As the investment community looks ahead to 2026, Barclays has singled out notable performers within the US software market sector poised for significant expansion. Their strategic analysis identifies companies uniquely positioned to harness artificial intelligence developments while maintaining attractive valuation metrics in today’s financial climate.
The firm’s top selections include both well-established industry giants and smaller emerging entities, each benefiting from distinct operational drivers that could lead to outperformance in the coming year. Presented below is an in-depth examination of Barclays’ leading recommendations.
Salesforce (NYSE:CRM)
Barclays lists Salesforce among the favored software names for 2026, despite recent skepticism from investors. Challenges have stemmed from a slowdown in growth attributed largely to difficult year-over-year comparisons from the 2020-2021 COVID period. Additional concerns revolve around the potential for AI advancements to diminish seat demand.
However, Barclays considers these apprehensions either exaggerated or mistimed. The bank forecasts a renewed acceleration in committed remaining performance obligations (cRPO) alongside organic revenue growth in 2026. This optimism is supported by more favorable comparisons, expanded sales force capacity, and the commencement of revenue inflows from AI-driven offerings such as Agentforce. Presently trading at an estimated 14 times enterprise value to free cash flow for calendar year 2027, Salesforce is viewed as a compelling opportunity for investors to reassess.
Recently, Goldman Sachs initiated coverage on Salesforce with a Buy recommendation, highlighting the company’s Agentforce AI strategy as a potential value driver. Additionally, Salesforce launched the broadly accessible, AI-enhanced Slackbot designed for enterprise customers, demonstrating ongoing innovation within its product ecosystem.
Oracle (NYSE:ORCL)
After a turbulent 2025, described by Barclays as a "roller coaster," Oracle is anticipated to experience a steadier year in 2026, reinforcing its status as a prominent high-growth technology asset. Barclays outlines two significant factors supporting this outlook.
First, Oracle’s substantial remaining performance obligation (RPO) portfolio is expected to progressively convert into recognized revenue, especially during the latter half of 2026. This conversion is expected to affirm the quality of contractual agreements and validate management’s forecast for gross margins related to AI workloads, projected in the range of 30 to 40 percent.
Second, investor clarity on Oracle’s funding strategies is expected to improve as the year advances. Management remains committed to maintaining investment-grade credit ratings, which is viewed favorably. After Oracle retreated from gains realized in September—linked to a spike in RPO levels—the current valuation of approximately 22 times forward price to earnings for calendar year 2027 is regarded as attractive for an entity poised for considerable multi-year earnings growth.
Oracle’s recent activities include participation in an investor consortium anticipated to finalize an acquisition of TikTok’s US operations. Meanwhile, Morgan Stanley downgraded its price target on Oracle amid concerns about capital commitments for building AI infrastructure. Guggenheim, in contrast, upheld its Buy rating for the company.
DigitalOcean (NYSE:DOCN)
Within the smaller-cap segment, Barclays identifies DigitalOcean as the preferred choice. The company is undergoing a strategic shift under new leadership, moving away from previous prioritization of profitability toward accelerating innovation and enhancing positioning within the AI sector.
DigitalOcean is differentiating itself by focusing on the AI inference market rather than competing head-to-head with major hyperscalers on large-scale data center development for AI model training. The inference segment requires less compute capacity but offers superior gross margin potential. Barclays notes that inference is projected to be the dominant portion of the AI market over the long term, presenting the possibility of sustained growth without massive capital outlays. Plans call for approximately 30 megawatts of AI capacity to be launched imminently, which should support faster revenue expansion.
Following better-than-expected financial results in the third quarter of 2025, the company has advanced its revenue growth target of 18-20% by a year to 2026. Additionally, DigitalOcean has recently appointed a former Oracle Cloud executive as Chief Product and Technology Officer to drive the development of its platform strategy.
This article was prepared with assistance from artificial intelligence tools and subsequently reviewed by editorial staff for accuracy and clarity.