Software stocks plunge on ServiceNow, IBM results as AI fears escalate

Software stocks plummeted on Thursday as disappointing results from ServiceNow and IBM added to fears that artificial intelligence tools and services will disrupt their businesses.

Shares of ServiceNow sank about 18% Thursday, its worst day on record. The company narrowly beat Wall Street's estimates Wednesday, but said that conflict in the Middle East created a "headwind" for quarterly subscription revenue. IBM beat on earnings and revenue but maintained guidance. The stock dropped 8%.

Salesforce and Hubspot fell about 9% and 8% respectively. Adobe fell 7%, while Intuit and Oracle both dropped roughly 6%. Workday slid 9% Thursday, and is down over 45% this year. The iShares Expanded Tech-Software ETF (IGV), which generally tracks the sector, fell about 6% Thursday and is down about 19% this year.

The sector has been beaten down on concerns that AI tools from companies like Anthropic and OpenAI will displace the longstanding cloud subscription model.

Tech's biggest companies mostly report next week, with Alphabet, Amazon, Meta and Microsoft scheduled to release results on Wednesday, followed by Apple a day later.

Those companies have held up much better than the pureplay software vendors, mostly due to their central position in the AI boom. Microsoft, the one with the most software exposure, has been hit the worst, down 14% this year.