Shares of Salesforce rose Monday after Bank of America issued a vote of confidence in the stock, citing an AI strategy designed to protect the company from being disintermediated.

The bank upgraded the stock to "buy" from "underperform" and raised its target price to $285 from $160.

While there have been concerns that AI could render traditional enterprise software companies obsolete, BofA analysts noted that large corporations are unlikely to replace platforms that house their business logic, data, workflows and compliance frameworks. The upgrade was further supported by Salesforce's strong free cash flow and expected accelerating revenue growth.

The gain in Salesforce helped lift the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which was up about 0.5% Monday, outpacing both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq composite.