Teleperformance shares tumbled after a key U.S competitor lowered its guidance, raising renewed concerns around the impact of artificial-intelligence agents on customer-service outsourcing companies.
Trading in Teleperformance was briefly suspended after the stock sank as much as 15.5% in early European trade, before paring losses to trade down 10% at 46.76 euros.
Concentrix lowered its full-year revenue forecast after market close Monday, as clients reevaluated their need for its services. Shares in the Newark, California-based company are down 24% premarket.
"We are definitely seeing increased financial pressure on our clients as they try and cope with their own investment needs and their current operating environments," Concentrix's Chief Executive Officer Chris Caldwell said.
The results are concerning as they burnish fears that outsourcing customer services is a fast-withering industry, RBC Europe analysts Karl Green and Andrew Brooke wrote in a note to clients.
"Too many investors see the sub-sector as uninvestable," they said. "By far the biggest negative in our view is the comment that some clients have simply withdrawn customer support altogether in some areas."
The company's results are a clear example of the view that client experience functions are easy to replicate, the analysts said. Moreover, customers' pullback from Concentrix services once again raises the specter of AI stealing away outsourcing companies' business.
The results show "client spending [in] disarray at a time when agentic AI spend is reported to be out of control at some high-profile clients," the analysts said.
So far this year, Teleperformance and Concentrix shares are down 28% and 39%, respectively.
Write to Joe Stonor at josephmichael.stonor@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
June 30, 2026 06:57 ET (10:57 GMT)
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