Why Salesforce Plunged Over 40% in the First Half of 2026
The "SaaS-pocalypse" came for Salesforce, even amid solid earnings numbers and a massive share repurchase.
Overview
Shares of enterprise software giant Salesforce (NYSE: CRM) fell 40.9% in the first half of 2026, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence.
Salesforce, like many other software-as-a-service stocks, experienced a violent sell-off to start 2026, despite reporting relatively solid financial results. This was due to the first quarter's "SaaS-pocalypse," in which the rapid adoption of Anthropic's Claude Code tools and open-source agents such as OpenClaw ushered in the era of agentic AI.
Details
Agentic AI's improving capabilities spurred investors to sell software stocks, as fears emerged that these new AI leaders could disrupt traditional enterprise software.
Source
Originally published at www.fool.com.
Related Articles
- Stablecoin issuer Circle just got the greenlight to operate as a bank. The shares are up 12%
- The bar is high for S&P 500 earnings, but these as-yet-unrewarded sectors are where real surprises could be hiding
- Here are Friday's biggest analyst calls: Nvidia, SpaceX, Toll, Shopify, Twilio, Seagate, Chipotle & more