Jim Cramer Says Investors Who Bet AI Would Destroy Software Stocks ‘Blew Up’ — Salesforce, Veeva and Palantir Led Q3 Comeback: Stocks to Watch Ahead

Jim Cramer said Thursday that enterprise software’s resurgence was one of the defining stock market stories of the third quarter, despite fears that AI could disrupt the sector. He pointed to the strong performance of Veeva Systems Inc. (NYSE:VEEV), Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM), and Palantir Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: PLTR) in the quarter.

Software Gains as Cramer Downplays SaaSpocalypse

While major averages posted modest gains through Wednesday’s quarter-end, software stocks rebounded sharply from an AI-driven sell-off earlier this year.

Salesforce surged about 46% in the third quarter amid new AI tool rollouts and investors confident that AI could drive growth rather than be an obstacle for the business. Salesforce introduced Claudeforce, which consists of a plugin that lets users utilize Anthropic’s Claude AI to access data stored in Salesforce. Cramer noted that the stock can still climb higher.

Meanwhile, Veeva soared about 60% in the quarter. “When the displacement didn’t happen, those betting against it blew up, and the whole group came running back. And that’s how Veeva finished 61%,” said Cramer on the Mad Money show

Cramer is also positive on Microsoft, which surged about 37%, and Palantir, which soared around 60% in the July-to-September quarter. He also sees upside for Salesforce but warned that spiking interest rates are a major risk going into the fourth quarter.

Meanwhile, Cybersecurity stock CrowdStrike Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:CRWD) jumped about 39% amid the growing need to guard companies against new threats. However, some AI-related stocks like Corning Inc. (NYSE:GLW) fell nearly 40% after a rally, but Cramer said the decline was due to profit-taking, adding that he would “happily buy this one back if it dips again.”

Cramer said that the third quarter will be remembered as a time when “software bounced back and some amazing data center plays succumbed to profit-taking.”

Cramer’s take on Meta’s New AI agent

Earlier this week, Cramer said Wall Street could be overreacting to the potential threat of Meta Platforms Inc.‘s (NASDAQ: META) Muse AI agent on consumer-focused industries. Cramer pointed to Airbnb Inc. (NASDAQ: ABNB) as one of the stocks "insulated" from AI competition. Cramer also talked about how DoorDash Inc. (NASDAQ: DASH) was impacted by AI-displacement worries and its stock had tanked a few months ago, but since then it had rebounded.

On Meta, Cramer said that the Facebook parent must be viewed as an “enterprise company” after Muse AI was deployed. He noted that this operational shift could drive Meta’s stock valuation from an “18 times multiple” to “24-25.”

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