We recently published a list of 12 Best Dow Stocks to Buy Right Now. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) stands against other best Dow stocks to buy right now.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average is among the most popular stock market indices globally. Known as the Dow, the index monitors the performance of 30 blue-chip companies listed on the US stock exchanges. In 2024, the Dow index returned over 16%, compared to a 25% return for the broader market.
Historically, the Dow has performed better compared to the broader market. According to S&P Global, in the past 30 years up until June 2021, the Dow index returned approximately 11.16% compared to the market’s return of 10.6%. This growth is mainly due to the Dow’s stable, industry-leading companies that offer reliable dividends and returns.
READ ALSO: 7 Most Undervalued Financial Stocks To Buy According to Analysts.
Since the beginning of 2025, Dow Jones has soared over 4% as mega-cap tech stocks surged following their positive earnings. Whereas, the S&P 500 index has jumped by 3.70% year-to-date, as of January 23.
Trump’s AI startup initiative is already pumping the tech stocks. The $500 billion Stargate AI infrastructure project led by Oracle, OpenAI, and SoftBank will accelerate the AI demand. Tech stocks are already dominating the market driven by the huge demand for AI. Nasdaq Composite returned nearly 30% in 2024, outperforming the Dow and the S&P 500.
The U.S. economy is expected to perform better this year compared to 2024 followed by lower interest rates and PCE inflation expected around 2.1%. Economists anticipate a suitable atmosphere for mergers and acquisitions.
Investing in Dow Jones stocks can be appealing in 2025 as they offer huge dividends and returns. The Dow stocks have strong balance sheets and have a proven track record of high yields.
Our Methodology
We shifted through the Dow Jones Index and selected the 12 best Dow stocks based on hedge fund sentiment around each stock using Insider Monkey’s data for Q3 2024. The best Dow stocks are ranked in ascending order of their hedge fund holdings.
Why do we care about what hedge funds do? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 275% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 150 percentage points (see more details here).
A customer service team in an office setting using the company’s Customer 360 platform to communicate with customers.
Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)
No. of Hedge Fund Holders: 116
Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) is an American cloud-based CRM company. The company operates the Customer 360 platform which offers sales, service, marketing, commerce, integration, AI, analytics, collaboration, automation, and other services. Lately, the company’s AI-powered platform called Agentforce has gained traction.
On January 17, TD Cowen upgraded CRM to Buy from hold with a price target of $400, up from $380. The analyst believes that the buzz around the company’s AI tool has cooled since its launch and it is a good opportunity to buy the stock. On January 21, Piper Sandler analyst Brent Bracelin reiterated an Overweight rating on CRM shares and set a price target of $405. The firm believes that Agentforce brings a competitive advantage to the company and it could sell more services around the AI hype. However, Bracelin expects CRM’s AI agent tool will take time before it starts generating revenue until fiscal year 2027.
On January 21, during the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, the company’s CEO Marc Benioff highlighted that they closed 200 deals in Q3 FY2025 and expect to close thousands of Agentforce deals in Q4. Companies already have a lot of their data on Salesforce CRM software, allowing a smooth option to explore Agentforce to access existing information and automate the system. The AI agent holds the potential and could unlock a promising opportunity for Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) going ahead.
Overall, CRM ranks 6th on our list of best Dow stocks to buy right now. While we acknowledge the potential of CRM to grow, our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and doing so within a shorter time frame. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than CRM but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.
READ NEXT: 20 Best AI Stocks To Buy Now and Complete List of 59 AI Companies Under $2 Billion in Market Cap
Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.
