Virtually every analyst in coverage rates CRM a "buy"
This morning, it was announced Salesforce.com, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) will purchase fellow cloud name Tableau Software (DATA) for $15.3 billion. The all-stock deal -- CRM's biggest acquisition ever -- should increase revenue by up to $400 million in 2020, the company said. In response to the news, CRM stock is down 3.8% to trade at $155.04 this morning, on track to snap a four-day winning streak.
Thanks to a post-earnings bull gap on Wednesday, June 5, Salesforce.com stock is fresh off its first weekly win since late April. However, today's pullback takes the shares back below their 50-day moving average, a trendline that until last week had served as a short-term ceiling. For most of 2019, CRM has consolidated between the $152 and $166 levels.
Despite a bear note last week, analysts are firmly entrenched in the bullish camp. There are 30 brokerages covering CRM, and 29 rate it a "strong buy," with zero "sells" on the books. Plus, the consensus 12-month price target of $182.90 sits way north of its April 29 record high of $167.53.
Prior to today, CRM's near-term options were attractively priced following the post-earnings volatility crush. The security's Schaeffer's Volatility Index (SVI) of 28% stood higher than only 24% of all other readings from the past year. This means that near-term options were pricing in relatively low volatility expectations. Today, however, CRM options volume is running at five times the average intraday clip, with its 30-day at-the-money implied volatility of 33.2% now in the 61st percentile of its annual range.