We recently published a list of 10 Best Long Term Tech Stocks to Buy Right Now. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) stands against other best long term tech stocks to buy right now.
As per Deloitte, amidst uncertainties and economic turbulence, the broader technology industry can see growth in 2025, courtesy of elevated IT spending, AI investments, and a strong emphasis on innovation. Some analysts expect that global IT spending is expected to grow by 9.3% in 2025, with data center and software segments anticipating to increase at double-digit rates. Notably, worldwide spending on AI is projected to increase at a CAGR of 29% from 2024 to 2028.
Spending To Go Northwards, Says S&P Global
S&P Global sees global IT spending to increase by 9% in 2025, reflecting an improvement from the low 8% area in 2024, with AI spurring massive data center spending and enterprises renewing their investments in traditional hardware. The enterprises have been entering 2025 with a transition to the cloud, and they are slowly accelerating their investments in GenAI projects. The rating agency opines that hardware spending is expected to improve significantly in 2025.
The server shipments are expected to increase ~4% but revenue growth will be significantly higher considering high AI server ASPs. The firm sees network equipment and mobile telecom equipment makers returning to growth while storage sales are expected to grow ~4%. Hyperscale cloud providers are expected to sustain strong revenue growth of over 20%, and the rest of IT services can recover with a growth of ~5% after lackluster performance over the previous 2 years. S&P Global sees this recovery due to the early signs of demand stabilization during Q2 2024 and Q3 2024, with several IT service providers reporting growth in bookings for large transformation projects and improving annual contract values in critical verticals.
In 2025, Capgemini expects AI and GenAI to have a significant impact on companies’ priorities and also on several adjacent technology domains, including robotics, supply chains, and tomorrow’s energy mix. Autonomous intelligent systems continue to be more prevalent in performing certain tasks. The next step will be the rise of a ‘super-agent,’ who can orchestrate and optimize several AI systems. In 2025, such advancements are expected to allow new AI ecosystems throughout industries.
The businesses have been navigating complex and unpredictable market conditions. As per Capgemini, technologies such as AI, data, blockchain, IoT, and connectivity with terrestrial-satellite networks can help enhance cost efficiency, resilience, agility, and sustainability of supply chains. Furthermore, additional regulatory and environmental constraints are expected to make this pivot important to ensure competitiveness, agility, and resilience.
Our Methodology
To list the 10 Best Long Term Tech Stocks to Buy Right Now, we used a screener to shortlist the stocks catering to the broader technology sector. Next, we filtered out the ones that have at least 10%-12% revenue growth over the past 10 years and are popular among hedge funds. Finally, the stocks are arranged in ascending order of their hedge fund sentiment, as of Q4 2024.
Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 373.4% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 218 percentage points (see more detailshere).
Is Salesforce, Inc. (CRM) the Best Long Term Tech Stock to Buy Right Now?
A customer service team in an office setting using the company's Customer 360 platform to communicate with customers.
Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) offers Customer Relationship Management (CRM) technology that brings companies and customers together. Bank of America Securities analyst Bradley Sills reiterated the bullish stance on the company’s stock, providing a “Buy” rating on February 14. The analyst’s rating is backed by a combination of factors, which include the strong performance and growth potential of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)’s core products and new initiatives. As per the analyst, there is strong deal activity and a healthy outlook for the company’s Sales and Service Clouds, and Agentforce pilots continue to gain traction.
Furthermore, new use cases for Agentforce, including call summarization and semantic search, have started emerging, driving Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)’s growth potential. Also, the company’s data cloud deals have been demonstrating continued strength, helping the data needs of Agentforce. Overall, the analyst believes that Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)’s stock is well-placed to benefit from a more favorable software spending environment and a healthy contribution from Agentforce. The company’s Data Cloud offering, enhanced by AI capabilities, is anticipated to unlock new use cases and value propositions for enterprise customers.
Montaka Global Investments, an investment management company, released its Q4 2024 investor letter. Hereis what the fund said:
“There are multiple structural trends in the enterprise software space, including (i) the ongoing cloud migrations and digital transformations of enterprises, and (ii) the infusion of AI into software applications.
Overall, CRM ranks 7th on our list of best long term tech stocks to buy right now. While we acknowledge the potential of CRM as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some deeply undervalued AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter time frame. If you are looking for a deeply undervalued AI stock that is more promising than CRM but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.
