Four smid caps with exposure to Anthropic amid confidential IPO filing

The race among AI developers has entered a new phase – the battle for public capital. In early June, Anthropic, the creator of Claude, confidentially filed for an IPO, beating OpenAI to the public market by several days. Anthropic President Daniela Amodei said the company’s interest in listing reflects the capital-intensive nature of developing and training cutting-edge AI models, which require substantial and ongoing investment.

Anthropic’s annual recurring revenue (ARR) has reached roughly $47 billion, more than five times higher than in December, according to Bloomberg Intelligence estimates. In May, the company completed a funding round that valued it at $965 billion, surpassing OpenAI’s $852 billion valuation. Details of the planned listing remain undisclosed, but Anthropic’s latest private valuation already places it among the largest potential stock market debuts in history.

An IPO of that scale would be an important test for the entire AI sector. A successful listing could boost investor interest in the segment and provide further evidence that the industry is moving beyond experimentation and toward large-scale commercial adoption.

Oninvest has picked four smid caps with exposure to Anthropic that investors may want to watch ahead of the listing. Two provide infrastructure and services to Anthropic, while the other two incorporate its models into their own products.

Lumen Technologies (LUMN)

Mid cap Lumen Technologies builds fiber-optic infrastructure. In February, Anthropic selected the company to build its nearly $13 billion Private Connectivity Fabric (PCF), a high-capacity communications network. PCF is Lumen’s private fiber network designed to connect data centers, cloud infrastructure, and AI computing resources. Other customers of the platform include Microsoft and Amazon Web Services.

At its investor day, the company outlined a target of increasing adjusted EBITDA margins to 30-35% by 2030 from 27.1% in 2025. Another potential catalyst is its $475 million acquisition of cloud networking platform Alkira. According to a TD Cowen report reviewed by Oninvest, the deal could accelerate the company’s revenue turnaround. Alkira’s products allow enterprises to connect cloud environments, data centers, offices, and users into a single secure network without building their own physical infrastructure.

At the same time, TD Cowen estimates that most PCF contracts will not have an immediate cash-flow impact and, even at peak scale, may contribute only 3-4% of the company’s total revenue. In its latest report, TD Cowen maintained a "hold" rating.

Lumen shares have risen roughly 600% over the last two years, climbing from around $1 per share as of June 14, 2024. Even so, Lumen appears to be the most direct beneficiary of Anthropic’s potential post-IPO growth, as further expansion by the developer of Claude could translate directly into higher revenue for the telecom operator.

According to MarketWatch data, 11 Wall Street analysts rate the stock a "hold," three "sell," and one "buy." The average target price is $7.90 per share, 5.8% below the stock’s Tuesday closing price.

Asana (ASAN)

Asana develops a project management platform that helps organizations plan work, assign tasks, track deadlines, and coordinate teams. During its first-quarter fiscal 2027 earnings call, CEO Dan Rogers said Anthropic uses Asana’s AI Studio and AI Teammates products. UBS estimates, however, that Anthropic is not among Asana’s largest customers. In the quarter, Asana increased revenue by 9.5% year over year to $205 million. The GAAP net loss narrowed to $14.4 million from $40 million a year earlier. The company also raised its full-year growth outlook to 8.2-9.2%.

AI remains the company’s key growth driver. AI products accounted for 17% of net-new ARR during the quarter, while the number of customers spending more than $100,000 annually on AI Studio nearly doubled. The management said AI product bookings represented 17% of net-new ARR, exceeding the pace required to meet its full-year target of 15%.

At the same time, UBS analysts point to several factors that could limit future growth acceleration. Asana’s business model is tied to the number of user seats, meaning slower hiring and workforce reductions among customers – particularly in the technology sector – reduce seat counts and weigh on subscription expansion. Corporate caution toward enterprise software spending remains another headwind.

Analyst opinions remain sharply divided. On June 4, UBS raised its target price to $18 per share from $14 per share while maintaining a neutral rating. BofA lowered its target price to $21 per share from $23 per share while retaining a "buy" rating; Royal Bank of Canada reiterated its "underperform" recommendation with a target price of $10 per share. With the stock trading around $8 per share, the wide range of estimates itself reflects considerable uncertainty around the company’s future growth trajectory.

Asana’s relationship with Anthropic is primarily that of a customer. As a result, Anthropic’s IPO is unlikely to have a meaningful impact on Asana’s financial performance. Instead, the stock represents a more indirect bet on the broader adoption of enterprise AI tools rather than a direct beneficiary of Anthropic’s growth.

According to MarketWatch data, eight Wall Street analysts rate the stock a "hold," six "buy," and two "sell." The average target price of $9.13 per share implies upside of around 24% from the Tuesday closing price.

UiPath (PATH)

UiPath develops a business process automation platform and is widely viewed as one of the beneficiaries of growing adoption of agentic AI across enterprises. In 2026, the company said its Screen Agent, powered by Claude Opus 4.5, ranked No. 1 on the OSWorld-Verified benchmark.

In the first quarter of fiscal 2027, UiPath increased revenue by 17% year over year to $418 million. ARR grew 12% to $1.9 billion. According to BofA analysts, the key catalyst over the next 6-12 months will be the transition from agentic AI pilot projects to production deployments.

The management noted that "one year into general availability, our agentic products are moving from pilot to production, with customers standardizing on UiPath as the orchestration and automation execution layer for their enterprise AI transformation."

Among the risks, the analysts highlight continued weakness among smaller customers and relatively modest ARR growth, which is projected at roughly 11% for the current fiscal year.

Although UiPath uses Anthropic technology, the company’s prospects depend primarily on the pace at which enterprises adopt AI agents and automation. As a result, Anthropic’s IPO would likely serve as an additional positive signal rather than a direct driver of UiPath’s financial performance.

On May 29, Barclays maintained a "hold" rating and a target price of $14 per share. BofA raised its target price to $13 per share from $12 per share while maintaining an "underperform" rating. With the stock trading around $11 per share, UiPath remains almost 50% below its 52-week peak of roughly $20 per share. Overall, Wall Street remains cautious. The stock has 18 "hold" ratings, four "buy" calls, and one "sell" recommendation. The average target price of $13.47 per share implies upside of 28%.

GitLab (GTLB)

The mid-cap company develops a software development platform. GitLab identifies Claude as one of the supported AI coding agents alongside Cursor and Codex, with which its infrastructure is compatible. The company has also expanded its integration with Anthropic’s Claude models, allowing customers to access new AI capabilities directly within a unified development environment.

In the first quarter of fiscal 2027, GitLab increased revenue by 23% year over year to $264 million. It also raised its full-year revenue guidance to $1.112-1.118 billion. GitLab argues that "the agentic era is creating structural tailwinds for GitLab" and says large customers increasingly require new capabilities around security, governance, and orchestration at machine scale.

The key question for investors remains the monetization of AI products. GitLab is gradually shifting new offerings away from traditional per-user pricing and toward consumption-based models. JPMorgan analysts note that GitLab Duo Agent Platform has reached an annualized consumption run rate of around $20 million, although that figure does not yet demonstrate a sustainable contribution to revenue.

One risk for GitLab is shrinking seat counts among customers as layoffs continue across the technology sector, putting pressure on a business model that remains tied to user licenses. The company has also announced a major restructuring, including the elimination of around 350 jobs, or about 14% of its workforce, and an exit from 22 countries where it did not maintain direct sales operations.

For GitLab, the relationship with Anthropic is primarily technological. Investors should not expect a direct financial benefit from Anthropic’s IPO. However, a successful listing could strengthen investor interest in AI-powered software development tools and support demand for GitLab’s own products.

On June 3, JPMorgan raised its target price to $32 per share from $28 per share while maintaining a neutral rating. With the stock trading around $28 per share, shares appear close to the estimated fair value. JPMorgan’s neutral stance suggests investors are waiting for stronger evidence of sustainable growth and proof that GitLab can effectively monetize its AI offerings. Most Wall Street analysts recommend "hold" on GitLab stock, with 19 "holds" out of 30 ratings, alongside nine "buy" calls and two "sell" recommendations. The average target price of $33.60 per share implies upside of around 21%.