Barclays Identifies Software Companies Resilient to AI Disruption

Strategists at Barclays released a framework designed to identify software companies capable of surviving the industry disruption caused by artificial intelligence. The firm based its analysis on five historical technology shakeups, including the rise of streaming and smartphones, to determine that financial resilience is a more accurate indicator of survival than rapid growth or the sophistication of AI models.

Barclays identified four critical traits for survivors: low debt, high employee productivity, strong cash generation, and healthy profit margins. Using these criteria, the firm established a Resilient Software basket, ranking AppLovin, Freshworks, and InterDigital as the highest-rated companies in the software universe. Other top-rated firms include Zscaler, Veeva Systems, and Datadog.

This analysis arrives amid significant industry volatility. Barclays cited the recent acquisition of Airtable for $1.3 billion as a primary example of the current climate, noting that the price represents a steep decline from the company's 2021 valuation of over $11 billion.