evolution' in Microsoft's AI ecosystem. The Protocol enables developers to integrate AI models and external systems. Moreover, Microsoft's GitHub Copilot and Copilot Studio were pointed out as two other impressive parts of the company's rapidly scaling AI business. Two other catalysts are the Azure AI Foundry platform for AI agents and the focus on scaling its Azure cloud regions and data centers. 'We continue to believe that as Gen-AI moves from the Infrastructure layer to the Platform/Application layers, Microsoft is well positioned to capitalize on this shift, wherein a more capital efficient and higher margin recurring revenue model could become a reality, just as it did during the on-prem to cloud transition.' Overall, MSFT ranks 2nd on our list of AI stocks that are making waves on Wall Street today. While we acknowledge the potential of MSFT as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and have limited downside risk. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than MSFT and that has 100x upside potential, 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.
CNBC
20-05-2025
- Business
- CNBC
Analysts are bullish on Snowflake heading into earnings and expect another beat
Analysts on Wall Street think Snowflake is set to deliver another strong quarterly report despite a difficult macroeconomic backdrop. The consensus from analysts at firms ranging from Goldman Sachs to Evercore ISI to Needham is that the cloud-based data storage company's results will largely show that it's been able to shake off macroeconomic concerns tied to President Donald Trump's tariffs, while demand from large-scale data centers and cloud service providers remains robust. Analysts said they will also be listening for updates on Snowflake's artificial intelligence push. "Though no company is immune to the macro, we believe that SNOW's consumption revenue is more durable today vs. the last macro pullback and we believe that our/Street estimates already incorporate a fairly healthy level of conservatism," Evercore ISI analyst Kirk Materne wrote in a note last week. Analysts polled by FactSet estimate Snowflake will report fiscal first-quarter earnings of 21 cents per share on revenue of about $1 billion when results for the three months ended April 30 are released Wednesday. Here's a closer look at what analysts are looking for in Snowflake's latest quarter: Goldman Sachs, buy rating, $205 per share price target Analyst Kash Rangan expects little downside risk for the company's full-year outlook, as Snowflake's management view hasn't materially changed from a year ago. Rangan's price target implies roughly 13% upside from Monday's $182.05 close. "We see potential for beat and flow-through, supported by Datadog and Hyperscalers seeing stable consumption trends in April that serve as positive read-throughs for Snowflake," Rangan said. "Furthermore, we see limited risk to FY26 guidance, underpinned by Management's unchanged philosophy vs. FY25 with considerations of a weaker FY25 starting point (see discussion with company): CEO transition, slower-than-anticipated usage trends, and added conservatism around potential Storage Revenue headwinds." Needham, buy, $215 target Analyst Mike Cikos' price target calls for 18% upside, fueled by expectations that some of Snowflake's potential first-quarter upside will pass through in to its full-year outlook. "We anticipate the magnitude of Revenue outperformance will be in line with management's recent track record, if not ahead — as Consumption-based names and Hyperscaler data points have been largely positive this cycle (barring the optimization headwinds cited by Confluent)," Cikos said. Baird, outperform, $200 target Analyst William Power is looking for an incremental increase to Snowflake's full-year outlook, including 24% product revenue growth. "Our industry conversations have suggested limited macro impact and a continued customer focus on cloud migrations and data modernization," Power said. "Investors will be focused on consumption trends broadly, along with progress with Cortex AI (we picked up positive feedback at events intra-quarter) and other newer products." JPMorgan, overweight, $210 target Analyst Mike Murphy's $210 per share price target calls for more than 15% upside. "Heading into Snowflake's FQ1 results, we believe some investor debate remains around the underlying health of cloud consumption activity, though based on recent trending across hyperscaler/consumption peers and other indications across our cloud ecosystem contacts, our sense is that fundamental trends likely remain fairly resilient, and we see some company-specific drivers for Snowflake," Murphy said.
