3 Software Stocks to Buy During the Pullback as AI-Driven Earnings Growth Accelerates

• Salesforce, Adobe, and HubSpot have each experienced sharp year-to-date declines in their share prices.
• However, despite the pullback, all three continue to deliver strong fundamentals, including double-digit revenue growth, industry-leading profit margins, and robust long-term earnings expansion forecasts.
• The analysis below examines why these companies are increasingly viewed as “buy-the-dip” opportunities in the current market environment.

Software equities have come under heavy selling pressure in 2026, with many major enterprise software names falling sharply on worries about AI-driven disruption, lengthening sales cycles, and a broader shift away from high-growth tech.

Despite this backdrop, industry leaders like Salesforce (NYSE:CRM), Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE), and HubSpot (NYSE:HUBS) continue to report strong operating performance while accelerating the monetization of AI capabilities.

As a result, these companies are now trading at multi-year low valuation multiples even as subscription revenues remain resilient and forward guidance is stable or improving. This disconnect is creating potential long-term entry opportunities for investors looking to accumulate high-quality growth names at discounted levels.

Salesforce (NYSE: CRM)

Year-to-Date Performance: -33.3%
Current Price: $176.53
Fair Value Estimate: $282.84 (+60.2% upside)
Market Cap: $144.4B

Salesforce has emerged as a notable laggard in 2026, with its share price down roughly one-third year-to-date amid broader software sector de-rating and concerns about moderating growth in its core business.

Even so, the company continues to demonstrate solid fundamentals, supported by AI-driven product enhancements and ongoing enterprise demand, which helps reinforce its long-term growth narrative despite near-term market weakness.

However, Salesforce’s AI initiatives—particularly Agentforce and its broader agentic AI suite—are beginning to show meaningful traction, with accelerating adoption and improving bookings momentum as enterprises integrate more autonomous workflow capabilities.

From a valuation standpoint, the stock now trades at levels well below its historical averages for a company of its scale and quality, which many analysts see as increasingly attractive. Salesforce is projected to deliver nearly 94.3% EPS growth, alongside an estimated 11.0% increase in revenue.

Wall Street consensus currently places a price target of $270.93, implying about 53.5% upside from current levels, while InvestingPro’s AI-driven models suggest roughly 60.2% upside, broadly aligning with a fair value estimate of $282.84.

With its next earnings report scheduled for June 3, 2026, Salesforce has an opportunity to reassert its leadership in both cloud software and AI-powered CRM solutions, potentially reinforcing investor confidence in its long-term growth trajectory.

Adobe (NASDAQ: ADBE)

Year-to-Date Performance: -29.7%
Current Price: $246.10
Fair Value Estimate: $398.38 (+60.1% upside)
Market Cap: $99.5B

Adobe has also been heavily sold off, with shares down nearly 30% year-to-date and now trading well below its 52-week high of $422.95. The decline reflects broader pressure across software stocks as well as investor concerns around AI disruption and shifting creative software dynamics.

At the same time, Adobe continues to make meaningful progress in integrating AI into its creative suite, strengthening its positioning in generative tools and workflow automation. This innovation cycle helps support its long-term growth outlook despite near-term volatility.

The company recently delivered another earnings beat in March, with both EPS and revenue surpassing expectations, driven by continued strength in its subscription-based business model.

Looking ahead, Adobe’s earnings are forecast to grow by 40.1%, while its free cash flow yield stands at an attractive 7.2%, a level that compares favorably with most peers in the software sector.

Momentum in its AI strategy is also accelerating. Adoption of Firefly generative AI tools has been strong, with generative credit usage rising more than 45% sequentially. Firefly-related ARR increased 75% quarter-over-quarter, while AI-first applications have more than tripled year-over-year, underscoring rapid integration of AI across Adobe’s product ecosystem.

With a forward P/E of just 10.5x, Adobe is trading at a notably compressed valuation despite its continued earnings strength and expanding AI-driven product momentum. Against this backdrop, a fair value estimate of $398.38 implies roughly 60.1% upside from current levels, reinforcing the view that the market may have overcorrected on the stock’s recent weakness.

HubSpot (NYSE: HUBS)

Year-to-Date Performance: -44.7%
Current Price: $221.76
Fair Value Estimate: $303.95 (+37.1% upside)
Market Cap: $11.4B

HubSpot has been one of the hardest-hit names in the software sector, with shares declining nearly 45% year-to-date amid widespread weakness across high-growth SaaS stocks and ongoing concerns about slower enterprise spending. As a result, the stock now trades well below its 52-week high of $344.71.

Despite the sharp correction, HubSpot remains a standout in the small-to-mid-cap software space, with its pullback reflecting more of a sector-wide de-rating than a deterioration in its underlying business fundamentals.

This sharp sell-off contrasts with HubSpot’s “Strong Buy” consensus rating, which reflects continued confidence in its underlying business strength.

The company has maintained solid growth in its inbound marketing and sales platform, while expanding AI-driven capabilities that enhance customer acquisition, automation, and retention tools.

Recent earnings reports have consistently delivered upside surprises in both revenue and profitability, reinforcing the durability of its SaaS model even in a more cautious spending environment. Looking ahead, the upcoming Q1 2026 results (expected on May 7) are seen as an important catalyst that could further validate HubSpot’s long-term growth trajectory.

At current levels, HUBS appears undervalued based on AI-driven quantitative models from InvestingPro, suggesting a potential 37.1% upside toward its estimated fair value of $303.95 per share.

This gap between price and intrinsic value highlights a meaningful dislocation in the stock, especially when combined with HubSpot’s strong competitive positioning in inbound marketing software and its expanding suite of AI-enabled tools that enhance customer acquisition, engagement, and retention.

Taken together, its resilient growth profile, innovation pipeline, and discounted valuation support the view that HubSpot remains an attractive buy-the-dip opportunity within the broader software sector.

Bottom Line

What unites Salesforce (CRM), Adobe (ADBE), and HubSpot (HUBS) is not just the magnitude of their recent selloffs, but the growing disconnect between depressed share prices and still-strong underlying business fundamentals.

Despite short-term concerns around software demand cycles and AI disruption, each company continues to demonstrate durable growth, expanding AI capabilities, and resilient recurring revenue models.

Historically, periods of heavy pessimism in high-quality software names have often proven temporary. For long-term investors able to tolerate volatility, these pullbacks may represent a rare opportunity to accumulate leading SaaS platforms at discounted valuations.