--- title: "Goldman Sachs is short DocuSign, growing 9% a year near 42 times earnings; December 3 earnings settle it" description: "Goldman's new Anti-AI Replacement basket shorts DocuSign as seat-priced software agents will rebuild; DocuSign prices its growth engine per agreement and opens its platform to every agent. The December 3 earnings print shows which of them is right." publisher: "The Inference" section: "Applications" published: 2026-10-25T17:01:19.730Z modified: 2026-10-25T17:01:19.730Z canonical: https://theinference.org/article/goldman-sachs-is-short-docusign-growing-9-a-year-near-42-times-earnings-december-3-earnings-settle-it language: en keywords: "DocuSign, AI Agents, Analyst Calls, Software, Earnings Preview" --- # Goldman Sachs is short DocuSign, growing 9% a year near 42 times earnings; December 3 earnings settle it > Goldman's new Anti-AI Replacement basket shorts DocuSign as seat-priced software agents will rebuild; DocuSign prices its growth engine per agreement and opens its platform to every agent. The December 3 earnings print shows which of them is right. [Goldman Sachs](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/goldman-sachs) has picked a side on [DocuSign](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/docusign), and the December 3 earnings print picks the other [1]. On October 20 the bank [launched an "Anti-AI Replacement" basket](https://gmteight.com/flash/detail/1209334): long the companies selling to AI, including [Cloudflare](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/cloudflare), [CrowdStrike](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/crowdstrike), [Palantir](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/palantir), [Oracle](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/oracle) and [Microsoft](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/microsoft); short the seat-priced workflow software agents may automate or rebuild, with DocuSign named alongside [Salesforce](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/salesforce), Monday.com, [Accenture](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/accenture) and [ServiceNow](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/servicenow) [1]. Two days later the stock [set a 52-week high](https://www.investing.com/news/company-news/docusign-stock-hits-52week-high-at-819-usd-93CH-4966423) of $81.90 [2]. Either Goldman is wrong that agents shrink DocuSign's fee base, or the market is wrong to pay a growth price for a 9% grower, and the next quarterly report decides which. ## The bear case is priced in, and it is the arithmetic The bet Goldman is pressing is the bear case everyone knows: a company growing revenue about 9% a year, priced near 42 times trailing earnings by one tally and 45 times by another, with the average analyst target below the price [3][4]. [Zacks' average of 15 analysts' targets stands at $71.00](https://www.ad-hoc-news.de/boerse/news/nebenwerte/zacks-cites-usd-71-00-target-for-docusign-stock-4-89-percent-below-price/70351263), 4.89% below the October 16 close [4]. Meanwhile the AI story is still a slice of the income statement: Intelligent Agreement Management, the platform that charges per agreement volume instead of per seat, grew from 12.6% to 15.1% of recurring revenue in the September quarter, with more than 300 million documents loaded [3]. *Chart: **IAM's slice is climbing fast, but total growth is still about 9%** IAM's share of DocuSign recurring revenue rose from 12.6% to 15.1% over the September quarter while total revenue grew about 9%.* *Percent: Intelligent Agreement Management's share of annual recurring revenue, prior and latest quarter, against total revenue growth of about 9% a year. Source: Ainvest, Two Claims on DocuSign's Next Dollar, October 18, 2026. [3]* ## DocuSign is selling the agent layer, not fighting it DocuSign's answer is that agents do not kill the agreement layer, they feed it. It [embedded IAM natively into Salesforce, Agentforce and Slack](https://www.theapextimes.com/articles/docusign-pushes-deeper-into-salesforce-with-intelligent-agreement-management-now-business) in mid-October [5], won a second straight Inc. Power Partner award while touting its Iris AI engine for agreements [6], and reports partnerships with [OpenAI](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/openai) and [Anthropic](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/anthropic). [Its Model Context Protocol server](https://theinference.org/article/openai-trained-gpt-6-at-ironclad-docusign-s-rival-docusign-opened-its-platform-to-every-ai), an open interface any AI agent can call, is generally available, and connectors let business owners work agreements from ChatGPT and Claude [6]. If agents multiply agreements, a per-agreement fee collects on each one. ## The judgment benchmark is both shield and clock The evidence on agent judgment, though, says not yet. Ivo, a contract-technology company, and micro1, a data lab, [tested seven leading AI models on 350 real-world contract-review tasks](https://www.artificiallawyer.com/2026/10/23/grok-top-for-contracts-al-on-hols-harvey-agents/): the best scored 58.3%, and the strongest finisher among the leaders completed just 80.8% of its rollouts [7]. Agents cannot yet do the judgment work DocuSign sells, so the per-agreement fee can survive; the same benchmark is the clock on when it cannot. ## What December 3 decides Watch the December 3 print [4] for one thing: whether IAM's share of recurring revenue keeps climbing while total growth inflects toward double digits. If it does, the agent layer is real and Goldman's short leg bleeds. If it does not, a premium price gets repriced to the 9% business it still is [3]. ## Takeaway Goldman is short DocuSign on the bet that AI agents rebuild seat-priced workflow software; DocuSign's answer is a per-agreement pricing model whose share of recurring revenue jumped from 12.6% to 15.1% in a quarter while the stock sits near 42 times earnings. Whether Intelligent Agreement Management keeps climbing as total growth moves toward double digits is what the December 3 report decides. ## Sources 1. [GMT EIGHT, Goldman Sachs launches "Anti-AI Replacement" thematic stock basket, 20 October 2026](https://gmteight.com/flash/detail/1209334) 2. [Investing.com, DocuSign stock hits 52-week high at 81.9 USD, 22 October 2026](https://www.investing.com/news/company-news/docusign-stock-hits-52week-high-at-819-usd-93CH-4966423) 3. [AInvest, Two Claims on DocuSign's Next Dollar, 18 October 2026](https://www.ainvest.com/news/claims-docusign-dollar-2610/) 4. [ad-hoc-news.de, Zacks cites USD 71.00 target for DocuSign stock, 4.89 percent below price, 18 October 2026](https://www.ad-hoc-news.de/boerse/news/nebenwerte/zacks-cites-usd-71-00-target-for-docusign-stock-4-89-percent-below-price/70351263) 5. [The Apex Times, DocuSign pushes deeper into Salesforce with Intelligent Agreement Management now integrated into Salesforce, Agentforce and Slack, 15 October 2026](https://www.theapextimes.com/articles/docusign-pushes-deeper-into-salesforce-with-intelligent-agreement-management-now-business) 6. [PR Newswire via MarketScreener, Docusign Recognized as a 2026 Inc. Power Partner Award Winner, 20 October 2026](https://www.marketscreener.com/news/docusign-recognized-as-a-2026-inc-power-partner-award-winner-ce785cd8d980f525) 7. [Artificial Lawyer, Grok Top For Contracts, AL on Hols, Harvey Agents, 23 October 2026](https://www.artificiallawyer.com/2026/10/23/grok-top-for-contracts-al-on-hols-harvey-agents/) --- Goldman Sachs is short DocuSign, growing 9% a year near 42 times earnings; December 3 earnings settle it — The Inference. Canonical: https://theinference.org/article/goldman-sachs-is-short-docusign-growing-9-a-year-near-42-times-earnings-december-3-earnings-settle-it