Salesforce Fights a 45% Stock Wipeout with an AI Voice Bet and a $25B Buyback

Salesforce shares near year low after 45% drop amid rising yields and cautious enterprise spending. Institutional investors increase stakes, while AI partnership targets contact-center growth. Q1 earnings awaited.

The yield on the 10-year US Treasury hit a decade high of 4.49% last month, sending shockwaves through the software sector. For Salesforce, the math is brutal: higher discount rates mechanically compress the valuation multiples of growth stocks, and the company’s shares have tumbled roughly 45% from their 52-week peak of €261.15 to trade near €143. That leaves the stock just a few euros above the year’s low of €139.90 and roughly 26% below its 200-day moving average of €192.62.

April’s producer price index, which pointed to stubborn inflation, triggered the latest sell-off. SaaS stocks bore the brunt; Salesforce alone lost 3.3% in a single session. The broader market mood has turned risk-averse, and expensive software names are bearing the cost of a repricing that shows no sign of letting up.

Yet some long-term institutional investors see the correction as an entry point. World Investment Advisors boosted its stake by 6.4%, lifting its holding above 72,000 shares. SFE Investment Counsel made an even bolder move, increasing its position by roughly 83% with a purchase of nearly 8,000 shares. These buys contrast with the wider bearish sentiment and signal that value-oriented managers are starting to nibble.

Customer caution, however, remains a serious headwind. Large enterprise clients are dragging out procurement decisions, pushing back renewals, and squeezing vendors on price as they hunt for savings. Citigroup recently highlighted the trend, warning that new contract signings and renewals face heightened scrutiny—pressure that is especially uncomfortable for a company that markets itself as a high-growth engine.

To counter that narrative, Salesforce is leaning heavily into artificial intelligence. A new partnership with Ribbon Communications aims to strengthen the voice capabilities of the company’s Agentforce contact-center platform. Ribbon’s Session Border Controller Cloud Native Edition and Policy and Routing Engine will be integrated on Amazon Web Services, allowing Salesforce to handle complex customer interactions by seamlessly routing them between AI agents and human operatives. The move pits Salesforce more directly against established contact-center players such as Genesys, NICE and Five9.

Investors will get the first big test of this strategy when Salesforce reports first-quarter results for fiscal 2027 later this month. Management has guided for full-year revenue of $45.8 billion to $46.2 billion, and the earnings call will be scrutinized for concrete evidence that Agentforce and the Data 360 ecosystem are generating real revenue acceleration. Both areas have posted strong growth in annual recurring revenue, but the underlying environment for enterprise software remains cautious.

The company has also loaded up on financial artillery. A $25 billion share-repurchase plan is under way, and Salesforce continues to pay a dividend—both tools intended to reassure shareholders that the business can simultaneously fund growth and return capital. Yet the stock’s 30-day volatility of 52.04% underscores how nervous the market is.

Near term, the technical picture offers little comfort. The share price sits well below its 200-day average, and the distance to the 52-week low is razor-thin. Whether the buyback, the AI push, or a combination of both can restore confidence likely depends on whether the upcoming numbers show that the Ribbon deal and other AI initiatives are delivering more than just headlines.