Analyst AI Focus: SpaceX Earns Street-High Target, Salesforce Downgraded on Product Feedback

Analysts are closely scrutinizing the impact of artificial intelligence across the tech landscape, leading to significant ratings changes for major companies. This week, Raymond James initiated coverage of SpaceX with a highly bullish outlook, while Bernstein downgraded Salesforce, citing poor customer reception for its new AI tools.

Bullish Calls on Infrastructure and E-commerce

Raymond James initiated coverage on SpaceX with a Strong Buy rating and a Street-high price target of $800. The firm argued that industrialized access to orbit and AI are creating "the most significant infrastructure convergence since the advent of the Internet." Analyst Brian Gesuale highlighted the company's Starship, which he said transforms orbital launch into a commercial transportation network.

• The firm projects SpaceX's revenue will grow from approximately $38.5 billion today to over $837 billion by 2031.
• The analysis estimates a total addressable market approaching $30 trillion across transportation, communications, and manufacturing.
• The price target is based on a discounted cash flow model using a 27x multiple on 2031 estimated EBITDA.

In other positive calls, Bank of America reiterated its Buy rating on Alibaba with a $172 price objective, calling it "one of the most compelling AI plays in China." The bank forecasts AI-led demand will accelerate Alibaba's cloud revenue growth to 45% year-over-year in the June quarter. Stifel upgraded Shopify to Buy with a raised price target of $150, viewing a recent stock decline as an attractive entry point. The firm sees a "realistic path to 30%-plus revenue growth in 2026" for the e-commerce platform.

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Contrasting Views on Software and Semiconductors

In a more cautious move, Bernstein downgraded Salesforce to Sector Weight from Outperform, removing its price target. The downgrade was driven by weak customer feedback on the company's AI product, Agentforce. Analyst Jackson Ader noted that checks revealed customers feel their data is not organized enough for AI and that the product "just isn’t there."

A recent CIO survey cited by Bernstein also showed that more IT executives expect to deprioritize Salesforce spending over the next 12 months than plan to increase it. The firm stated that evidence of sustained growth acceleration from Agentforce "is further out than we’d expected, if it plays out at all."

Meanwhile, Mizuho analyst Jordan Klein argued that a recent sell-off in Samsung shares was an "overreaction" to its preliminary second-quarter results. Klein contended that the revenue miss was driven by mobile devices and TVs, not the critical memory business. He noted that Samsung's operating profit was a "strong beat" excluding one-time expenses, with implied memory operating margins of over 80%, suggesting strong underlying fundamentals for the semiconductor sector.