Why Vertiv (VRT) Stock Is Down Today

What Happened?

Shares of data center products and services company Vertiv (NYSE:VRT) fell 7.7% in the afternoon session after investors rotated out of AI-linked high-flyers following underwhelming earnings updates from Oracle and Broadcom as the core thesis shifted from "growth at any cost" to "prove the returns." 

Oracle triggered the alarm by missing revenue estimates while simultaneously hiking capital expenditures by $15 billion. This reignited fears that AI infrastructure spending is outpacing actual monetization. Broadcom compounded the anxiety; despite beating earnings, its stock fell as CFO Kirsten Spears cautioned that gross margins may come under pressure as product mix shifts further toward system-level AI sales. This sparked a macro rotation away from AI infrastructure and power plays. High-valuation names like AMD, Vertiv, and Bloom Energy fell as markets looked to sectors that can benefit from the recent Fed rate cut and a resilient economy.

The stock market overreacts to news, and big price drops can present good opportunities to buy high-quality stocks. Is now the time to buy Vertiv? Access our full analysis report here.

What Is The Market Telling Us

Vertiv’s shares are extremely volatile and have had 47 moves greater than 5% over the last year. In that context, today’s move indicates the market considers this news meaningful but not something that would fundamentally change its perception of the business.

The previous big move we wrote about was 3 days ago when the stock dropped 3.2% on the news that Wolfe Research downgraded its stock from Outperform to Peer Perform and the company was not selected for inclusion in the S&P 500 index. 

Adding to the pressure, S&P Dow Jones Indices announced that Ares Management would join the benchmark index, while Vertiv, a data-center infrastructure company, was among those that missed out this round. Inclusion in a major index like the S&P 500 often leads to increased demand for a stock from index-tracking funds. Therefore, being passed over was viewed as a setback by investors.

Vertiv is up 39% since the beginning of the year, but at $164.44 per share, it is still trading 17.5% below its 52-week high of $199.27 from October 2025. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of Vertiv’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $8,641.

The 1999 book Gorilla Game predicted Microsoft and Apple would dominate tech before it happened. Its thesis? Identify the platform winners early. Today, enterprise software companies embedding generative AI are becoming the new gorillas. Click here for access to our special report that reveals one profitable leader already riding this wave.