What Happened?
Shares of smart property technology provider Alarm.com (NASDAQ: ALRM) fell 6.3% in the afternoon session after quarterly results from two major companies raised fresh questions about AI's impact on the sector.
IBM declined about 10% after reporting slower Q1 revenue growth, with weakness in its software business. ServiceNow also fell after noting that delayed deals in the Middle East, tied to the Iran conflict, would affect its subscription revenue growth. NOW also expects recent investments in AI to weigh on margins in the near term.
The sector-wide move reflected an ongoing debate. Some investors have questioned whether AI tools will reduce demand for traditional software or change existing license models. The results were likely read through that lens, which contributed to selling across software names beyond the two companies that reported. Though neither cause was strictly about AI suggesting the contagion was thematic not fundamental. Also, given ServiceNow was viewed as AI-resilient, its miss weakened the "safe SaaS" case, causing some analysts to lower their estimates.
The stock market overreacts to news, and big price drops can present good opportunities to buy high-quality stocks. Is now the time to buy Alarm.com? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
What Is The Market Telling Us
Alarm.com’s shares are not very volatile and have only had 5 moves greater than 5% over the last year. In that context, today’s move indicates the market considers this news meaningful, although it might not be something that would fundamentally change its perception of the business.
The previous big move we wrote about was 14 days ago when the stock dropped 4.2% on the news that reports of a ceasefire breach in the Middle East spiked market volatility as fears grew that a fragile U.S.-Iran truce would unravel.
This tension was compounded by Anthropic’s launch of Managed Agents, autonomous AI systems that execute complex tasks. Traders were worried these would disrupt the traditional SaaS (Software as a Service) model, by replacing human-operated tools with more efficient AI workers. The sell-off intensified after short seller Michael Burry claimed (in a deleted social media post) Anthropic was "eating Palantir’s lunch." Burry’s comments highlighted the vulnerability of legacy platforms to Anthropic’s AI solutions.
Alarm.com is down 15.9% since the beginning of the year, and at $43.09 per share, it is trading 29% below its 52-week high of $60.68 from May 2025. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of Alarm.com’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at only $462.71.
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