WDAY vs CRM Stock Comparison: AI Score, Valuation, Performance and Upside
Workday and Salesforce are both large enterprise SaaS companies but with different software categories — Workday owns HR and ERP, Salesforce owns CRM. They are generally complementary rather than competitive in enterprise accounts. Both are racing to embed AI into their platforms (Workday AI assistant, Salesforce Agentforce), but Salesforce is significantly larger with more diversified revenue streams and higher free cash flow generation.
WDAY vs CRM is a comparison between two mature enterprise SaaS platforms at different stages of AI monetization — Salesforce's Agentforce is the most commercially advanced AI product in enterprise software, while Workday's HCM system-of-record lock-in provides exceptional revenue stability if somewhat slower growth.
CRM holds the edge across 3 of 5 key metrics in this comparison. CRM has delivered stronger 1-year price return (-2.60% vs -16.97%), though WDAY has the better forward P/E setup (15.20x vs 16.19x for CRM). On fundamentals, WDAY is growing revenue faster (12.80%), while CRM maintains the higher operating margin (21.38%) — a classic growth-versus-profitability split. Analyst consensus implies similar upside for both: +3.10% for WDAY and +2.56% for CRM.
Human Wall Street analysts' price targets, typically implying a ~12-month view — a separate signal from this site's own AI Prediction Signal further down the page, which is a 5-/30-day machine-learning forecast based on price history alone.
- prefer the dominant HCM system-of-record with deep Fortune 500 workforce and financial data integration
- value a simpler, more focused enterprise software platform versus Salesforce's multi-cloud complexity
- want pure-play cloud HCM and ERP exposure with consistent subscription revenue growth
- are comfortable with slower growth versus Salesforce in exchange for deep system-of-record lock-in
- prefer the dominant enterprise CRM platform with Agentforce AI as a new monetization lever within a $35B revenue base
- value Salesforce's scale, free cash flow generation, and buyback capacity as a large-cap enterprise software anchor
- want multi-cloud CRM exposure across sales, service, marketing, and commerce with Slack collaboration
- are comfortable with maturing CRM seat growth in exchange for Agentforce AI upside and operating leverage
| Metric | WDAY | CRM |
|---|---|---|
| AI scorei | 41.3 | 51.4 |
| AI ranki | #1059 | #454 |
| Latest closei | $193.87 | $237.92 |
| 1M returni | -2.29% | +15.44% |
| 6M returni | +45.35% | +22.02% |
| 1Y returni | -16.97% | -2.60% |
How much would $10,000 be worth today if invested at the start of each period, with all dividends reinvested?
| Period | WDAY | CRM |
|---|---|---|
| 1Y ago | $8.3K (-17.0%) started 2025-09-18 | $9.74K (-2.6%) started 2025-09-18 |
| 5Y ago | $7.26K (-27.4%) started 2021-09-20 | $9.35K (-6.5%) started 2021-09-20 |
| 10Y ago | $21.87K (+118.7%) started 2016-09-19 | $33.07K (+230.7%) started 2016-09-19 |
Hypothetical — past performance does not guarantee future results.
| Metric | WDAY | CRM |
|---|---|---|
| Market capi | $48.41B | $210.69B |
| Trailing P/Ei | 40.83 | 23.42 |
| Forward P/Ei | 15.20 | 16.19 |
| Price/Salesi | N/A | 6.80 |
| EV/Revenuei | 4.80 | 5.50 |
| Analyst targeti | $207.10 | $262.54 |
| Target upsidei | +3.10% | +2.56% |
| Metric | WDAY | CRM |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue growthi | 12.80% | 10.80% |
| Earnings growthi | 206.00% | 118.90% |
| EPS growthi | +206.00% | +118.90% |
| FCF margini | +30.00% | +40.36% |
| Operating margini | 11.82% | 21.38% |
| Profit margini | 12.32% | 21.99% |
| ROIC proxyi | 16.01% | 19.38% |
| Return on equityi | 16.01% | 19.38% |
| Dividend yieldi | N/A | 0.69% |
| Payout ratioi | 0.00% | 15.68% |
| Dividend growth streaki | N/A | No increase yet |
| Betai | 1.05 | 1.15 |
| Debt/equityi | 58.39 | 110.42 |
| Current ratioi | 0.91 | 0.84 |
| Quick ratioi | 0.81 | 0.67 |
Over the past year, WDAY and CRM have moved moderately in the same direction (correlation of 0.69), based on daily returns.
Lower drawdown and smaller single-period drops generally indicate a smoother ride, though they do not guarantee lower future risk.
| Period | Metric | WDAY | CRM |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1Y | Growthi | -16.97% | -2.60% |
| CAGRi | -16.98% | -2.61% | |
| Volatilityi | 54.06% | 47.56% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | -0.16 | 0.08 | |
| Sortino ratioi | -0.25 | 0.13 | |
| Max drawdowni | 54.58% | 43.61% | |
| Current drawdowni | 21.73% | 10.63% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 29.63% | 20.30% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 34.43% | 24.56% | |
| Max daily dropi | 9.42% | 8.69% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 15.05% | 15.16% | |
| 5Y | Growthi | -27.44% | -7.20% |
| CAGRi | -6.22% | -1.49% | |
| Volatilityi | 41.64% | 39.46% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | -0.06 | 0.04 | |
| Sortino ratioi | -0.08 | 0.06 | |
| Max drawdowni | 63.38% | 59.08% | |
| Current drawdowni | 36.89% | 35.15% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 28.98% | 30.19% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 32.92% | 33.99% | |
| Max daily dropi | 15.33% | 19.74% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 20.18% | 23.19% | |
| 10Y | Growthi | +118.69% | +228.25% |
| CAGRi | +8.14% | +12.63% | |
| Volatilityi | 40.08% | 36.58% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | 0.28 | 0.38 | |
| Sortino ratioi | 0.41 | 0.56 | |
| Max drawdowni | 63.38% | 59.08% | |
| Current drawdowni | 36.89% | 35.15% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 19.98% | 18.81% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 25.40% | 25.11% | |
| Max daily dropi | 15.33% | 19.74% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 20.58% | 23.19% |
| Category | WDAY | CRM |
|---|---|---|
| Company | Workday, Inc. | Salesforce, Inc. |
| Sector | Technology | Technology |
| Industry | Software - Application | Software - Application |
| Core business | Workday provides cloud HCM and financial management applications for large enterprises, serving as the system-of-record for workforce data, payroll, benefits, and financial accounting. Its unified platform spans HR and ERP, eliminating integration complexity for large enterprises that would otherwise need multiple specialized systems. AI assistant capabilities are being embedded across all modules to automate routine HCM and finance processes. | Salesforce is the global CRM leader with Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, Marketing Cloud, Commerce Cloud, and Slack. Its Agentforce autonomous AI agent platform represents the company's most important growth initiative since the transition to cloud, enabling enterprises to deploy AI agents that handle customer service, sales qualification, and marketing workflows. Salesforce generates $35B+ in annual revenue with improving operating margins and a growing buyback program. |
| Investor focus | Investors track subscription revenue growth, RPO (remaining performance obligation), AI product adoption, and operating margin expansion as the company matures toward 25%+ adjusted operating margins. | Investors focus on Agentforce AI adoption and revenue ramp, RPO growth as a leading indicator, multi-cloud expansion within existing enterprise customers, and free cash flow per share generation for buyback capacity. |
- System-of-record for workforce and financial data at Fortune 500 companies creates extremely high switching costs
- Unified HCM + Finance eliminates integration risk between HR and ERP that legacy on-premises installations suffer from
- Consistent subscription revenue model provides predictable, high-margin recurring revenue
- Dominant enterprise CRM market position with decades of customer data and integration depth creating very high switching costs
- Agentforce autonomous AI agents are the most enterprise-ready AI CRM automation platform commercially deployed at scale
- Scale ($35B revenue) provides margin expansion opportunity and free cash flow for meaningful buybacks
- Growth rate deceleration as Workday approaches TAM ceiling in large enterprise HCM
- SAP and Oracle are both investing in cloud HCM to defend their installed bases against Workday migration
- AI adoption within Workday adds efficiency but may slow seat growth if AI automates the work of additional users
- Seat-based CRM growth is maturing — Agentforce must ramp quickly to sustain overall revenue growth expectations
- Integration and customization complexity makes Salesforce expensive for mid-market buyers relative to simpler alternatives
- Microsoft Dynamics and HubSpot are growing at Salesforce's expense in non-enterprise segments
Want deeper AI forecasts?
This comparison page is public and free forever. Subscribers can unlock saved watchlists, full AI rankings, detailed forecasts, and interactive analysis tools.
Full valuation workup with AI Score, Monte Carlo forecast, and bull/bear case — free preview, premium data from $3.99.