Agentic artificial intelligence (AI) cannot both disrupt all software companies and simultaneously boost the companies benefitting from the capital expenditure required to build it out.
This is the view of Kent Hargis, chief investment officer of Strategic Core Equities at AllianceBernstein, who suggested the recent broad sell-off in software stocks may be overlooking a key point.
“In the long run...
The strongest version of this narrative is that AI disruption is not a zero-sum game where software companies uniformly lose while semiconductor firms win. Hargis makes a compelling case that monetization matters as much as capex, and that past disruptions have shown resilience and adaptation are possible. His historical examples—Walmart outvaluing Amazon, Visa and MasterCard thriving despite competition—underscore that incumbents can evolve. Wong’s caution about emerging markets adds a layer of...