Software stocks are getting treated like damaged goods in 2026.
Not because revenues collapsed overnight, but because investors are starting to believe AI agents will make a lot of SaaS products feel optional. If an agent can do the workflow, the subscription starts looking like dead weight.
That fear just got louder after Anthropic launched Claude Cowork, an agent-style assistant built largely using Claude Code.
Software Is Getting Left Behind
The iShares Expanded Tech Software ETF $IGV ( ▼ 1.28% ) is down more than 4% YTD, with only ~31% of holdings trading above their 200-day moving average.
That is not a healthy sector.
That is investors exiting.
AI Just Broke the “Build vs Buy” Model
For decades, companies bought SaaS because building internal tools was slow and expensive.
AI flips that.
If a domain expert can build internal workflows in hours using agents, the economics of paying recurring SaaS fees gets a lot harder to justify. 22V Research’s Jordi Visser summed it up: the agent timeline is no longer a 2027–2028 story.
It is happening now.
The Market Is De-Rating the Whole Category
A lot of software names have been valuation-crushed into the same bucket, converging toward EV to forward sales under 5.
Different businesses. Different growth. Same punishment.
Investors are pricing the whole group like it has a shrinking moat.
The Annoying Part: You Can’t Buy Anthropic
Many of the “disrupted” names sit inside major ETFs.
But the disruptor driving the fear, Anthropic, is private. So investors can sell software, but cannot easily buy the agent winner.
That makes the trade feel even more one-way.
Bottom Line
Claude Cowork did not kill software stocks.
But it reminded the market of the core threat: AI agents do not just help software companies. They replace what many of them sell.
And that is why chips are winning, while software wanders.