Wall Street points to signs the AI scare sell-off is overblown

Ines Ferré · Senior Business Reporter

Fri, February 20, 2026 at 3:12 AM GMT+9 2 min read

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Wall Street analysts and executives in sectors hard-hit by sell-offs are pushing back against the “AI scare.”

As stocks sank on fears that AI will shrink margins and disrupt business models from software to logistics, insiders are arguing that AI integration will benefit rather than detract from their businesses.

Figma (FIG) stock rose 6% on Thursday, reversing a 30% year-to-date decline after the cloud-based design software company noted a record number of new customers in 2025, with accelerating revenue and product development.

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“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-powered tool for creating web apps and interfaces using natural language rather than traditional code, saw weekly active users rise more than 70% quarter over quarter, while attracting new audiences and use cases.

The sell-off over fears of AI disruption has also impacted logistics stocks. C.H. Robinson (CHRW) and Universal Logistics (ULH) sank as much as double-digit percentages in one day last week. The culprit: a small Florida-based company announced an AI platform that can scale freight volumes by 300% to 400% and reduce empty trucking miles by 70%.

Shares of C.H. Robinson, which hit all-time highs earlier this month, have partially bounced back this week.

“We’re just not going to let a moment of uncertainty really blur the difference between what is perception and reality,” C.H. Robinson CEO Dave Bozeman said on Yahoo Finance’s Opening Bid on Wednesday.

“And the reality is this: We are the disrupter and not the disrupted,” he added, as the company has been leading in AI integration.

Specialist Patrick King, left, and trader Robert Charmak work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on Feb. 19. (AP Photo/Richard Drew) · ASSOCIATED PRESS

Wall Street analysts are pushing back against the knee-jerk reaction across other sectors hit by the “AI scare 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 major tailwind to the cyber security sector over the coming years as protection of use cases, data, and end points expand markedly,” Ives wrote in a note on Tuesday.

Bernstein analysts also said that for most engineers, coding is barely a sixth of all activities performed.

“In our view, the recent de-rating of AI-exposed or AI-adjacent sectors within technology may be somewhat overdone,” Bernstein analyst Venugopal Garre and his team wrote.

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“Over time, AI is likely to be absorbed into the toolbox of enterprise technology rather than replacing it entirely,” Garre added.

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Ines Ferre is a senior business reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on X at @ines_ferre.

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