SpaceX Earns Street-High $800 Target; Salesforce Downgraded on AI Product Concerns

Wall Street analysts issued several key calls on major technology companies this week, highlighting the divergent paths of artificial intelligence adoption and execution. Raymond James set a Street-high price target on SpaceX, citing its transformative potential, while Bernstein downgraded Salesforce on concerns over its AI product strategy.

Bullish Calls on Infrastructure and Commerce

Raymond James initiated coverage of SpaceX with a Strong Buy rating and an $800 price target, arguing the company is building "the foundational platform for the next generation of industrial capacity." The firm's thesis centers on Starship, which it says will reduce the cost of orbital transport by over 99%, enabling a total addressable market approaching $30 trillion across communications, manufacturing, and energy.

• The analyst, Brian Gesuale, described SpaceX's strategy as a "powerful infrastructure flywheel," where Falcon funds Starlink, Starlink funds Starship, and Starship enables future platforms.
• Raymond James projects SpaceX's revenue will grow from approximately $38.5 billion today to over $837 billion by 2031.

In e-commerce, Stifel upgraded Shopify to Buy and raised its price target to $150 from $110. The firm believes a recent stock decline has created an attractive entry point, forecasting a "realistic path to 30%-plus revenue growth in 2026" as Shopify gains market share in enterprise, B2B, and international markets.

Mixed Signals for Tech Giants

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Bank of America reiterated its Buy rating on Alibaba, calling it "one of the most compelling AI plays in China." The bank expects AI-driven demand to accelerate cloud revenue growth to 45% year-over-year in the June quarter, helping to offset a projected 7.7% decline in its core customer management revenue amid soft industry conditions.

Meanwhile, Mizuho analyst Jordan Klein argued that the recent sell-off in Samsung shares following its preliminary Q2 results was an overreaction. Klein stated the revenue miss was likely driven by mobile devices and TVs, not the critical memory business, which he estimates achieved operating margins of over 80%. He noted that third-quarter pricing trends for DRAM and NAND memory look "very strong."

AI Execution Under Scrutiny

In a more cautious note, Bernstein downgraded Salesforce to Sector Weight from Outperform, citing weak customer feedback on its Agentforce AI product. Analyst Jackson Ader wrote that conversations with customers revealed two consistent issues: their data is not organized enough for meaningful AI work, and the Agentforce product "just isn’t there."

Bernstein also noted that a recent CIO survey showed more IT leaders expect to deprioritize Salesforce spending over the next year than increase it. The firm said evidence of sustained business acceleration from the company's AI initiatives "is further out than we’d expected, if it plays out at all."