Investing.com -- Morgan Stanley has pushed back against negative investor sentiment toward the software sector, telling investors in a note on Tuesday that the market has become "too negative on the group" and naming eight Overweight-rated companies best positioned for the AI era. Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Wood introduced a "Moat & Journey" framework to assess software durability and growth prospects, concluding that Microsoft, Palo Alto Networks, CrowdStrike, Cloudflare, Datadog, ServiceNow, Snowflake and Shopify represent its "highest conviction Overweights." Morgan Stanley "tend[s] to agree with the investor perception that the industry has become more mature," but sees "more opportunities than investors currently believe," maintaining an Attractive industry view. Morgan Stanley also assumed coverage of Salesforce and Intuit at Equal-Weight, and Adobe and Workday at Underweight, as part of its broader sector overhaul. Related articlesMorgan Stanley says software selloff has gone too far, names 8 winnersCiti pushes back Fed rate cuts to May after blowout January jobs reportWolfe Research outlines eight risks that could spark stock declines in 2026