monday.com is placed in D tier, as AI agents are expected to manage tasks and deadlines, making separate work management tools unnecessary.
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Most SaaS Stocks Won't Survive AI (Ranked)
Investing Moats with VarunMar 30, 2026
The creator ranks 18 SaaS stocks based on their AI resilience, categorizing them from S tier (AI helps) to D tier (AI kills). Salesforce and Adobe are placed in C tier due to AI risks and potential for seat compression and competition, respectively. Shopify is S tier due to its strong AI integration and founder's vision. Zoom is D tier, facing significant threats from AI-enhanced productivity tools from Microsoft and Google. Palantir is S tier for being AI-native, while HubSpot is D tier due to its SMB customer base's vulnerability to cheaper AI solutions. CrowdStrike, Cloudflare, and Datadog are all A tier, benefiting from increased AI adoption in cybersecurity and infrastructure monitoring. The creator discusses the impact of AI on various SaaS companies, ranking them based on their perceived moat and risk. Companies like Constellation Software, Topicus, and Lumine Group are placed in B tier, with Lumine Group being the riskiest. ServiceNow is also in B tier, facing competition and pricing concerns. Snowflake is in B tier due to competition and hosting fees. Intuit and monday.com are in D tier due to AI's potential to disrupt their core businesses. Atlassian is in the low C tier, and Workday is in C tier, both facing risks from AI automation.
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Atlassian is in the low C tier, as AI players aim to automate project management, potentially making tools like Jira unnecessary.
Intuit is placed in D tier due to the high risk of AI disrupting its tax services, potentially eliminating its advantage.
Snowflake is mentioned as a SaaS stock impacted by the market downturn, but no specific AI thesis is provided in this segment.
Workday is mentioned as a SaaS stock impacted by the market downturn, but no specific AI thesis is provided in this segment.
ServiceNow is mentioned as a company where switching costs are high, implying resilience, though AI's ability to generate apps quickly is a potential threat.
Constellation Software (CSU) is rated A tier for its strategy of acquiring and managing niche vertical market software businesses, creating high switching costs.
Datadog is rated A tier, as increased AI workloads require more infrastructure monitoring, although its moat may be narrower than CrowdStrike or Cloudflare.
Cloudflare is an A tier pick, positioned to benefit from the infrastructure needs of increasing AI agent web traffic and data access.
CrowdStrike is rated high A tier for being AI-native in cybersecurity, benefiting from increasing threats as AI advances, and demonstrating strong customer retention.
HubSpot is placed in D tier due to its SMB customer base being susceptible to cheaper, good-enough AI solutions and personalized software alternatives.
Palantir is rated S tier for its AI-native architecture and ontology, which strengthens as LLMs improve, despite concerns about valuation and leadership theatrics.
Zoom is a clear D tier pick, as AI-enhanced productivity in meetings will lead to churn and loss of market share to bundled solutions from Microsoft and Google.
Shopify is rated S tier for its strong positioning to capture non-Amazon e-commerce and its internal culture of AI adoption and founder-led innovation.
Adobe is placed in C tier due to concerns about consumer and agency side disruption from AI creation tools, despite enterprise strength.
Salesforce is ranked C tier due to AI risks, potential seat compression, and leadership focus on marketing over AI innovation.