Market's running hot again. Everyone's chasing AI names without asking the basic question: what's the actual margin for error at these multiples?
When you're paying 50-70x forward earnings for anything with "AI" in the deck, you're pricing in perfection. Not growth. Perfection.
History's clear on this: bubbles don't pop because the technology fails. They pop because the valuations assumed things that couldn't possibly happen. Dot-com wasn't wrong about the internet. It was wrong about 200x sales.
Anthropic's transparency is interesting, but transparency doesn't change the math. If you're burning cash and revenue multiples are in the stratosphere, you need flawless execution AND market dominance AND no competition AND perfect timing. That's not a margin for error. That's a prayer.
The survivors won't be the ones with the best story. They'll be the ones with actual cash flow, defensible moats, and reasonable valuations. Same as every other cycle.
Earnings season will tell us who's real and who's narrative. Watch free cash flow. Watch customer concentration. Watch guidance revisions. The numbers don't lie.