u/HatedMoats ·
Reddit — r/ValueInvesting
· April 03, 2026 at 21:44
· ⬆ 15 pts
· 💬 12 comments
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Summary
Author presents a detailed DCF valuation model for Salesforce (CRM), concluding its intrinsic value is ~$264 per share, compared to a ~$187 market price.
Thesis: The market is overly pessimistic about CRM's margin expansion potential and long-term risk, creating a ~29% margin of safety amid the "SaaS Carnage of 2026."
Quality assessment: Well-researched DD. The post provides specific, reasoned assumptions for revenue growth, ROIC, WACC, and terminal value, along with scenario analysis.
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I built a valuation model on Salesforce to test what the business is worth under what I believe is a realistic set of assumptions on growth, margins, reinvestment and cost of capital.
**My assumptions and model:**
**Revenue**
I model revenue growing from a FY2026 base of $41.5B to about $78.5B by 2035.
Year 1 growth is 10.0%, Years 2 to 5 decelerate from 9.5% to 7.0%, and Years 6 to 10 fade to 3.0%.
**ROIC**
Current ROIC looks to be around 10% to 12.5% depending on invested capital definition.In the model, aggregate ROIC rises into the low-20s by Year 10.
**WACC**
Risk-free rate: 4.35%
Equity risk premium: 4.23%
Beta: 1.20
Cost of equity: 9.43%
After-tax cost of debt: 3.79%
Capital structure: 80% equity / 20% debt
Base-case WACC: 8.3%
**Terminal value**
Terminal growth rate: 2.5%
FCFF in Year 11: $19.64B
Terminal value: $338.6B
Present value of terminal value: $152.5B, around 63.9% of enterprise value
**Equity bridge**
Enterprise value: $238.6B
Cash + marketable securities: $9.6B
Strategic investments: $7.6B
Debt: $39.5B
Equity value: $216.3B
**Intrinsic value**
Estimated current shares outstanding: about 820m (after the March 2026 ASR).
**Intrinsic value per share: $263.79**
**Scenarios**
Bear case: $171(assumes 9.0% WACC, 1.5% terminal growth, and EBIT margin reaching 24% by Year 1)
Base case: $264(as modelled above)
Bull case: $382(assumes 7.3% WACC, 3.0% terminal growth, and EBIT margin reaching 32% by Year 10)
**Conclusion**
At the recent close of about $187, Salesforce looks undervalued versus my base case, implying about 29% margin of safety.
My view is that the market is pricing in too little future margin expansion and too much long-run risk relative to the company’s cash generation, scale, and operating leverage potential, all currently overshadowed by the SaaS Carnage of 2026.
The full model with numbers and reasoning can be found here for free: https://open.substack.com/pub/hatedmoats/p/salesforce-dcf-valuation
What do you think? Is market being too pessimistic and CRM is currently a good value opportunity, or are the risks still not fully priced in?
A detailed DCF model under base-case assumptions yields an intrinsic value of $263.79 per share versus a recent market price of ~$187. This implies a ~29% margin of safety, as the market is discounting CRM due to near-term SaaS sector woes, underestimating its future margin expansion and cash generation. The stock is undervalued based on the author's analysis of its growth, operating leverage, and cost of capital. Failure to achieve modeled margin expansion (bear case EBIT margin of 24%), higher cost of capital (9.0% WACC), slower terminal growth (1.5%), or prolonged sector downturn.