Salesforce evaluating value options, shares have 35% upside, says Deutsche

With activist pressure intensifying following news last week of Elliott Management’s stake, Deutsche Bank analyst Brad Zelnick believes Salesforce is already evaluating and pursuing options for value creation. There are "multiple opportunities" for Salesforce to become more streamlined, the most obvious being more disciplined capital allocation, the analyst tells investors in a research note. The firm’s "upside model" yields $13.45 in 2025 earnings per share, driven by margin expansion and share repurchases. Using a 20-times multiple discounted back two years would imply $222 per share today, or 35% upside from where the stock is trading, analyst points out.