Anthropic's preliminary second-quarter revenue of $11.5 billion triggered a sell-off in software stocks, as investors interpreted the strong result as evidence that AI coding tools are cannibalizing traditional software spending.
Health Catalyst, GitLab, Elastic, and Marqeta all declined 3.8% to 7%, reflecting concern that enterprise customers are redirecting budgets toward AI assistants rather than expanding their existing software tools.
What happened
Bloomberg reported that Anthropic's preliminary second-quarter revenue topped $11.5 billion, triggering afternoon sell-offs in software stocks. Health Catalyst fell 7%, GitLab fell 4.5%, Elastic fell 3.9%, and Marqeta fell 3.8%.
Why it matters
The market had feared that AI coding tools like Anthropic's Claude Code and OpenAI's Codex could reduce enterprise software spending. Anthropic's strong revenue print suggests those tools are generating real sales, validating investor concerns that customers may redirect budgets away from traditional software toward AI assistants.
What to watch
Salesforce, expected to report earnings later in August, will signal whether customers are still expanding applications or shifting budget to AI. Health Catalyst's third-quarter revenue is expected to be $55.5 million, a sharp sequential decline from the $70.49 million in Q2.
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The market's reaction to Anthropic's $11.5 billion revenue figure reflects a shift in investor sentiment toward AI's near-term commercial impact. Earlier in August, CNBC had reported that software companies and their peers faced pressure from the possibility that AI coding tools could erode software spending. Anthropic's strong preliminary result appears to have validated that concern, suggesting the tools are not merely demonstrations but are generating substantial revenue. This fear had already surfaced before the announcement: software stocks had bounced following Microsoft's July 22 results, leaving the sector exposed if those competitive concerns resurfaced.
Health Catalyst's situation illustrates the broader unease. The company had delivered a 7% decline in a single session, but the article notes this fits within its pattern of extreme volatility—the stock has recorded 53 moves greater than 5% over the past year. More telling is Health Catalyst's own guidance: it lowered third-quarter revenue expectations to $55.5 million from the prior-quarter level of $70.49 million, and cut full-year 2026 revenue guidance to $247.5 million at the midpoint, a 5.7% decrease. This sharp downturn suggests the company is experiencing real headwinds, though the article does not explicitly attribute them to AI competition.
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