Wall Street analysts and executives in sectors hit hard by the sell-off are battling the “AI fear.”
As stocks have plunged on fears that AI will squeeze margins and disrupt business models from software to logistics, experts argue that AI integration will benefit rather than hurt their businesses.
Figma (FIG) shares rose 6% on Thursday, reversing a 30% year-to-date decline after the cloud-based design software company saw a record number of new customers in 2025, with revenue and product development accelerating.
“Our growth and momentum show that our strategy is working,” Figma CEO Dylan Field said during the company’s earnings call. “As AI gets better, Figma gets better.”
The company reported that Figma Make, its AI-based tool for creating web applications and interfaces using natural language instead of traditional code, saw weekly active users increase by more than 70% quarter over quarter, while attracting new audiences and use cases.
The sell-off over fears of AI disruption has also hit logistics stocks. CH Robinson (CHRW) and Universal Logistics (ULH) fell by as much as double-digit percentages in one day last week. The culprit: A Florida-based small company announced an artificial intelligence platform that can increase freight volumes by 300% to 400% and reduce empty truck miles by 70%.
CH Robinson shares, which hit all-time highs earlier this month, have partially recovered this week.
“We’re just not going to let a moment of uncertainty really blur the difference between what is perception and reality,” CH Robinson CEO Dave Bozeman said in Yahoo Finance’s opening bid on Wednesday.
“And the reality is this: we are the disruptors and not the disrupted,” he added, as the company has been leading the integration of AI.
Wall Street analysts are pushing back against the knee-jerk reaction of other sectors hit by the “AI fear trade.”
Wedbush analyst Dan Ives pointed to buying opportunities in the cybersecurity sector, including CrowdStrike (CRWD), Palo Alto Networks (PANW), and Zscaler (ZS), down 7%, 16%, and 22% year-to-date, respectively.
“AI will be a big boost for the cybersecurity industry in the coming years as the protection of use cases, data and endpoints expands markedly,” Ives wrote in a note Tuesday.
Bernstein analysts also said that for most engineers, coding accounts for just one-sixth of all activities performed.
“In our view, the recent downgrade of technology sectors exposed to or adjacent to AI may be somewhat overstated,” wrote Bernstein analyst Venugopal Garre and his team.