By Nate Wolf

Salesforce stock was rising Friday after activist investor Starboard Value disclosed that it had boosted its stake in the enterprise software company by nearly 50%.

Starboard, a New York-based hedge fund, bought more than 400,000 Salesforce shares in the second quarter, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing. That brought its total position to 1.25 million shares, worth around $341 million as of June 30.

Salesforce stock was ticking up 1.3% to $236.40 in premarket trading Friday. It has declined 30% this year through Thursday's close.

Neither Salesforce nor Starboard immediately replied to requests for comment.

While investors have soured on Salesforce, the challenges facing the company are already baked into the share price, argued Gil Luria of D.A. Davidson in a research note Friday. A new round of shareholder activism may help steer the company in a better direction, Luria added, as his firm upgraded Salesforce to Neutral from Underperform and reiterated a $225 price target.

Starboard first announced a stake in Salesforce in October 2022, arguing the company was trading at a discount to industry peers and could improve its profit margins. Fellow activist investors Elliott Management and Inclusive Capital also built up stakes in the business.

The pressure coincided with an uptick in Salesforce's performance. A 2024 investor presentation from Starboard touted the improvements Salesforce had made in the two years since its initial investment, during which time the stock nearly doubled.

"Salesforce has made progress improving growth and profitability," the presentation read, citing expanded margins, a decline in sales and marketing expenses, and the launch of the company's Agentforce artificial-intelligence solution.

Starboard's increased stake is a sign there may be another wave of activist activity that puts pressure on Salesforce management, Luria said. Investors will hope that scrutiny can drive another bull run.

"Starboard had prior success engaging with Salesforce to drive margin expansion and focus on disciplined capital allocation," Luria wrote. "We view incremental pressure as a potential catalyst to unlock additional cost savings."

Write to Nate Wolf at nate.wolf@barrons.com

This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 15, 2025 08:32 ET (12:32 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2025 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.