Why Has Salesforce Stock Dropped 25% in One Year?

January marks the start of a new year of innovation for Salesforce, but as always, investors, analysts, and critics alike will have their eyes trained on the CRM giant. 

Salesforce’s stock – one of the company’s most widely talked-about topics of conversation – is something that will continue to be watched closely, especially as it has dropped 25.40% in just one year. Even after the launch of the AI tool Agentforce, multiple acquisitions, and growing financial results, the scales refuse to tilt up. But why?

A Big Red Drop

By most accounts, Salesforce had a fairly prosperous 2025. A wealth of new product updates was introduced in each release, some of the company’s biggest communities were brought back to life, and Agentforce – the apple of Salesforce’s eye – celebrated its first birthday with impressive results, enhancements, and use cases. 

However, the company also faced its fair share of scrutiny, from hesitant early Agentforce adoption to community backlash, and questionable comments from CEO Marc Benioff, sending both the media and the ecosystem into a frenzy.

Stock began falling from its peak of $359.95 per share by the end of January to a low of $271.74 per share in mid-March, despite an “incredible quarter” reported by Marc Benioff at the time of Salesforce’s Q4 FY25 earnings results.  

Ultimately, the company’s forecast for 2026 revenue fell below Wall Street expectations, sending shares down around 5% in extended trading.

Come April, the stock experienced another dip after a brief uplift in late March, falling from $288.61 per share to $268.36 per share, and then to $240.76 by April 4th. Later in the month, the stock would drop to $236.26 per share – the deepest trough of the year until Q3.

A negative rating from Wall Street investment bank D.A. Davidson occurred around this time, with investors believing that the company and stock would underperform compared to Salesforce’s competitors. Agentforce, which had nearly pivoted the company’s entire focus at this point, was thrown into question. Was Salesforce trying too hard? Was Agentforce ever going to be valuable?

From the end of April, the stock valuation went back up to $267.85 per share before reaching the second-highest peak of the year at $291.15 in mid-May. Steady fluctuations carried the stock through the second quarter, before it dropped again by 6.53% to $245.15 in August. 

This time, a series of data breaches involving Salesforce, as well as CRM downturn, were alleged to be the causes. 

Standard fluctuations then bobbed the stock price across the Dreamforce period, where Salesforce launched new products and had more opportunities to showcase advancements. 

By the end of November, Salesforce’s stock had dropped to its lowest price in 2025, at $227.11 per share. It would peak again at $266.23 at the end of December, before dropping back down to $239.97 at the time of writing. This time around, publications like Techstock² suspect that the release of the new Slackbot and questions around its purpose may have a part to play. 

Why So Much Fluctuation? 

Both the SaaS market and the CRM market have had a wobbly 12 months. With constant debates over whether the two markets are dying or evolving, it has impacted Salesforce as well as its competitors. ServiceNow stock is down 36%, HubSpot stock is down 51%, and Monday stock is down 44%.

Although Salesforce’s yearly drop is marginally less steep than that of its competitors, it paints a clear picture of the turbulent markets. Whether SaaS and CRM are dying or not, customer and investor expectations of them have changed. 

Not only that, but positioning the lens to observe which companies are doing well illustrates another decision. These companies – Microsoft, with an 8% stock increase, and Oracle, with a 28% increase – have done something right.  

It appears as though they have adapted to the changing demands in the markets, tailored their offerings, and perhaps most importantly, created AI strategies that investors and customers are connecting with. 

Salesforce’s own tools and strategy are certainly on the way up, but they evidently have a long way to go. 

Final Thoughts 

As we head further into the new year, Salesforce will once again have a difficult task on its hands. Further prove its AI strategy has legs, make sure customer and community connection is still a priority, and please investors along the way. 

Salesforce’s FY26 Q4 results will set the stage for this, so stay tuned.