Anthropic Just Filed to Go Public. Should You Buy the Stock?

Another huge initial public offering (IPO) is coming soon. Months after SpaceX's record-setting debut, Anthropic is expected to go public next month. The company filed its official S-1 registration document on Monday, October 26, 2026.

The filing finally gives us a close look at a company at the center of the artificial intelligence (AI) boom. It includes a detailed financial picture and more than 90 pages explaining the risks of its business.

So, based on what we know now, should you buy Anthropic stock when it becomes available to the public?

How Anthropic makes money from Claude

Anthropic develops a family of advanced AI models called Claude. Like its fierce competitor, OpenAI, Anthropic makes money in two main ways. First, it sells subscriptions that give customers a certain level of access. Second, it charges customers based on how much they use its services. This usage is measured in units called "tokens." The more customers use Claude, the more tokens they use and the more they pay.

Anthropic's business customers usually pay through this second, usage-based model.

Claude Code shows Anthropic's ambitions beyond chatbots

Anthropic wants to do much more than sell a chatbot. The company imagines Claude becoming an important part of the daily work of most "knowledge workers" around the world. These are people who mainly do office-based work using computers and information.

The clearest real-world example is Claude Code. This tool helps people plan, write, test, and fix software, and it can do much of this work on its own. It is now widely used across Silicon Valley and has been a major reason for Anthropic's rapid growth.

Image source: Getty Images.

Anthropic hopes its AI will be just as useful across many industries and types of jobs.

Over the longer term, the company says its AI models could speed up drug discovery and scientific research. It also believes they could help solve problems that humans have struggled to solve for decades.

Anthropic's IPO filing details serious AI risks

At the same time, Anthropic described some serious risks in its filing. These go beyond the standard risks usually listed in an S-1 document. The company discusses common business concerns, such as keeping talented employees and spending money wisely. It then devotes more than 90 pages to risks that include AI potentially "destabilizing the geopolitical order" and technology becoming more advanced than "humans can understand and control."

Revenue is soaring, but what about profits?

These details are interesting, but the company's finances are the most important factor when deciding whether to invest. Anthropic is growing at an extraordinary speed, even for a company of its size. Its revenue reached $16.3 billion in the first half of 2026. That was about 14 times its revenue in the same period a year earlier and 3.5 times its total revenue for all of 2025.

However, revenue is not the main concern right now. The more interesting question is how much the company is spending. Anthropic reported a net loss of $80.7 billion over those six months. But that figure makes its financial situation look worse than it really is because it includes a $72.4 billion accounting charge that did not involve normal business operations or an actual cash payment. Without that charge, the company's net loss was $8.3 billion.

The company's operating loss also became much smaller. It fell from $2.1 billion in the first half of 2025 to $693 million in the first half of 2026. Anthropic also reported an operating profit of $974 million in the second quarter of 2026.

This is an encouraging sign that Anthropic's revenue is starting to cover more of the cost of developing and running Claude. Still, making a profit in one quarter does not prove that the company can keep making money, especially as it commits to spending more to achieve its goals.

Why I'm passing on Anthropic's IPO

I'm going to pass on Anthropic's IPO. I could point to the company's valuation, but my bigger concern is whether it has a lasting competitive advantage that will protect its business from rivals.

Anthropic does not need to lose its lead in AI technology to face serious competition. Other AI models only need to be good enough to do the jobs customers need. That is why I think AI is becoming more like a commodity: a product that many companies can offer and that customers may see as interchangeable.

Anthropic's demand could keep growing while competition pushes it to charge lower prices. At the same time, the company would still need to spend heavily to develop its next AI model.

Johnny Rice has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Anthropic Just Filed to Go Public. Should You Buy the Stock? was originally published by The Motley Fool.