In this article, we will explore the 7 Worst Performing Agentic AI Stocks So Far in 2026.
Agentic AI’s performance so far in 2026 looks mixed rather than clearly strong or clearly weak. On the positive side, enterprise adoption appears to be moving beyond pilots. Deloitte said worker access to AI rose 50% in 2025, the share of companies with at least 40% of projects in production is expected to double within six months, and firms are already deploying autonomous agents in customer service, product development, and workflow management. Gartner also forecasts worldwide AI spending will reach $2.52 trillion in 2026, up 44% year over year, which suggests the broader investment backdrop remains supportive.
Still, the operating picture is not especially clean. McKinsey’s 2026 AI Trust Maturity Survey, based on about 500 organizations, found that only about one-third had reached a higher level of maturity in strategy, governance, and agentic AI controls. Nearly two-thirds cited security and risk concerns as the top barrier to fully scaling agentic AI, while 74% flagged inaccuracy and 72% cited cybersecurity as major risks. The International AI Safety Report 2026 added that current general-purpose AI systems still show uneven performance across tasks and remain prone to basic factual and logical errors.
So, as of early April 2026, agentic AI seems to be advancing in deployment and spending, but its real-world performance is still constrained by governance, reliability, and security issues rather than demand alone.
Methodology
We used screeners to identify pure-play and pure-play-adjacent agentic AI stocks and then picked stocks with the worst YTD returns. We limited our final selection to companies that have recently reported noteworthy developments likely to impact investor sentiment. These stocks are also popular among analysts and elite hedge funds.
Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 498.7% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 303 percentage points (see more details here).
7. Veritone, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERI)
Veritone Inc. (NASDAQ:VERI) is one of the worst-performing agentic AI stocks so far in 2026. The stock is down 61% as of April 2.
On March 26, Veritone said it signed a multi-year agreement with Oracle under which it will migrate its AI solutions to Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, or OCI, as a preferred cloud and infrastructure provider. The company said the move is meant to improve the scalability, security, and performance of key offerings including its aiWARE platform, Veritone Data Refinery, and Veritone Data Marketplace.
Veritone said the partnership is intended to support expansion across three areas: commercial markets such as media, sports, entertainment, and news; public-sector workloads; and what it described as the AI data economy. In media, the company said OCI’s networking and storage capabilities should help support Digital Media Hub and content licensing services. In the public sector, Veritone plans to deploy its intelligent digital evidence management system in OCI environments designed for government requirements, including CJIS and FedRAMP-authorized environments.
The company also said Veritone Data Refinery will use OCI to transform raw unstructured data into training datasets more efficiently, while Veritone Data Marketplace is expected to expand the supply of premium data available to AI developers. As of April 3, Veritone shares were trading at $1.83 and were down 63.44% year to date, underscoring how badly the stock has lagged despite the new Oracle tie-up.
Veritone, Inc. provides enterprise AI software and solutions that help organizations process unstructured data such as video, audio, and images through its aiWARE operating system.
6. XBP Global Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:XBP)
XBP Global Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:XBP) is one of the worst-performing agentic AI stocks so far in 2026.
As of April 2, 2026, XBP shares closed at $3.63, down 50.0% from their January 2, 2026 close of $7.26.
XBP Global’s March 30 results did little to hide the strain underneath the “transition year” framing. For full-year 2025, reported revenue fell 9.4% year over year to $791.0 million, while combined pro forma revenue declined 13.6% to $879.6 million. Pro forma adjusted EBITDA also dropped 13.1% to $90.7 million. In the fourth quarter, revenue came in at $207.0 million, down 15.1% year over year on a pro forma basis, while pro forma adjusted EBITDA fell 33.0% to $19.8 million. Segment data showed further pressure in the core Applied Workflow Automation business, where full-year revenue declined 11.4% and gross margin slipped 60 basis points to 17.9%.
There were some offsets. Gross margin improved modestly at the consolidated level, new contract value rose, and year-end cash and cash equivalents stood at $37.1 million, with cash, restricted cash, and cash equivalents totaling $68.7 million. Still, the revenue declines and weaker EBITDA help explain why the stock has been crushed this year.
XBP Global Holdings, Inc. provides workflow automation, document processing, payment, and digital transformation services for enterprises and public-sector clients across 20 countries.
5. C3.ai, Inc. (NYSE:AI)
C3.ai Inc. (NYSE:AI) is one of the worst-performing agentic AI stocks so far in 2026.
As of the April 2, 2026 close, the stock was down about 35.9% year to date, with shares finishing at $8.64.
A fresh insider filing added another uncomfortable headline. According to a Form 4 filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Chief Executive Officer Stephen Bradley Ehikian sold 52,194 shares of Class A common stock on March 31 at weighted-average prices ranging from $7.97 to $8.41, for proceeds of roughly $429,100. After the sale, his direct holdings were reduced to 721,485 shares.
On its own, the transaction is not enormous. But it lands at a rough time for the stock. In its fiscal third quarter ended January 31, 2026, C3.ai reported revenue of $53.3 million, down 46.1% year over year, while the company continued to post a net loss. That weak top-line comparison has helped keep pressure on sentiment even as management pointed to federal demand and deal activity.
C3.ai, Inc. provides enterprise artificial intelligence software that helps organizations build, deploy, and operate AI applications for uses such as predictive maintenance, fraud detection, supply chain optimization, and government operations.
4. UiPath, Inc. (NYSE:PATH)
UiPath Inc. (NYSE: PATH) is one of the worst-performing agentic AI stocks so far in 2026. Based on its January 2, 2026 close of $16.59 and its April 2, 2026 close of $11.24, the stock was down about 32.2% year to date as of the latest close.
The latest company-specific development came on March 25, when UiPath announced a new agentic solution for purchase-to-pay workflows aimed at helping enterprises speed procurement cycles and reduce manual work across procurement and accounts payable. The company said the offering is designed to automate exception handling, improve efficiency, and strengthen supplier relationships.
According to the release, the solution combines AI agents, robots, and people in a coordinated workflow to manage tasks across the purchase-to-pay process. UiPath said the product is intended to address friction points such as invoice processing, approvals, and procurement exceptions, areas where delays can tie up working capital and add operating costs. The announcement fits with the company’s broader push to position itself around agentic automation rather than traditional robotic process automation alone.
UiPath, Inc. is an enterprise automation software company that provides a platform for robotic process automation and agentic automation to help organizations automate business processes.
3. SoundHound AI, Inc. (NASDAQ:SOUN)
SoundHound AI, Inc. (NASDAQ:SOUN) is one of the worst-performing agentic AI stocks so far in 2026.
As of the latest close on April 2, 2026, the stock was down about 36.2% year to date, based on a $10.63 close on January 2 and a $6.78 close on April 2.
The latest company-specific development came on April 2, when SoundHound AI said Quálitas, a major auto insurer in Mexico, expanded its use of the company’s AI agent platform from contact-center work into end-to-end claims resolution. According to the release, the broader rollout followed earlier success in customer service, where AI-handled call volume rose 150%.
SoundHound said its agentic AI now manages more than 74% of Quálitas’ car-assistance requests end to end and captures policy numbers in more than 80% of interactions. The company said that has helped reduce human escalations while speeding up claims-related workflows. The announcement suggests SoundHound is still pushing beyond voice interfaces into more operational, enterprise-style AI deployments, particularly in insurance.
SoundHound AI, Inc. provides voice, conversational, and agentic AI technologies for businesses across industries including automotive, restaurants, telecom, and customer service.
2. ServiceNow, Inc. (NYSE:NOW)
ServiceNow, Inc. (NYSE:NOW) is one of the agentic AI stocks to watch in 2026.
As of the April 2, 2026 close, ServiceNow shares were down 30.8% year to date, finishing at $102.00 versus $147.45 on January 2, 2026.
Stifel turned more cautious on April 2, even while keeping its bullish stance. Analyst Brad Reback maintained a Buy rating but cut his price target to $135 from $180. The firm said its system-integrator checks had “once again down-ticked modestly” from the prior quarter. Reback added that several checks pointed to a seasonal rebuilding of pipelines after an aggressive year-end push, while also describing the U.S. federal spending environment as “very weak.” Stifel’s overall read on first-quarter channel checks was “somewhat lackluster.”
That softer near-term commentary stands in contrast to ServiceNow’s latest reported results. On January 28, the company said fourth-quarter 2025 subscription revenue rose 21% year over year to $3.466 billion, total revenue increased 20.5% to $3.568 billion, and current remaining performance obligations climbed 25% to $12.85 billion.
ServiceNow, Inc. provides cloud-based software that helps enterprises automate workflows across IT, customer service, HR, security, and other business functions.
1. BigBear.ai Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BBAI)
BigBear.ai Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BBAI) is one of the worst-performing agentic AI stocks so far in 2026.
As of the April 2, 2026 close, the stock was down 38.8% year to date, falling to $3.58 from $5.85 on January 2, 2026.
Cantor Fitzgerald added to the pressure on March 3, one day after BigBear.ai released fourth-quarter and full-year 2025 results. The firm maintained a Neutral rating but cut its price target to $5 from $6. According to the analyst note summary, Cantor’s Jonathan Ruykhaver said the company delivered a “solid” fourth quarter despite a 37.7% year-over-year revenue decline, which he tied largely to federal program disruptions on select Army contracts and shutdown-related headwinds. Cantor also pointed to 2026 guidance that implies roughly 17% growth at the midpoint and includes an estimated $25 million revenue contribution from the Ask Sage acquisition.
That context matters because BigBear.ai’s March 2 release was messy beneath the surface. Fourth-quarter revenue fell 38% to $27.3 million, gross margin dropped to 20.3% from 37.4%, and adjusted EBITDA swung to a loss of $10.3 million from positive $2.0 million a year earlier. Management said the revenue drop was mainly due to lower volume on Army programs.
BigBear.ai Holdings, Inc. provides AI-driven decision intelligence, analytics, and workflow tools for government and commercial customers, with a particular focus on defense, national security, travel, trade, and supply-chain uses.
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