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# Why AI Stocks Slid on Oct. 16, and What Investors Should Do Next
- URL: https://us.mikirduit.com/why-ai-stocks-slid-on-oct-16-and-what-investors-should-do-next/
- Published: 2026-10-17T13:44:32.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-17T13:44:32.000Z
- Description: The Nasdaq-100 fell 2.5% as credit stress at CoreWeave, sticky inflation and slowing growth at OpenAI and Anthropic rattled AI stocks. Some names now look cheap, but is it a real buying opportunity or a trap? Here’s what’s driving the drop and what investors should watch next.
- Author: Surya Rianto
- Tags: Stock Insight, Stocks

**Mikirduit –** The Nasdaq-100 fell 2.5% on Friday, Oct. 16, 2026, and AI-related tech stocks did most of the damage. The question now is whether this is a buying opportunity or a warning sign that prices could fall further.

### Key Takeaways

- **Credit stress, not just valuations, triggered the selloff.** CoreWeave’s five-year credit default swap spread jumped 1,100 basis points and its 2031 bond yield briefly hit 16%, raising fears about the heavy debt behind AI expansion. Hotter-than-expected inflation (3.7% in September) added pressure by raising the odds of higher interest rates.
- **Slowing growth at OpenAI and Anthropic shook investor confidence.** OpenAI’s annualized revenue came in at $50 billion versus the $68 billion previously cited, and Anthropic’s reported IPO valuation fell from $2 trillion to $1.5 trillion on concerns about decelerating growth.
- **Cheaper doesn’t mean safe.** Several AI stocks now trade below their five-year averages, but rising costs, higher rates and credit risk could hit chip demand. Short-term traders may see a technical rebound, while medium-term investors face elevated risk, with the real test likely coming in 2028-2029.

Two developments drove the selloff.

## Credit stress at CoreWeave spread through the AI trade

The first trigger was a sharp jump in borrowing costs for CoreWeave (CRWV), a major AI infrastructure company.

- **Credit default swaps (CDS):** CoreWeave’s five-year CDS spread rose by 1,100 basis points, or 11 percentage points. CDS works like insurance against a company failing to repay its debt, so a spike signals that investors see much higher default risk.
- **Bond yields:** According to S&P Global Market Intelligence, the yield on CoreWeave’s bonds due in 2031 briefly hit 16% before easing to 14%. Higher yields mean investors are demanding far more compensation to hold the debt.

Inflation made the situation worse. U.S. inflation reached 3.7% in September, above the 3.6% forecast and up from 3.4% the month before. Hotter inflation raises the odds of higher interest rates, which is bad news for AI companies carrying heavy debt loads. Investors are also asking whether these companies can generate enough profit to cover their borrowing costs.

The stress spread beyond CoreWeave to Oracle, Nvidia, STMicroelectronics, SpaceX, Amazon, Alphabet and Meta. Apart from CoreWeave and Oracle, the declines were generally more gradual.

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## OpenAI and Anthropic fell short of expectations

The second trigger was disappointing news from the two leading AI labs.

**Anthropic** held its Investor Day on Wednesday, Oct. 14\. It reported third-quarter 2026 revenue of $16.8 billion, up 45% from the previous quarter, and said it was profitable on an adjusted basis. Even so, investors worried that growth is slowing, since revenue had doubled to $11.6 billion earlier in the year. Anthropic’s expected IPO valuation has reportedly fallen to $1.5 trillion, down from $2 trillion.

**OpenAI** reported annualized revenue of $50 billion through September on Oct. 8, well below the $68 billion figure it cited in late September. The company explained that the earlier number was gross revenue, including amounts tied to its partners. OpenAI also said revenue grew 77% in the third quarter.

## Are AI stocks cheap now?

On some measures, yes:

- **Price-to-sales:** ServiceNow (NOW), Oracle (ORCL), Salesforce (CRM), CoreWeave (CRWV), Nvidia (NVDA) and Microsoft (MSFT) are all trading below their five-year averages.
- **EV/EBITDA:** The same group looks inexpensive, plus Amazon (AMZN).

## Perbandingan Valuasi Saham Terkait AI

Membandingkan P/S dan EV/EBITDA saat ini dengan rata-rata historis 5 tahun. Geser tabel ke samping jika menggunakan ponsel. 

| Saham                                                                                   | Price to Sales (P/S) | EV/EBITDA |                   |        |
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------- | --------- | ----------------- | ------ |
| Saat Ini                                                                                | Rata-rata 5 Tahun    | Saat Ini  | Rata-rata 5 Tahun |        |
| [NOW](https://id.investing.com/equities/servicenow-inc?ref=us.mikirduit.com)            | 10,0x                | 15,9x     | 49,8x             | 107,2x |
| [ORCL](https://id.investing.com/equities/oracle-corp?ref=us.mikirduit.com)              | 5,4x                 | 6,9x      | 15,3x             | 21,1x  |
| [CRM](https://id.investing.com/equities/salesforce-com?ref=us.mikirduit.com)            | 4,5x                 | 6,8x      | 16,9x             | 31,5x  |
| [TWLO](https://id.investing.com/equities/twilio-inc-a?ref=us.mikirduit.com)             | 6,7x                 | 5,7x      | 71,9x             | 11,5x  |
| [CRWV](https://id.investing.com/equities/coreweave?ref=us.mikirduit.com)                | 4,5x                 | 8,8x      | 21,1x             | 33,9x  |
| [NVDA](https://id.investing.com/equities/nvidia-corp?ref=us.mikirduit.com)              | 17,1x                | 26,2x     | 25,6x             | 58,9x  |
| [PANW](https://id.investing.com/equities/palo-alto-netwrk?ref=us.mikirduit.com)         | 24,4x                | 12,9x     | 175,9x            | 34,6x  |
| [CRWD](https://id.investing.com/equities/crowdstrike-holdings-inc?ref=us.mikirduit.com) | 43,2x                | 24,8x     | 2.144,6x          | 446,3x |
| [MSFT](https://id.investing.com/equities/microsoft-corp?ref=us.mikirduit.com)           | 11,8x                | 11,9x     | 20,5x             | 23,0x  |
| [AMZN](https://id.investing.com/equities/amazon-com-inc?ref=us.mikirduit.com)           | 3,5x                 | 3,1x      | 16,0x             | 21,3x  |
| [GOOGL](https://id.investing.com/equities/google-inc?ref=us.mikirduit.com)              | 9,3x                 | 6,6x      | 22,6x             | 18,0x  |

Di bawah rata-rata historis Di atas rata-rata historis 

Catatan: Angka mengikuti data yang diberikan. Label rata-rata 5 tahun mengikuti dataset; periode aktual dapat lebih pendek untuk saham dengan riwayat pencatatan terbatas. Warna menunjukkan perbandingan terhadap riwayat masing-masing saham, bukan kesimpulan murah atau mahal. 

Sector ETFs show where the pain has been concentrated:

| ETF  | Sector         | 1-week change | 1-month change |
| ---- | -------------- | ------------- | -------------- |
| SOXX | Semiconductors | \-11.8%       | \-5.0%         |
| HACK | Cybersecurity  | \-10.5%       | \-2.8%         |
| IGV  | Software       | \-7.4%        | \-1.4%         |

Semiconductors took the biggest hit. But a bigger drop doesn’t necessarily mean a bargain.

## Why chip stocks may not be cheap yet

If higher rates and tighter credit force AI companies to pull back on spending, orders for chips could slow, and chip prices could fall. Costs are also climbing across the board: industrial metals like tin and copper are expensive, chip prices are high, and interest rates are trending up. Meanwhile, revenue growth at OpenAI and Anthropic is cooling.

That leaves a basic question: can AI companies, from infrastructure builders to service providers, turn a profit after paying for all this expansion and the interest on the debt that funded it?

## The bottom line

The risks may not fully show up until 2028 or 2029, when the returns on today’s massive spending are tested against expectations. For that reason, we think it’s too risky to treat this as an entry point for medium-term investing, even though some stocks are trading below their five-year averages.

That doesn’t mean there’s no opportunity. For short-term traders, beaten-down AI stocks could produce at least a technical rebound. The key is to keep expectations modest, because the era of ever-bigger AI spending narratives looks to be peaking.

Once the hype fades, as it did with the dot-com startups, AI infrastructure stocks will likely trade more rationally, in line with realistic expectations for their earnings.

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