Better IPO Stock: Anthropic vs. OpenAI

OpenAI and Anthropic, the companies behind ChatGPT and Claude, have waged war over control of the artificial intelligence (AI) revolution. Their latest funding raises have valued each company at nearly $1 trillion, making them two of the world's most valuable companies in just a few years. Soon, their battle for AI dominance could spill into the public markets.

Both OpenAI and Anthropic have filed confidential registration statements with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, paving the way for potential IPOs. It's still unclear when either company might officially go public, but it could be sooner rather than later as each continues to pursue funding to fuel its growth.

As investors have seen in recent weeks with Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX), IPO stocks can be a roller coaster ride. But which of these top AI companies is the better IPO stock? ChatGPT gave OpenAI early control of the AI market, but Anthropic has come on strong and looks like the better company to park your investment dollars at this point. Here's why.

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Anthropic hit a home run with enterprises

ChatGPT has a whopping 1 billion monthly active users worldwide, far more than Claude. But OpenAI's lean into the consumer market created an opening in the enterprise segment that Anthropic jumped on. Claude's strong performance in coding, writing, and other detail-oriented work won over corporate users. Now, approximately 80% of Anthropic's revenue comes from enterprises using its API (application programming interface) and developer tools.

Its concentration in enterprises has given Anthropic a huge boost. Its annualized revenue run rate has surged to $47 billion as of mid-2026, up from just $9 billion at the end of last year. That's a remarkable acceleration in roughly six months. On the other hand, OpenAI generates only about 40% of its sales from enterprises. It still depends heavily on a massive consumer base that's harder to monetize, since casual users are often reluctant to pay for premium subscriptions.

Winning the race to profitability

Both companies have been deeply unprofitable as they pump capital into funding research and development, and the infrastructure to support their growth. OpenAI had a net loss of approximately $38.5 billion last year alone, and currently believes it won't turn profitable until at least 2030. Anthropic had pegged 2028 as its first profitable year, but the company has grown so fast this year that it reportedly turned its first operating profit in the second quarter.

Investors shouldn't rush to judgment either way. Both companies are rapidly turning out new features and models, and that could make market share quite fluid for a while yet. Even for Anthropic, it's still unclear whether it can sustain the reported 130% revenue growth it enjoyed in the second quarter. If it can continue to grow and accelerate its timeline to profitability, at least enough to stem its cash burn and financially support itself, it's a potential game changer that makes an IPO stock more appealing.

Recently, reports emerged that OpenAI will enter the consumer hardware space with a smart home speaker. Hardware is often a low-margin product, and home speakers are already a crowded category. It's a huge risk for OpenAI that might pay off, but could also prove a distraction if the company is trying to run in too many directions at once.

Image source: Getty Images.

Anthropic is outgrowing its valuation

Assuming Anthropic reaches $47 billion in revenue this year, the company's latest funding round at a $965 billion valuation works out to approximately 20.5 times 2026 sales. OpenAI's last private funding raise valued the company at $852 billion, about 34.1 times its last disclosed revenue run rate of $25 billion for 2026. It's not a perfect comparison, since funding events and revenue estimates are sparse. That said, it's hard to justify OpenAI having a higher revenue multiple than Anthropic right now.

My prediction? That will flip-flop when Anthropic gets a massive valuation increase during its next fund raise. Perhaps that will happen amid an IPO. Either way, OpenAI seems to be fading while Anthropic builds momentum. If you're going to buy one of these IPO stocks when they go public, it's probably smarter to put your money in Anthropic until something big changes.

Justin Pope has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.