Indian IT stocks plummeted Friday, losing Rs 1.35 lakh crore in market value after Accenture's weaker-than-expected outlook fueled fears of AI disruption. Infosys led the decline with an 8% drop, as investors worry about generative AI's impact on traditional IT services.
Market veteran Dipan Mehta advises investors to be selective, highlighting mid-cap IT firms like Coforge and Happiest Minds as outperformers. He notes challenges for large-cap IT due to AI disruption and suggests opportunities in engineering R&D, specialty chemicals, and real estate, while cautioning on aviation.
Memory stock gains, fueled by AI demand, are under scrutiny. Analysts warn of the industry's historical cyclicality and potential disruption from new AI technologies, despite current supply constraints.
Memory stock rally fueled by AI demand faces warnings of cyclicality and potential disruption from new technologies like Google's TurboQuant. Analysts caution investors against assuming the industry's boom-and-bust past is over, especially with South Korean markets heavily reliant on Samsung and SK Hynix.
Equity Group Investments (EGI), backed by the Zell family, focuses on old-economy businesses (e.g., John Deere dealerships, bluefin tuna fisheries) to avoid AI disruption, leveraging long-term investment horizons and tax benefits like bonus depreciation.
Atlassian shares jumped more than 20% on Friday after the software company reported fiscal third quarter results beating Wall Street expectations, with EPS of $1.75 adjusted vs. $1.32 expected and revenue of $1.79 billion vs. $1.69 billion expected. Cloud revenue grew 29% year over year to $1.13 billion, while data center revenue came in at $561 million, both exceeding analyst estimates. CEO Mike Cannon-Brookes said concerns about AI disruption in the software sector may be overblown, noting customers continue expanding their use of Atlassian software. The stock remains down more than 45% year to date despite the rally.
Infosys slipped out of India's top 10 most valued companies on Monday, closing with a market capitalisation of just over Rs 4.7 lakh crore, ranking 11th behind LIC. TCS, once the second-most valued company, now ranks sixth with a market cap of Rs 8.9 lakh crore. The shifts are driven by AI-led disruptions challenging business models of India's software exporting majors, as IT stocks witnessed sharp sell-offs while the Sensex closed 639 points up at 77,304.
India's top software exporters are under pressure as Infosys and HCL Technologies report disappointing results, exacerbated by a weak global economy and AI disruption, leading to a sharp decline in the IT sector's valuation.
AI firms like OpenAI and Anthropic are poaching experienced sales and go-to-market executives from major software companies like Salesforce, Snowflake, and Datadog to drive enterprise growth. This trend highlights a shift in the AI talent war beyond researchers, as these companies increasingly focus on monetizing their technology through corporate clients.
Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas argues the iPhone cannot be disrupted by AI due to three key advantages: its role as a 'digital passport' storing personal data, Apple's custom Silicon chip advantage enabling local AI processing, and strong ecosystem lock-in with proven security and privacy reputation. Speaking on the This Week in AI podcast, Srinivas said these factors are 'really underrated.'
Software stocks tumbled Thursday as ServiceNow sank 17% (its worst day ever) and IBM dropped 9%, fueling concerns that AI tools from Anthropic and OpenAI will disrupt the cloud subscription model. Workday fell 10% and is down over 45% this year, while the iShares Expanded Tech-Software ETF fell 5% and is down 18% annually. Big tech giants Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, and Microsoft report Wednesday, with Apple following Thursday.
ServiceNow CEO Bill McDermott told CNBC the Middle East delays tied to the Iran war are a timing issue, not demand deterioration. The software company's Q1 subscription revenue grew 19% constant currency despite a 75 basis point headwind from delayed Middle East deals. Shares fell 13% after hours though results beat Wall Street expectations. McDermott also pushed back on AI disruption concerns, calling it a 'tailwind' for the company.
Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff is pushing back against concerns that AI will make traditional software companies obsolete, citing customer data showing 40% fewer human interactions and 40% fewer IT tickets. At Pearson, Agentforce autonomously handles order statuses, refunds and lost access codes, resolving 40% of customer questions without human interaction. At PenFed, the agent handles password resets and account unlocks, reducing IT tickets by 40%. Benioff argues that AI labs cannot replicate Salesforce's decades of experience in data security, regulatory compliance and industry-specific workflows.
Software stocks, including Oracle and Adobe, experienced a significant rally, clawing back year-to-date losses amid easing fears of AI disruption and hopes for a peace deal between Iran and the U.S.
