Shares of major tech and artificial intelligence (AI) stocks are falling today, as fears over slower economic growth and President Donald Trump's tariffs continue to take center stage. The Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC +1.59%) has now fallen into correction territory and is down roughly 11.8% since Feb. 18.
Shares of Alphabet (GOOGL +1.28%) traded 5% lower as of 11:17 a.m. ET today. Meanwhile, shares of Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM 1.04%) traded down 4.2%, while shares of Oracle (ORCL +4.18%) were down 4.1%.
Google gets reprieve but isn't out of the woods
Investors are still selling as they worry about (1) economic data further pointing to a slowdown, and (2) President Trump's tariffs, which have catapulted into a trade war that seems to change by the day. However, there was also a lot of company-specific news.
On March 7, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) rescinded a claim that asked a federal judge to force Google to sell its holdings in certain artificial intelligence companies including OpenAI competitor Anthropic. The DOJ previously sued Google for monopolistic ad and search practices, allegations that a federal judge agreed with last year.
NASDAQ: GOOGL
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Following the suit, the DOJ made a number of punitive proposals to a federal court. While the DOJ dropped the proposal regarding Anthropic, it didn't drop its request to have Google sell its Chrome browser, a move that would clearly shake up the entire search industry if granted by a judge. Many have wondered how President Trump's deregulatory approach might impact this case, and the DOJ's recent filings suggest that it still plans to take a tough approach with Google, at least for the time being.
Analysts at Moffett Nathanson issued a report following the DOJ's filing and said that the DOJ is "not calling off the dogs." The firm also called the filings a "disappointment" that also "shouldn't be a surprise." Trump did take a pretty aggressive approach to big tech during his first term.
In other news, this morning, Taiwan Semiconductor said that its revenue in the first two months of 2025 surged 39% year over year, citing strong demand for AI chips. The news builds on momentum from January when the company reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings and said AI demand continues to be strong.
NYSE: TSM
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Oracle will report its third-quarter fiscal earnings after the market closes today, and analysts are largely bullish heading into the report. Wall Street is forecasting an 11% increase to adjusted earnings per share from the prior quarter, while revenue is expected to rise 8%, according to FactSet.
NYSE: ORCL
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More reasonably valued names
Many tech and AI stocks now face pressure, with elevated valuations running into a wall, largely due to broader economic and market concerns. Stocks with higher valuations are going to be more susceptible to bad news.
That said, if you're still looking to buy tech and AI stocks, you could do a lot worse than Alphabet, Taiwan Semiconductor, and Oracle. All three now trade between 18x and 24x forward earnings.
Alphabet could have significant upside from its AI capabilities not yet being priced into the stock. Taiwan Semiconductor continues to produce solid results, and analysts seem optimistic heading into Oracle's earnings. These are also companies expected to be at the helm of AI and tech for the foreseeable future.
