| Ticker | Direction | Speaker | Thesis | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SHORT |
Deirdre Bosa
Anchor/Reporter, CNBC Tech Check |
"Startup Altruist launched an AI tax planning tool yesterday, and it took billions off wealth management stocks." High-margin financial services (like tax planning) are being automated by AI. This commoditizes the service, destroying the pricing power and moat of traditional wealth management firms. SHORT. The market is "not waiting to find out who's right" and is selling incumbents immediately upon the release of competitive AI tools. Incumbents may acquire these startups or replicate the tools quickly. | — | |
| SHORT |
Deirdre Bosa
Anchor/Reporter, CNBC Tech Check |
"The market is essentially backing this guy up, saying, if AI can do the work, you don't need the software or the people who run it." Salesforce cut 1,000 jobs; Workday cut 2% of its workforce. The "seat-based" SaaS business model is threatened. If AI agents replace human workers, companies need fewer software licenses. The market is pricing in this existential risk to legacy "System of Record" companies. SHORT. These companies are viewed as "victims of AI disruption" and are actively shrinking headcounts while underperforming. AI integration into these platforms could eventually be accretive if they successfully pivot to agent-based pricing. | 2:00 | |
| LONG |
Deirdre Bosa
Anchor/Reporter, CNBC Tech Check |
"The race among top AI companies... is only accelerating." Anthropic has only ~4,000 employees but has caused "billions and billions in disruption." Value is shifting from labor-heavy legacy firms to lean, capital-efficient AI model providers. These companies generate massive disruption with a fraction of the overhead. LONG. These are the engines of the disruption, capturing the value lost by the software and services sectors. Regulatory hurdles or rapid commoditization of the models themselves. | 1:40 |