SpaceX Earns Street-High $800 Target, Salesforce Downgraded on AI Product Woes

Wall Street analysts delivered a series of significant ratings changes and outlooks on key technology and AI-related companies, highlighting both the immense long-term potential and the immediate execution risks within the sector. Raymond James initiated coverage on SpaceX with a bullish outlook, while Bernstein downgraded Salesforce citing weak customer feedback on its core AI offering.

Bullish Calls on Infrastructure and E-commerce

Raymond James initiated coverage of SpaceX with a Strong Buy rating and a Street-high price target of $800. The firm's thesis centers on the convergence of industrialized space access and AI, which it calls "the most significant infrastructure convergence since the advent of the Internet." Analyst Brian Gesuale highlighted the Starship rocket as a key catalyst, projecting it will reduce the cost of transporting mass to orbit by over 99%.

The firm projects SpaceX's revenue could grow from approximately $38.5 billion today to over $837 billion by 2031, with EBITDA reaching $696 billion. The analyst noted that SpaceX is building a "foundational platform" for industries including transportation, communications, and manufacturing, with a total addressable market estimated to approach $30 trillion.

Separately, Stifel upgraded Shopify to Buy from Hold, raising its price target to $150 from $110. The firm cited the stock's year-to-date decline as an attractive entry point, forecasting a path to 30%-plus revenue growth in 2026. Stifel noted Shopify is gaining market share, with first-quarter gross merchandise value (GMV) growth of 35% far outpacing the broader U.S. e-commerce market.

Mixed Views on Asian Tech Giants

Bank of America reiterated its Buy rating on Alibaba with a $172 price objective, calling the company "one of the most compelling AI plays in China." Analysts led by Joyce Ju anticipate AI-driven demand will accelerate cloud revenue growth to 45% year-over-year in the June quarter. While the core commerce business is expected to remain soft, the bank sees fiscal 2027 as a "key earnings inflection" point.

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Meanwhile, Mizuho analyst Jordan Klein argued that the recent investor sell-off in Samsung following its preliminary second-quarter results was an overreaction. Klein stated that the revenue miss was likely due to mobile devices and TVs, not the critical memory business. He estimated implied memory operating margins were over 80% and noted that DRAM and NAND pricing trends for the third quarter look "very strong."

Salesforce Faces AI Product Scrutiny

In a notable downgrade, Bernstein moved Salesforce to Sector Weight from Outperform and removed its price target. The downgrade was driven by weak customer feedback on the company's Agentforce AI product. Analyst Jackson Ader stated, "Our checks and customer conversations have not been strong, nor has the feedback been on Agentforce."

According to Bernstein's report, customers cited two primary issues:

• Customer data is often not organized enough for meaningful AI applications.
• The Agentforce product itself "just isn’t there" from a maturity standpoint.

A recent CIO survey cited by the firm also showed more IT leaders expect to deprioritize Salesforce spending over the next year than plan to increase it, signaling potential headwinds for the software giant's AI ambitions.