When some of the most impressive UK stocks of all crash, investors need to pay attention. It could be a chance to pick them up at a reduced price and lock in for a long-term recovery. Investing is never that simple though. Why have they crashed? Can they recover? Is there worse to come?
Right now, we’re seeing continuing turmoil across the FTSE 100 software, analytics and data sector, as RELX (LSE: REL), Sage Group, Experian and London Stock Exchange Group take an absolute beating. As my table shows, three of these are down around 20% or more in the last month. Over 12 months, performances are brutal across the board.
| 1 month | 1 year | 5 years | |
| Experian | -19.9% | -32.6% | 4.4% |
| LSEG | -11.9% | -32.4% | -18.7% |
| RELX | -22.8% | -41.7% | 31.9% |
| Sage | -21.3% | -37.2% | 37.5% |
RELX and Sage are still up more than 30% over five years, which shows how well they were doing before. One thing stopped me from buying them in their heyday. All four looked expensive, with price-to-earnings ratios well above 30. I dodged a bullet there. So should I try my luck and buy them today?
RELX share price could go either way
The panic was triggered by AI start-up Anthropic. Traders fear its Claude system poses a mortal threat to their business models by automating legal, data and professional service workflows, even if the technology doesn’t actually replace what they sell.
Their P/Es don’t look half as daunting as they did. RELX has roughly halved to 18.1, while Sage (18.9), LSEG (21.7) and Experian (22.4) are, if not exactly cheap, certainly far cheaper than before.
The underlying businesses are still doing well. In the middle of the volatility (12 February), RELX reported a 9% rise in 2025 underlying operating profit to £9.6bn and guided towards strong earnings and revenue growth in 2026.
The board proposed a 2025 dividend of 67.5p, up 7% year on year. The forward yield for 2026 now stands at 3.12%, more than double where it sat not long ago. Crisis? What crisis?
AI is totally disruptive
RELX continues to argue that AI is an opportunity, not a threat, as it embeds more AI functionality into its products. Yet we’ve seen before that reassurance doesn’t always calm investors. Sometimes it has the opposite effect.
It’s performing strongly, yet investors seem terrified it will fall apart. This kind of disruption follows AI everywhere. Everyone I speak to about the new technology hates it, and the reason is obvious: they’re scared it could upend everything. They’re right, it might. Just ask RELX.
This is a once-in-a-lifetime moment. The share price price is sharply down, but unfortunately the risks are sharply up. If generative AI genuinely cuts into demand for data analytics, it could take a massive hit. Even if AI can’t replicate what RELX offers, the fear could weigh on its shares for some time. It’s the same with Sage, Experian and LSEG.
So despite looking like the textbook definition of a great company rattled by bad news elsewhere, I’m going to pass on RELX. Brave investors might still consider it, and could be handsomely rewarded as a result. But for me, risks outweigh the rewards. I can see less binary recovery opportunities on the FTSE 100 today, and will chase them instead.
