Salesforce (CRM) Stock Rises After $25B Bond Sale Targets Share Buyback

TLDR

• Salesforce priced a $25 billion senior notes offering, its largest bond deal to date
• All proceeds will go directly toward repurchasing $25 billion of its own stock via accelerated share repurchase (ASR) agreements
• The offering is expected to close March 13, with initial share delivery beginning March 16
• Investor demand came in weaker than expected — buyers pushed for higher yields, with the 10-year tranche priced ~1.35 percentage points above U.S. Treasuries, wider than 2021 levels
• Truist and Stifel both cut price targets (to $280 and $250 respectively) while maintaining Buy ratings; CRM stock rose 3.57% on the news

Salesforce launched the biggest bond deal in its history on March 11, pricing $25 billion in senior notes with one clear goal: buying back its own stock.

Salesforce, Inc., CRM

The company entered into accelerated share repurchase (ASR) agreements immediately after pricing, committing the full $25 billion to equity repurchases. Initial share delivery is set for March 16, with the offering itself expected to close March 13.

This is a company putting its money where its mouth is on buybacks — and doing it at scale.

The deal dwarfs Salesforce’s previous record debt raise of $9 billion, which funded the 2021 Slack acquisition. By comparison, this one funds no acquisition, no product launch — just stock reduction.

J.P. Morgan, Bank of America, Barclays, Citigroup, and Wells Fargo are serving as joint book-running managers on the offering. A registration statement and preliminary prospectus supplement have been filed with the SEC.

CRM stock rose 3.57% on the day of the announcement, trading at $194.13 with a market cap of around $178.81 billion.

Investor Demand Softer Than Expected

The reception from bond buyers wasn’t exactly a standing ovation. Investors demanded higher yields than Salesforce has seen in prior debt deals.

The 10-year tranche was priced roughly 1.35 percentage points above U.S. Treasuries — a noticeably wider spread compared to where the company priced debt back in 2021. That spread reflects market caution.

Two concerns appear to be driving that caution: first, the fact that Salesforce is taking on debt specifically to fund buybacks rather than growth; second, broader uncertainty about how AI will reshape enterprise software spending long-term.

Still, the deal got done. Institutional investors — pension funds, insurers, asset managers — continue to hunt for investment-grade yield, and Salesforce’s credit profile gave them a vehicle to do that.

Analyst Reactions: Targets Cut, Ratings Held

The bond news landed alongside a round of analyst price target adjustments.

Truist Securities kept its Buy rating but cut its target from $380 to $280. The firm pointed to valuation pressures and noted that fourth-quarter results showed stability but only modest subscription and support revenue growth.

Stifel also maintained Buy while trimming its target from $300 to $250. It flagged weakness in Tableau, Marketing Cloud, and Commerce Cloud, though it acknowledged positive momentum in newer products.

Cantor Fitzgerald held its Overweight rating with a $300 target, describing fiscal year 2026 results as solid. Salesforce’s own leadership expressed confidence in growth acceleration later in the fiscal year, citing trends in net new annual order value.

The $25 billion offering is categorized as part of the investment-grade corporate bond market and reflects what analysts describe as a “maturing corporate playbook” — using debt to enhance equity returns rather than fund direct business investment.

CRM carries a Zacks #3 (Hold) rating. The stock was up 3.57% at the time of the announcement.

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