Prediction: These Artificial Intelligence (AI) Stocks Will Be the Surprise Winners of the Software Sell-Off in 2026

While the market hovers near all-time highs, not every group of stocks has been a winner. In fact, there has been a brutal sell-off in the software-as-a-service (SaaS) space.

Right now, the growing sentiment is that organizations are just going to build their own custom software solutions through vibe coding, or that artificial intelligence (AI) is going to just going to help bypass the software layer. Every time a company like Anthropic makes an announcement about its Claude model, which is particularly strong with coding, SaaS stocks take a hit.

However, let's look at two SaaS stocks looking poised for an AI age that could become surprise winners later this year.

Image source: Getty Images.

ServiceNow

The SaaS companies that are most likely not only to survive the SaaS apocalypse but thrive in the era of AI are those that are deeply integrated into their customers' data and workflow. That slots perfectly into ServiceNow's (NYSE: NOW) wheelhouse. The company started as a leader in IT service management (ITSM) before expanding into the areas of human resources and customer service. One of its platform's strengths was its ability to connect siloed departments to build a unified system of record between departments.

This is a strong position to hold within the AI enterprise space because AI needs clean, unified data to avoid costly AI hallucinations (incorrect or made-up information). While AI hallucinations are generally an annoyance in a consumer setting when dealing with AI chatbots, they can be devastating if AI goes off the rails, potentially severely hurting a company's operations. Meanwhile, ServiceNow's platform is tightly embedded with its customer base through security protocols, custom business logic, audit trails, and security protocols that cannot simply be replaced or replicated.

At the same time, the company has embraced AI to help drive growth. Its generative AI suite of solutions, Now Assist, has hit $600 million in annual contract value and is now on track to reach $1 billion by the end of the year. Meanwhile, it is looking to become an agentic AI orchestration platform with its Control Tower solution. Its recent acquisition of Armis will add an asset visibility layer, while Veza adds rights permission.

With the SaaS sell-off, ServiceNow's stock has dropped to an attractive valuation. It now trades at just a forward price-to-sales (P/S) ratio multiple of 6.5 and a forward price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 24 times based on 2026 analyst estimates. Given its valuation and importance in the enterprise space, the stock could be a good rally candidate.

Salesforce

Another SaaS name caught in the SaaS sell-off that looks well-positioned for the long term in Salesforce (NYSE: CRM). The company is a leader in customer relationship management (CRM) software, while it has also added other layers to its software stack with Slack, Tableau, and MuleSoft.

Like ServiceNow, the company has always been good at providing its customers with a unified view of their siloed data. However, Salesforce has made some smart moves to take this to another level. This includes the launch of Data 360 (originally called Data Cloud), which unifies and organizes data from multiple sources, including cloud computing systems and data warehouses. It also smartly acquired master data management company Informatica, which can tap into data from legacy, on-premise databases.

This all sets the company up to be an organization's master record of data from which it can use as the basis of its agentic AI platform. While a lot of companies are chasing agentic AI, having that system of record is a big advantage, which should help it eventually become one of the main players in the space.

Meanwhile, Salesforce stock has been thrown on the clearance rack, trading at a forward P/E of just 13.5 times and a forward P/S multiple of just above 3.5 times. That could help set the stock up for a rally later this year.

Geoffrey Seiler has positions in Salesforce and ServiceNow. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Salesforce and ServiceNow. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.