When Downgrades Create Opportunities: 3 Stocks to Watch Now

Key Points

• Downgrades and price target cuts often create short-term volatility but rarely alter the long-term trajectory of high-quality stocks.
• Accenture, Salesforce, and CrowdStrike each show signs of resilience, with institutional buying and analyst sentiment pointing toward potential rebounds.
• Investors can view recent analyst downgrades as potential entry points, particularly in fundamentally strong, AI-driven technology leaders.

Downgrades, like everything in the stock market, are relative. A downgrade or price target reduction for a high-quality stock isn’t a game-ending move for investors.

The most likely outcome is that it impacts the price action, causing it to drop; however, the impact is rarely permanent, as longer-term drivers, including growth, earnings quality, and capital returns, tend to outweigh it. 

Downgrades and price target reductions can serve as catalysts for buying opportunities in high-quality stocks, which is the focus of this examination. 

Accenture: A 35% Discount on Enterprise Automation

Accenture’s NYSE: ACN stock price corrected by 35% in 2025 due to the onset of government thrift. However, the near-term impact of Trump’s war on government inefficiency is offset by the outlook for AI, specifically its implementation by enterprises. Accenture is well-positioned as the leading outsourcer for IT and digitalization services, prepared to help businesses adapt to changing technology and implement it to drive success. 

Analyst trends in calendar Q3 include 24 negative analyst updates, sufficient to rank the stock in second place on MarketBeat’s list of Most Downgraded Stocks. However, despite the negativity, the sentiment is firm at Moderate Buy, coverage is increasing with shares near long-term lows, and the price target reductions align with the consensus, forecasting a 20% upside as of early October. 

Institutional trends are likewise bullish, with a marked increase in volume as share prices reached their lows, aligning with the market bottom and a favorable outlook for a stock price rebound. They are buying at a pace of more than $2 purchased for every $1 sold, and own more than 75% of the stock, so the bottom is likely to be solid, even if the stock price rebound fails to gain traction in 2025. 

Salesforce Market Overreacts to Price Target Reductions

Salesforce’s NYSE: CRM stock experienced significant price target reductions over the past few months, but its market has overreacted to the activity. The reductions and analysts' target range reinforce the trading range, with their low ends aligning and the consensus forecasting a rebound of nearly 40%. The cause for the price target reductions is a trend of weaker-than-expected guidance. Analysts had anticipated a revenue surge tied to Salesforce’s AI implementation, which may be forthcoming. 

Investors should note that Salesforce stock, currently approaching its historic lows, presents significant value. This blue-chip, industry leader trades at only 22x its 2026 earnings forecast and half that relative to 2035, suggesting it could rise by 50% in the near term and up to 200% over the long term as its valuation catches up to that of other AI peers. Salesforce is experiencing high single-digit growth and is expected to maintain this pace, along with its cash flow and capital return, in the foreseeable future. 

CrowdStrike Analysts Shift From Reductions to Increases in Q3

CrowdStrike NASDAQ: CRWD is an interesting stock as its data reflects a transition in sentiment. That is the transition from a Most Downgraded Stock to a Most Upgraded Stock, with its 90-day activity sufficient for the first list and the more recent activity for the second. The takeaway is that the headwind, which caused the Q2 2025 buying opportunity, is gone, and a tailwind has formed, providing lift that can take this stock higher in Q4. The forecast is as high as 20% at the high end of the range. 

Institutional trends also align with the forecast for higher CRWD share prices. The data MarketBeat tracks reflects a steady increase in buying activity, with purchases at a pace of more than $3 to $1 and the group owning more than 70% of the stock, providing a solid support base and market tailwind. The likely outcome is that CRWD will reach a new high in October and then continue to rise through the end of the year.