MW The sell-off in AI losers has been so steep that this famed activist investor has reportedly sprung into action

By Jules Rimmer

Elliott takes a stake in LSEG; Blackstone ups its stake in Anthropic

The performance dispersion between perceived AI winners and losers has been extremely pronounced in 2026

A report published by Barclays Wednesday describes how AI disruption is driving extreme stock dispersion. Those companies perceived to be on the losing side of AI trends have witnessed a major derating and are oversold tactically, so Barclays sees selective opportunities in the software, media/ internet and business services sectors.

So does Elliott Management and this may explain why the Financial Times reported it has bought an undisclosed stake in the London Stock Exchange Group. Although neither party has confirmed the press speculation, LSEG (UK:LSEG) shares climbed roughly 8% on Wednesday's opening print in London, before falling back to trade up 2.5% at GBP75.60.

LSEG had fallen prey to many of the trends articulated in the Barclays note, published Wednesday and authored by a team led by Emmanuel Cau. Fears of disruption by Anthropic's new Claude plug-ins led to widespread weakness in many data and software companies and LSEG was one of the most badly affected. Even after Wednesday's rally, the stock is down 15% so far in 2026 as it became a major player in data and analytics since its acquisition of Refinitiv in 2019.

As it to emphasize the contrasting fortunes of AI winners and losers, Bloomberg reported that Blackstone increased its stake in Anthropic by $200 million to $1 billion, valuing the Claude chatbot maker at $350 billion.

However, fears of disintermediation for LSEG's business model are probably overstated given the collaborative deal the company announced with Anthropic last autumn that enables the Claude app to utilize LSEG data. While Elliott has offered no explanation for its interest in LSEG, speculation suggests the hedge fund is urging LSEG to step up its share buyback program.

LSEG certainly qualifies as one of those stocks labelled as AI losers, as opposed to AI enablers, identified in the Barclays report. The performance gap between these two baskets or classifications stands at 95% over the last year, 32% so far in 2026. Winners have strong earnings per share momentum while losers like LSEG have been sold off without necessarily having their estimates cut by analysts.

Barclays refers to this trend as "sell first, think later." They note that, at present, earnings growth estimates for 2026 for the so-called loser' are in double digits with "momentum looking solid."

The risks are reflected in positioning, with Barclays noting hedge funds are largely absent from the AI losers while winning sectors like industrials, construction materials, semis and utilities seem well-owned according to hedge fund and long-only data.

To exploit the wide performance dispersion of AI winners and losers, Cau and team recommend a barbell approach. They recommend underweight business services and media/ internet and an overweight in software with specific calls on Experian (UK:EXPN), Adecco (CH:ADEN), RELX (RELX), Wolter Kluwers (NL:WKL), Scout24 (XE:G24), Vend (NO:VEND) and Autotrader (UK:AUTO).

Within financials Barclays finds the derating of exchanges and alternative asset managers overdone, especially LSEG.

-Jules Rimmer

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February 11, 2026 05:24 ET (10:24 GMT)

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