By Adria Cimino
Publication Date: 2026-04-08 10:20:00
Over the past three years, artificial intelligence (AI) stocks have driven overall market gains — investors, from the smallest retail investor to billionaire hedge fund managers, have piled into these players. And it’s very easy to understand why. AI promises to shake up the way many things are done, and in a positive way — the technology may help companies gain efficiency, develop better products faster, and more. And all of this equals cost savings and revenue growth.
So investors rushed to get in on big AI names such as Nvidia (NVDA +0.07%), Palantir Technologies (PLTR +1.45%), and other companies playing a big role in the field. These two advanced more than 1,100% and 2,600%, respectively, over the past three calendar years.
But over the past few months, the mood in the stock market has changed. Investors, seeing valuations of AI stocks soar, began to worry about these levels — and questioned whether they were sustainable. On top of this, turmoil in Iran and uncertainty about U.S. economic growth also weighed on investors’ minds.
All of this hurt shares of AI players, including Nvidia and Palantir. So it’s fair to ask: Is the AI gold rush over? Here, we may turn to a surprising source for some answers: Costco (COST 0.52%) and Walmart (WMT 3.39%). They recently delivered a particularly sobering warning to shareholders of Nvidia, Palantir, and the AI market in general.
Image source: Getty Images.
Getting in early on a hot technology
As mentioned, Nvidia and other…
