What Happened?

A number of stocks jumped in the afternoon session after analysts suggested that the recent "SaaSpocalypse" sell-off had pushed valuations into deeply oversold territory, sparking a wave of opportunistic buying. 

While the sector had been hammered in early 2026 by fears that autonomous AI agents would replace traditional seat-based subscriptions, institutional investors began rotating back into "sticky" incumbents. This shift was fueled by a Barclays report arguing that corporate transitions away from legacy systems take years, not weeks, providing a protective moat for established providers in compliance and governance.

The stock market overreacts to news, and big price drops can present good opportunities to buy high-quality stocks.

Among others, the following stocks were impacted:

• Vertical Software company Bentley Systems (NASDAQ: BSY) jumped 3.2%. Is now the time to buy Bentley Systems? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
• Data Infrastructure company Teradata (NYSE: TDC) jumped 2.9%. Is now the time to buy Teradata? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.

Zooming In On Bentley Systems (BSY)

Bentley Systems’s shares are not very volatile and have only had 6 moves greater than 5% over the last year. In that context, today’s move indicates the market considers this news meaningful, although it might not be something that would fundamentally change its perception of the business.

The previous big move we wrote about was 6 days ago when the stock dropped 6.3% on the news that fears of disruption from artificial intelligence spooked investors, leading to a broad-based sell-off. The market witnessed a "basket-style reaction," a term for when investors reduce exposure to an entire segment without differentiating between individual company business models. The negative sentiment was widespread, pulling down all of the Magnificent Seven stocks and sending the S&P 500 Information Technology Sector down nearly 3%.

Bentley Systems is down 9.8% since the beginning of the year, and at $34.42 per share, it is trading 41.4% below its 52-week high of $58.72 from July 2025. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of Bentley Systems’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $735.47.

While Wall Street chases Nvidia at all-time highs, an under-the-radar semiconductor supplier is dominating a critical AI component these giants can’t build without. Click here to access our full research report, it’s free.