It’s been a cheery 2023 for Salesforce investors, as its stock has nearly doubled in price. Analysts at Wolfe Research don’t expect the party to end when the calendar flips to the new year – and neither do we. In a note to clients Sunday, Wolfe analysts upgraded Salesforce to a buy-equivalent rating and lifted their price target to $315 per share, implying about 20% upside from its Friday close. Twenty twenty-four is “the year to own this value growth stock,” the firm wrote, arguing Salesforce’s topline growth rate has bottomed out and management’s commitment to boosting margins “is real.” Shares of Salesforce rose 1.4% Monday, to just over $265 each, outperforming the broader market, which also gained in midday trading on the heels of a seven-week winning streak . Over the past month, Salesforce stock has advanced nearly 19%, making it the third-best performing Club holding in that stretch. Only Foot Locker , up 36.6%, and Palo Alto Networks , up 23.7%, have fared better. “This is one I would not take profits in,” Jim Cramer said Monday of Salesforce. “I want it to run.” In general, we share Wolfe’s optimistic outlook on Salesforce. But Jim takes issue with its characterization of the Club holding as a “value growth stock,” a hybrid term that combines two long-standing buckets for stocks: value or growth. “I think it’s a pure growth stock. I wouldn’t call it value,” Jim argued Monday. “It’s still accelerating. I just think that’s a misnomer for this great company.” While there’s no universally accepted definition on Wall Street, growth stocks generally trade at higher price-to-earnings ratios than their value counterparts. Investors are willing to pay up for the former because they expect those companies to see faster sales growth and deliver greater stock-price gains. Investors may look to so-called value stocks because they think the market is misjudging the firm’s prospects, resulting in an unwarranted discount, or they may be comfortable collecting a…
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