u/Mammoth-Water-4711 ·
Reddit — r/ValueInvesting
· May 23, 2026 at 16:36
· ⬆ 17 pts
· 💬 21 comments
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AI Summary
Summary
The post compares the recent SaaS selloff (ServiceNow, Salesforce) to the earlier "cyber 2.0" panic in CrowdStrike and Palo Alto Networks, where AI was feared to replace incumbents but instead partnered with them, leading to a recovery.
Author’s thesis: SaaS incumbents like ServiceNow are not being displaced by AI agents; rather, they are absorbing the new AI layer (workflows, permissions, data) – a pattern similar to the cyber bottom and recovery.
Quality assessment: Reasonably well-reasoned DD based on observable market narrative and specific data points (partner lists, price action timelines), though it relies on analogy rather than hard fundamental data. Speculative but actionable.
Score17
Comments21
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▶ Full Post Text
from january to early april CRWD and PANW got hit hard. the story was simple - AI finds vulns, AI replaces security vendors, cyber margins shrink.
then on april 7 anthropic launched glasswing.
and the whole point was the partner list. crowdstrike, palo alto, microsoft, cisco, google, apple. not AI-based startups. not chatgpt wrappers. the actual incumbents.
AI labs werent replacing the security layer. they were weaponizing it.
PANW and CRWD broke out of their april lows by may 20. basically erased the whole panic.
now software might be in the same phase.
servicenow is still down hard YTD. salesforce too. IGV well below its highs. current narrative: AI agents kill SaaS seats.
but look at what servicenow is actually doing. their AI layer embeds into the workflow, doesnt bypass it. permissions, data, integrations, audit logs, approvals, customer records - all that still has to live somewhere.
the playbook starts to feel familiar. first market prices in displacement. then data shows the incumbents arent getting replaced, theyre absorbing the new layer.
cyber bottomed at week 8 and fully recovered by week 14. saas is past week 12 and the recovery still hasnt fired. data inversion just starting.
am i missing something or is this literally the same setup?