AI Disruptees

Market speculation surrounding AI often leads to the mispricing of companies, as investors frequently overreact to potential technological disruption. Historical data, such as the TMT boom, demonstrates that the market struggles to accurately identify secular winners and losers, succeeding only about half the time. Charles Carter, a European Portfolio Manager at Marathon, emphasizes that companies with deep domain expertise and proprietary data sets—such as RELX, Experian, and vertical marketplaces like Rightmove—are better positioned to defend their moats against AI-driven competition than the market currently assumes. While some sectors like recruitment face genuine existential threats, businesses that leverage unique, non-public data and provide tangible value to their ecosystems remain resilient. Investors who wait for total clarity on AI’s impact risk missing critical market catalysts, as stock prices often anticipate shifts well before the full implications become apparent.