Fall Earnings Will Test Whether These Tech Selloffs Went Too Far

Design software, AI services, and insurance data all face a report card this fall.

September 25, 2026

Design software, AI-driven services, and insurance data all report over the next two months, and each one comes down to a single number you can watch. All of these names trade well off their highs, so the bar going in is low.

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Consumer Hardware

Meta’s New VR Glasses Bring IMAX Movies Into the Home

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: META) has introduced Meta VR Glasses, a $1,299.99 system scheduled to arrive in spring 2027. The glasses weigh about 100 grams, with the computing hardware, battery, and storage moved into a separate pocket-sized puck.

The device uses micro-OLED panels to create what Meta calls a 5K Infinite Display, delivering 37 pixels per degree. Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Reality Elite processor handles the computing work while Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos support the visual and audio experience.

IMAX Movies Move Onto the Glasses

Meta says the device is the first VR product certified for IMAX Enhanced entertainment. Disney+, Prime Video, YouTube, Peacock, HBO Max, and other streaming services are preparing movies and 3D content for the platform.

Once you put the glasses on, you can also watch immersive live sports with 8K streaming and 180-degree views. Meta expects to carry more than 100 live sporting events each year through ESPN, MLB, NBC Sports, TNT Sports, and UFC.

A Workspace Without Controllers

Meta is also positioning the glasses as a portable computer capable of creating several private virtual screens. Any flat surface can become a keyboard and touchpad, reducing the need to carry extra equipment.

Meta AI is built into the operating system, while voice commands, eye tracking, and hand gestures replace physical controllers. The hardware moves Meta beyond bulky headsets and toward lighter VR designed for movies, work, sports, and gaming.

Logistics

Amazon Opens Its Prime Shipping Network to Outside Stores

Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) has opened its Prime delivery network to merchants selling through their own websites.

Businesses using Multichannel Fulfillment can now add fast, free Prime shipping without replacing their existing checkout, payment, returns, or customer-service systems.

Amazon verifies Prime membership after checkout, so the purchase stays entirely on the retailer’s website. Merchants pay standard fulfillment fees, while the Prime badge and delivery benefit carry no additional service charge.

Lower Fees Target Multichannel Sellers

Amazon also introduced the MCF Preferred Pricing Program for FBA sellers fulfilling orders from websites, marketplaces, and social channels. It provides savings of 15% to 25% during the first six months and applies discounts automatically after enrollment.

A single inventory pool can support sales arriving from several platforms, reducing the need for separate stock and fulfillment systems. Merchants can join through Seller Central without signing a contract or committing long-term.

Amazon Builds a Wider Retail Network

Shopify merchants can activate the service through the Amazon MCF and Buy with Prime app. Amazon plans more integrations through its Selling Partner API and outside fulfillment software providers.

Prime started as a membership benefit tied closely to Amazon.com. The new program pushes Amazon deeper into outside commerce, giving it a role in storage, packing, and shipping even when another retailer controls the storefront and transaction.

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Software

Qualcomm Moves Deeper Into Robotics Software

Qualcomm (NASDAQ: QCOM) has agreed to acquire PickNik, the robotics software company responsible for the widely used MoveIt framework.

The deal adds motion planning, manipulation, perception, and real-time control technology to Qualcomm’s expanding robotics business.

MoveIt is built on the Robot Operating System and is used across industrial automation, service robotics, research, and mobile manipulation. Its software helps robots calculate movements, handle objects, understand their surroundings, and complete physical tasks.

MoveIt Connects Chips to Robotic Motion

Qualcomm plans to integrate MoveIt more closely with its Dragonwing robotics processors and development platforms.

The connection will help translate instructions from vision and language models into movement planning, object handling, and real-time machine control.

MoveIt Pro and future PickNik technology will also receive optimized support across Qualcomm’s robotics hardware. Qualcomm plans to integrate Arduino boards to make advanced motion controls available to a broader developer community.

Open Source Remains Part of the Plan

Qualcomm says MoveIt 1 and MoveIt 2 will remain open source, community-driven, and available across third-party hardware. Developers will not need to use Qualcomm processors to keep working with the framework.

Both companies are founding members of the Open Source Robotics Alliance and already support projects including Space ROS.

The acquisition gives Qualcomm a software layer that can connect its chips, edge computing, and connectivity technology directly to the machines those systems control.

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Recent Tech Movers

Autodesk (NASDAQ: ADSK)

Beat and Raise, Stock Still Lagging

Autodesk has been a frustrating hold this year. The stock sits roughly 35% below its 52-week high, even after an August report where revenue grew 16% to $2.05 billion and topped the high end of guidance.

Management raised full-year revenue guidance to $8.295 billion to $8.345 billion and non-GAAP EPS guidance to $12.52 to $12.60, driven by construction demand, strong renewals, and the MaintainX acquisition.

Free cash flow guidance sits at $2.725 billion to $2.75 billion, which gives you a lot of support under a stock this far off its high.

Design software has one of the best moats in enterprise tech, because architects and engineers built their whole workflow on top of it. The bear case is that AI tools shrink seat counts. Watch billings when Autodesk reports in late November.

Guidance calls for $8.575 billion to $8.65 billion for the year, and a beat there tells you customers are renewing, not trimming.

Genpact (NYSE: G)

The AI Loser That Keeps Growing

You probably remember Genpact as the poster child for the "AI is coming for services" trade. The story said agentic AI would eat the outsourcing model, and the multiple compressed hard. You can still buy it about 31% below its 52-week high.

The numbers keep pushing back. Second-quarter revenue rose 7.1% to $1.343 billion, and the Advanced Technology Solutions unit, where Genpact sells AI-driven workflows, grew 24% and now makes up 27% of revenue.

Margins expanded again, and management raised its 2026 adjusted EPS growth guidance to at least 12%. That is not what you'd expect from an AI casualty.

Your tell arrives with the third-quarter report in early November.

Guidance calls for revenue of $1.369 billion to $1.382 billion and at least 25% growth in that technology unit. The stock is about 24% above its 52-week low, so the bounce has started, but you are not late if that unit keeps compounding.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ: VRSK)

Subscription Growth at a Discount

If you own insurance exposure, you already pay for Verisk indirectly: it sits inside nearly every property and casualty insurer's underwriting workflow. The data is proprietary, the switching cost is real, and there is no easy substitute. Yet you can buy the stock about 33% below its 52-week high and only about 8% above its low.

The second quarter makes that discount look overdone. Revenue grew 5.8% on an organic constant currency basis, with 8.0% underlying subscription growth, and adjusted EBITDA rose 7.4% on the same basis.

Management reaffirmed its 2026 outlook and told you growth should return to its Investor Day targets in the second half.

That second-half promise is what you are watching when Verisk reports in late October. If organic growth steps up, the market has to price this like the compounder it has been. If it doesn't, the discount probably sticks around a while longer.

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AI Data Centers

Applied Digital (NASDAQ: APLD)
Huge Leases, Leveraged Balance Sheet

Applied Digital builds and leases the giant, power-dense campuses AI companies need, and on Thursday it confirmed its next one: Delta Forge 2, a $3.2 billion campus in Brookwood, Alabama, backed by a 15-year, 210-megawatt lease with a high investment-grade hyperscaler.

The stock sits about 47% below its 52-week high at a market cap near $8 billion, dragged lower as rising yields hit anything funded with long-dated debt. You are buying a big backlog at a steep discount.

What put it on my radar

The contracted backlog, which gives you years of visibility. Applied Digital now counts roughly $36 billion of long-term lease value across five campuses.

Two 300-megawatt leases with that same hyperscaler, at Delta Forge 1 in Louisiana and Polaris Forge 3 in North Dakota, carry about $7.5 billion each in base-term revenue, with operations starting in 2027. Its original CoreWeave leases now come with springing guarantees from CoreWeave itself.

Fiscal fourth-quarter revenue hit $258.7 million, up 407% from a year earlier. When contracts this long meet a stock this far off its high, the gap can close fast once new buildings start collecting rent.

What could blow it up

Debt and execution. Applied Digital is funding the buildout with high-yield debt, including $2.15 billion of 6.75% notes due 2031 on top of earlier 9.25% notes, and it still posted a $110.6 million net loss last quarter.

With the 10-year above 5.1%, every new raise costs more. A construction delay, a tenant change, or a pause in hyperscaler spending would hit a leveraged builder far harder than the tenants themselves. If you take a position, keep it small and size it for a wide range of outcomes.

Everything Else

That's our coverage for today; thanks for reading! Reply to this email with feedback or any tech stocks you want me to check out.

Best Regards,
—Noah Zelvis
Tech Stock Insider