Goldman sees cybersecurity firms showing software industry how to adapt to AI

US cybersecurity stocks are beating the broader software sector by 24% on Goldman Sachs’s key metric, and Goldman says that gap shows where software companies still have a path to adapt as AI puts pressure on margins and valuation.

In a note published April 23, Goldman argued that cybersecurity firms have already done what many software names now need to do: move fast, buy capability, and keep customers on products that are hard to walk away from. The bank said cyber companies have used M&A and operational agility to navigate disruptive technology, a combination that has helped the group hold up better than the rest of software.

That matters for Goldman’s clients because AI is no longer just a story about code generation or lower headcount. Adoption is spreading across healthcare, retail, manufacturing and education, which means enterprise buyers are asking a harder question of every vendor: what measurable productivity gain does this software actually deliver? For analysts, associates and bankers pitching tech names, that shifts the conversation from generic growth rates to whether a business can still prove it deserves premium pricing.

Goldman’s framing gives a playbook for sorting the software names that are adapting from the ones that are slipping. The companies to watch are those with recurring demand, security urgency and a willingness to use dealmaking to fill gaps quickly rather than wait for internal development cycles. Cybersecurity fits that model because the threat environment keeps changing, the need is persistent, and customers are less likely to rip out systems that protect data, identity and infrastructure. In other words, the industry is showing how to keep revenue durable even when new technology threatens to commoditize features.

The bank has been building the same argument across several pieces. A Goldman Sachs Exchanges episode recorded April 17, 2025, said cybersecurity had become a bright spot in the deal-making environment. Goldman’s 2026 M&A outlook said AI is driving an innovation supercycle that is disrupting entire sectors and widening the scope for strategic transactions. And in March, Goldman warned in “Will AI Eat Software?” that agentic AI tools could trigger a sharp re-rating of the software sector, even as another 2026 note argued that some software companies may be insulated from AI and may even benefit from it.

For Goldman employees covering technology, cybersecurity or enterprise software, the message is practical: AI is not just a threat to software growth. It is a stress test for who can keep pricing power, who can package products faster, and who will need to buy growth instead of earning it. In a market that now rewards proof over promises, cybersecurity is looking less like a niche and more like the template.