Salesforce, the leading provider of cloud-based customer-relationship management software, recently announced a price increase of approximately 9% across all its offerings. This marks the company’s first price hike in seven years. However, according to Bernstein, this decision might not yield the desired results.
Analyst Mark Moerdler has reiterated his Underperform rating on Salesforce (ticker: CRM) stock and maintained his $153 price target for the shares. As of now, the stock is trading 0.3% higher at $215.30.
Moerdler advises investors to carefully consider the implications of the price increase and question whether the company can achieve the desired growth as a result. He also raises concerns about the potential negative impact on Salesforce’s competitive position.
As of now, Salesforce has not responded to requests for comment on the report.
Moerdler suggests that this price increase could signal management’s expectation of a slowdown in growth. Given the uncertain economic outlook, businesses might resist additional spending on IT, thus putting pressure on Salesforce’s revenue.
“We have extensively discussed how Salesforce has relied on acquisitions to boost its revenue, and the recent focus on margins suggests they have given up on achieving strong revenue growth,” Moerdler explained.
Over the past 12 months, Salesforce shares have witnessed a 13% rally, outperforming the Nasdaq Composite index, which has grown by 10% during the same period.