IBM Stock Tumbled More Than 13% Today — What’s Anthropic Got To Do With It?

• In a blog post, Anthropic said that tools like its Claude Code can automate the exploration and analysis phases in COBOL modernization.
• It works by mapping dependencies across thousands of lines of code, documenting workflows, identifying risks faster than human analysts, and providing teams with deep insights for informed decision-making, Anthropic said.
• COBOL is a programming language that is frequently employed in high-volume data processing, and is a core business area for IBM.

Shares of International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) plummeted more than 13% on Monday, wiping out most of its gains of the past year, after Anthropic announced Claude Code’s Common Business-Oriented Language (COBOL) capabilities.

In a blog post, Anthropic said that tools like its Claude Code can automate the exploration and analysis phases in COBOL modernization.

“With AI, teams can modernize their COBOL codebase in quarters instead of years,” Anthropic said.

COBOL is a programming language that is frequently employed in high-volume data processing, most often in banking and administrative systems, and government processes. The language is a core business area for IBM.

What Can Claude Code Do?

Anthropic said that Claude Code’s COBOL modernization is fundamentally different from typical legacy code refactoring.

It works by mapping dependencies across thousands of lines of code, documenting workflows, identifying risks faster than human analysts, and providing teams with deep insights for informed decision-making, Anthropic said.

The AI company argued that while COBOL is “everywhere,” handling about 95% of all ATM transactions in the United States, with hundreds of billions of lines of the language running in production every day to power critical systems in finance, airlines, and government, “the number of people who understand it shrinks every year.”

“AI excels at streamlining the tasks that once made COBOL modernization cost-prohibitive. With it, your team can focus on strategy, risk assessment, and business logic while AI automates the code analysis and implementation,” Anthropic said in the post.

Claude Code Security

Last week, Anthropic announced a new security feature in Claude AI, called Claude Code Security, that it said would scan code for vulnerabilities and suggest targeted fixes, leading to strengthened defenses against emerging AI-based threats.

The announcement led to a selloff in cybersecurity companies such as Crowdstrike Holdings Inc. (CRWD), Okta Inc. (OKTA), and Cloudflare Inc. (NET).

How Did Stocktwits Users React?

On Stocktwits, retail sentiment around IBM shares jumped from ‘bearish’ to ‘bullish’ territory over the past 24 hours, while message volumes jumped to ‘high’ from ‘low’ levels.

One user pointed out how modernizing critical COBOL systems would require much more than code analysis, adding that for core customers like large banks, and insurers, IBM's integrated ecosystem is still beneficial.

However, another bearish user pointed out IBM had lost their advantage after this announcement.

Shares of IBM declined about 14.7% in the past year.

For updates and corrections, email newsroom[at]stocktwits[dot]com.

Also Read: CRWD Stock Tumbles In Cybersecurity Rout — What Is Wall Street Saying?

Share

·

Add us on