The shares of Salesforce (CRM) are rising after the company unveiled a “global strategic partnership” with IBM (IBM) for the development of artificial intelligence products.
NEWS: Salesforce and IBM last night announced that they would partner “to deliver joint solutions designed to leverage artificial intelligence.” IBM and Salesforce said they would begin the partnership by integrating their main artificial intelligence platforms, Watson and Einstein, respectively. The integration will “enable smarter, faster decisions across sales, service, marketing, commerce and more,” the companies stated.
ANALYST REACTION: Salesforce’s progress in the AI space has been “encouraging,” and the deal with IBM suggests that Salesforce’s AI program is heading in the right direction, wrote Stifel analyst Tom Roderick. He kept a $100 price target and a Buy rating on the stock.
M&A: Salesforce does not expect to undertake M&A in the near-term, since the M&A market is “roaring,” Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff told CNBC in an interview last night. Last year, Salesforce reportedly considered acquiring Twitter (TWTR), but decided not to make the deal.
PRICE ACTION: In morning trading, Salesforce rose 1.25% to $83.53 while IBM gained about 0.25%.
