Skip to navigationSkip to main contentSkip to right columnPeace LongeSat, July 11, 2026 at 8:17 PM GMT+2 4 min readSalesforce (CRM) rarely draws a downgrade from two research firms at once. This week it did.On Thursday, July 9, KeyBanc Capital Markets and Bernstein downgraded Salesforce to a Hold. The stock fell roughly 3% to 4% at its low before steadying the next day.However, what matters beyond the price drop is why both firms stepped back at the same time, and what that means for anyone who owns the stock.The message inside the Salesforce downgradesKeyBanc moved Salesforce to Sector Weight from Overweight. Bernstein also downgraded the stock to Sector Weight from Outperform, according to Investing.com. Both firms had the same concern. The adoption of Agentforce, the company's flagship AI agent platform, is progressing more slowly than the headline numbers suggest.According to Benzinga, KeyBanc analyst Jackson Ader was blunt, saying the only real reason to buy the stock now is that it's cheap. More AI stocks:Wall Street expects ServiceNow stock to gain 52%, despite AI threatMorningstar drops bombshell warning on AI stocks'Big Short' investor Michael Burry issues blunt 4-word warning on AI stocksAder's team kept noting the same thing: customer data is not organized enough for real AI work, and Agentforce "just isn't there" yet as a product, TipRanks reported.A recent survey of chief information officers, the executives who control software budgets, deepened the worry. More of them plan to trim Salesforce spending over the next year than raise it. The downgrades quickly spread caution across other software names, Barron's noted.Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff staked the company's next decade on Agentforce, the AI product now drawing analyst skepticism.Frank Brennan / Getty ImagesWhat "Agentforce isn't there yet" means for CRM shareholdersAgentforce is Salesforce's wager that AI agents, software that carries out tasks on its own instead of just answering questions, will power its next decade of growth.Here is the catch for shareholders:Salesforce has sold its software the same way for 25 years, charging per user, or "per seat." If agents handle work people used to do, customers may need fewer seats, which could shrink revenue rather than grow it. The company is now trying to charge for the work its agents complete instead of for headcount, though that model is still unproven at scale.Related: Salesforce bets another $1 billion despite AI spending cratering its stockThe analyst checks matter because they test the changes the company wants to make against reality. If customers need months to get their data ready before agents can run, the revenue Salesforce promises will arrive later than bulls expect.The numbers Salesforce leans on to defend AgentforceTerms and Privacy PolicyEU DSA contactPrivacy & Cookie SettingsMore Info