After a sharp selloff in AI-related trades, Anthropic chose this moment to open its books to potential IPO investors, effectively setting a test for itself. When Wall Street looked closely, the overall verdict was approval. The company generated $16.3 billion in revenue in the first half of this year alone, up more than 1,300% from the same period in 2025 — a figure investors may not have found surprising. What truly impressed them was that the company behind Claude has broad and diversified adoption among enterprise customers, and the market showed tolerance for a possible growth slowdown.
"What matters more to me is that their recurring revenue comes from a growing number of enterprise customers and is not concentrated," Max Gokhman, head of AI and digital asset solutions at Franklin Templeton, said in an interview. The prospectus shows that in the first nine months of 2026, about 79% of Anthropic's revenue came from outside its top five customers. "That's a pretty solid number," Gokhman said.
Another figure that caught many people's attention: as of the end of June, the company held $131.7 billion in cash and cash equivalents. For Yuri Khodjamirian, chief investment officer at Tema ETFs, that number was surprising given that the company has raised only $141.1 billion in total funding to date. "Just putting those two numbers together, it means the company has basically built this business spending only $9 billion so far," Khodjamirian said. "They have a lot of compute commitments, lease commitments and things like that to fulfill in the future. But that's quite remarkable."
"A more bullish conclusion is actually this: this is a profitable business with enough cash on the balance sheet to support its future growth," he added. "That's a very positive signal."
The prospectus has reinjected investor enthusiasm into the AI trade. Over the previous two weeks, that trade had been hit by market concerns over the scale of debt-fueled infrastructure buildout and how much return the largest companies would generate from their massive investments in this emerging technology. A batch of hyperscalers will report earnings this week, and Monday's trading provided a calmer backdrop for that — last week, Meta Platforms (META.US)'s massive capital expenditures had driven investors out of risk assets. The Nasdaq 100 index surged 1.1% on Monday after two consecutive weeks of declines; the S&P 500 rose 0.7%; and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index, which measures chip stocks, climbed 2.8%.
"Anthropic's S-1 undoubtedly stirred far more greed than fear," said Gokhman of Franklin Templeton. "The contents of that S-1 weren't too surprising for those who have been paying close attention, but it somewhat confirmed the growth potential on the enterprise side. I think that's probably one of the biggest reasons for the overall rebound in AI-related stocks — they were the hardest hit over the past few weeks, and now a bounce makes sense."
Meta also said on Monday that it had expanded its planned offering of common and preferred stock from $95 billion, announced before Anthropic filed its prospectus, to nearly $98 billion. "They're smart: get a big chunk of money now while you still can, because today it may feel a bit expensive, but if AI debt concerns come true, by next year when they really need the money, it will become very expensive," said Alexander Morris, chief investment officer at FM Investments. "The fear is being left behind, so whatever others have done, we also have to plant our own flag, just to remind people not to spend all their money on this flashy new thing."
Meta shares fell more than 1.8% on Monday, extending last week's decline. Still, investors believe market demand is sufficient to absorb this new offering and Anthropic's upcoming IPO. "There will be more differentiated judgments to make in the future, and we will be able to define who the potential winners and losers are," Gokhman said. "But it's too early to draw conclusions now. I think the most reasonable approach right now is to hold a diversified basket, and then gradually adjust allocations as it becomes clearer who is more dominant in each area."
Comments