SpaceX Gets $800 Target from Raymond James; Salesforce Downgraded on AI Product Concerns

A series of significant analyst moves this week highlighted diverging outlooks on key players in the artificial intelligence space, led by a highly bullish initiation on SpaceX from Raymond James and a cautionary downgrade of Salesforce by Bernstein.

Raymond James Sets Street-High Target for SpaceX

Raymond James initiated coverage of SpaceX with a Strong Buy rating and a price target of $800, the highest on Wall Street. Analyst Brian Gesuale argued that the convergence of industrialized space access and AI represents "the most significant infrastructure convergence since the advent of the Internet."

The firm's thesis centers on Starship, which it projects will reduce the cost of transporting mass to orbit by over 99%. This transformation, according to the note, turns orbital launch into a commercial transportation network. Raymond James projects SpaceX's revenue could grow from approximately $38.5 billion today to more than $837 billion by 2031.

Bernstein Downgrades Salesforce on Weak AI Feedback

In a contrasting move, Bernstein downgraded Salesforce to Sector Weight from Outperform and removed its price target. The downgrade was driven by poor customer feedback on the company's Agentforce AI product.

Ad

Analyst Jackson Ader noted that conversations with customers revealed two key issues: their data is often not organized enough for meaningful AI implementation, and Agentforce "as a product, just isn’t there." A recent CIO survey cited by the firm also showed that more IT departments expect to deprioritize Salesforce spending over the next year than plan to increase it.

Other Key Analyst Calls

Other notable analyst actions this week underscored ongoing confidence in different segments of the AI and semiconductor markets.

• Samsung Electronics: Mizuho analyst Jordan Klein called the recent sell-off in Samsung shares an overreaction to preliminary Q2 results. He argued that the company's memory business fundamentals remain strong, with implied operating margins over 80%, and that the revenue miss was concentrated in non-memory divisions.
• Alibaba (BABA): Bank of America reiterated its Buy rating and $172 price objective, calling the company "one of the most compelling AI plays in China." The bank expects AI-led demand to help accelerate cloud revenue growth to 45% year-over-year in the June quarter.
• Shopify (SHOP): Stifel upgraded Shopify to Buy from Hold and raised its price target to $150 from $110. The firm views the stock's recent decline as an attractive entry point, forecasting a "realistic path to 30%-plus revenue growth in 2026" as the company gains market share.