We recently published a list of Long-Term Stock Portfolio: 15 Best Stocks for 15 Years. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) stands against other best stocks for 15 years.
Russell Investments believes that 3 features are defining the market outlook for 2025. These include the elevated level of the S&P 500 forward P/E ratio, the potential for further US dollar strength, as well as the direction of the US 10-year Treasury yield. The active equity managers have been challenged by the severe market concentration. The firm opines that a flattening out of such trends— which can be seen due to policy shifts or change in sentiments related to earnings growth and valuations for mega caps — can support active manager outperformance.
Russell Investments remains focused on sectors in which AI adoption has been ramping up, including industrials, healthcare, and consumer goods. As per the firm, companies that leverage AI for productivity improvements remain well-placed to gain a lasting competitive edge and provide healthy returns. Therefore, skilled active managers are required to look for such companies, primarily those that are in less-covered segments of the market.
READ ALSO: 7 Best Stocks to Buy For Long-Term and 8 Cheap Jim Cramer Stocks to Invest In.
Sectors Providing Investment Opportunities
With respect to real assets, Russell Investments sees attractive investment opportunities in real estate and infrastructure, mainly sectors that can benefit from the stabilization of long-term interest rates and favorable relative valuations in comparison to other growth assets. The application of AI in real estate, like data centers and healthcare facilities, continues to emerge as a critical growth area. Furthermore, the infrastructure investments continue to gain momentum from energy utilities and pipeline exposures, given the US administration’s emphasis on expanding LNG (liquified natural gas) production.
The firm also believes that an early focus on deregulation and tax cuts would likely be well-received by equity investors. Overall, an expected US soft landing, together with anticipated policy moderation on trade and immigration, creates specific opportunities for well-positioned portfolios, says Russell Investments.
Our Methodology
We sifted through the holdings of iShares Core S&P 500 ETF and shortlisted the companies that have 10-year revenue growth of over ~10%. Next, we selected stocks that were the most popular among elite hedge funds. We have ranked the stocks in ascending order of hedge fund sentiment.
Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? 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 373.4% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 218 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)
10-year Revenue Growth: ~21.5%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 162
Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) offers customer relationship management technology that connects companies and customers. Morningstar expects a 5-year compound annual growth rate for total revenue of 8% through the fiscal year 2030, which is expected to be aided by healthy growth in all clouds, with the most significant strength coming from the data cloud. As per the firm, Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) has a wide economic moat, stemming mainly from switching costs, with the network effect acting as a secondary moat source.
Elsewhere, Truist Securities remains optimistic about the company’s stock, citing Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)’s diverse portfolio, which includes Data Cloud and AI/Agentforce, as well as improvements in other segments like Marketing Cloud, as key factors in achieving growth revitalization. The analyst believes that such elements can act as catalysts for Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)’s performance over the upcoming years. Apart from these factors, the analyst highlighted the company’s capital allocation strategy, which is aided by a robust balance sheet.
Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)’s extensive product portfolio, large installed base, and global distribution network offer numerous competitive advantages. Mar Vista Investment Partners, LLC, an investment management company, released its Q4 2024 investor letter. Here is what the fund said:
“Investors cheered a solid fiscal year Q3 performance from Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM), with results driven by strength in subscription revenues, current remaining performance obligations (CRPO), and operating margin. Both the Sales and Service Clouds returned to double-digit growth, fueled by strong adoption of multi-cloud and vertical-specific solutions. These results highlight Salesforce’s ability to address diverse customer needs and sustain growth across its core offerings.
Management expressed significant excitement about Agentforce, an organically developed generative AI product that is garnering enthusiasm from both system integrator partners and customers alike. This innovation underscores Salesforce’s commitment to delivering innovative solutions that enhance customer engagement and drive productivity. While Agentforce’s contributions to subscription revenues and CRPO bookings are still immaterial for now, the growing pipeline provides a solid foundation for optimism around Salesforce’s ability to productize and monetize its generative AI offerings.”
Overall, CRM ranks 5th on our list of best stocks for 15 years. While we acknowledge the potential of CRM as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some deeply undervalued AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter time frame. There is an AI stock that went up since the beginning of 2025, while popular AI stocks lost around 25%. If you are looking for a deeply undervalued AI stock that is more promising than CRM but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about this cheapest AI stock.
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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.
