I have over 20 companies in my Stocks and Shares ISA today, but a couple of them might be gone before the World Cup starts in mid-June. Not because they’ve become bad businesses — I just feel there might be better opportunities elsewhere.
Here’s one that I’m keeping on a short leash, and may well dump soon.
Potential AI disruption?
The stock that could be in the firing line is Salesforce (NYSE:CRM), the world’s largest customer relationship management firm. It allows companies to manage sales, marketing, customer service, and business data on one cloud-based platform.
Salesforce is currently in the middle of a major high-stakes transition. Essentially, it’s betting its future on Agentforce, which is an enterprise AI platform that allows customers to build, test, and deploy AI agents. These can take actions autonomously, helping drive efficiency and productivity.
However, Wall Street isn’t convinced. It thinks advanced coding and automation tools from companies like Anthropic might one day make traditional business software obsolete.
Put simply, if AI agents can eventually do the work, companies might not need as many Salesforce software licenses. And this is the dark cloud of uncertainty hanging over the stock, which is down 31% year to date.
Is there any evidence of AI disruption? Not really, looking at the latest Q1 fiscal 2027 figures. Revenue was up 13% to $11.1bn and earnings per share (EPS) of $3.88 jumped 50% and beat expectations.
Link: https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/1-p-500-laggard-m-071935051.html