New York, Feb 17, 2026, 11:41 (EST) — Regular trading hours.
Salesforce, Inc. shares dropped Tuesday, making it one of the Dow’s laggards among big tech. The stock shed 2.3% to $185.35, down $4.37 from its previous close, after touching a session low of $183.19.
Investors are wrestling with new concerns that artificial intelligence might shake up the software sector, squeezing margins and pushing clients to revisit spending plans. On Monday, Alibaba introduced its latest model, Qwen 3.5. Stash Graham, managing director and CIO at Graham Capital Wealth Management, called it “one of the variables weighing on markets today.” Earlier in the day, big software stocks like Adobe, CrowdStrike and Salesforce were off between 2% and 5%. Reuters
Salesforce holders have lousy timing here. The stock heads into earnings just as the sector’s valuation debate resurfaces—plus, investors aren’t in the mood for more fuzzy “AI” talk.
Late in the morning, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF ticked up roughly 0.2% and the Dow’s DIA added 0.3%. QQQ, which tracks the Nasdaq, slipped 0.1%.
UBS’s Karl Keirstead cut his Salesforce price target down to $200 from $260, sticking with a Neutral call. His latest checks point to more interest in Agentforce, the company’s AI agent offering, but he flagged that “core growth is muted,” TheFly reported. TipRanks
Oppenheimer’s Brian Schwartz dropped his price target on the stock down to $275 from $300, though he’s sticking with his Outperform call. He points to declining software sector multiples. Schwartz is bracing for what he calls an “uninspiring” quarter along with muted growth guidance. Still, with investors spooked by concerns over AI disruption and the recent selloff, he notes the bar is already set low. TipRanks
Mizuho cut its price target on the stock to $280, down from $340, but maintained its Outperform rating. The move comes after the firm trimmed targets for the wider enterprise software sector, pointing to “material” multiple compression. Despite describing sentiment as “nothing short of horrible” due to worries about AI disruption, Mizuho noted that its latest quarterly software checks were solid. TipRanks
On Wall Street, “multiple compression” means investors aren’t shelling out as much for every dollar of earnings or sales. That dynamic can take a minor hiccup in growth and turn it into a sharp swing in a stock’s price.
Macro factors remain in play. The Bureau of Economic Analysis is set to release the next personal consumption expenditures price index, the Fed’s go-to inflation metric, on Feb. 20.
The risk is clear enough: should Salesforce stumble on subscription growth or margins, suddenly those reduced targets might even seem optimistic. A firmer outlook could flip sentiment quickly.
Salesforce plans to report its fourth-quarter and full-year fiscal 2026 earnings after the bell on Feb. 25, with a conference call set for 5 p.m. ET.
