Tech Sell-Off: 2 Growth Stocks Investors Might Regret Not Buying on the Dip

The Nasdaq-100 is down 9% from its peak amid concern about the sustainability of AI spending, while Meta shares have fallen 20%; the article frames the sell-off as a potential long-term buying opportunity in Zscaler and Meta. Zscaler reported fiscal 2026 revenue growth of 25% to $3.35 billion and trades at an 11.3 price-to-sales ratio. Meta’s Muse AI agent has attracted more than 10 million users, and the article cites its AI-driven engagement strategy and lower valuation versus the Nasdaq-100 as potential upside drivers.

Analysis

The sell-off creates a useful distinction between AI beneficiaries paid for infrastructure and businesses that may capture measurable usage or revenue. GPU and memory demand can reprice quickly if hyperscalers slow orders; that does not establish that AI adoption is weakening. The key cross-check is whether cloud-provider capex and accelerator lead times soften before software and advertising monetization shows up.

META’s more credible near-term AI payoff is improved recommendation efficiency and ad yield—not the personal-agent opportunity. Treat Muse’s reported users and shopping activity as company claims until repeat usage, commerce conversion, and advertiser economics are disclosed. If agents divert commercial queries from Google, that could pressure search over time, but it also puts the burden on Meta to demonstrate transaction attribution and manage privacy and platform risks. Rising AI infrastructure expense could still absorb engagement gains.

ZS has secular demand support, but cybersecurity budgets do not automatically accrue to one vendor: platform consolidation can favor PANW or CRWD, and a high sales multiple leaves ZS exposed to duration and growth-multiple compression. A broad-index drawdown alone is not a catalyst to buy either name. Over 1–3 months, earnings and guidance should decide whether this is a flow-led dislocation; over 6–18 months, watch AI monetization versus capex and security product adoption. The bullish thesis fails if META’s ad efficiency or engagement weakens while spending rises, or if ZS growth/remaining-performance obligations decelerate as its valuation stays premium.

Key Decisions for Investors

• Favor a staged, beta-hedged long META over a broad semiconductor dip-buy: initiate only after checking the next results for ad pricing/conversion and capex or depreciation guidance. The thesis is monetization resilience, not an unverified agent market; cut or avoid adding if operating costs accelerate without corresponding ad yield.
• Do not treat the Nasdaq-100’s drawdown as a standalone buy signal. Keep NVDA and MU exposure sized to evidence on hyperscaler capex, accelerator demand, and memory pricing; a capex pause or order push-outs would be a near-term downside catalyst.
• Place ZS on a watchlist rather than chase the claimed relative P/S discount. Reassess after reported growth, retention/RPO, and evidence that AI-security products are incremental rather than bundled or displacing existing spend; compare execution with PANW and CRWD.
• Contrarian check: the market may be pricing AI infrastructure demand as if it were equivalent to durable AI profits. Prefer companies with observable monetization, but reverse that preference if META’s ad metrics weaken or its AI investment materially pressures cash generation.