What Happened?

A number of stocks fell in the afternoon session after the rapid adoption of Meta’s new autonomous AI assistant, Muse, sparked concerns over structural disruption to digital marketplaces and digital advertising revenues. Meta’s Muse rose to the top free-app position in U.S. app stores, Business Insider reported, driven by growing consumer interest in personal AI agents capable of researching products, booking travel, and completing forms across external websites. The Wall Street Journal reported that Muse can buy goods online, send emails, and complete other tasks users authorize. The widespread use of autonomous shopping agents presents substantial risks to traditional e-commerce platforms.

By managing product discovery before shoppers directly visit digital storefronts, these tools can bypass standard search listings and undermine lucrative sponsored ads and intermediary commission fees. In reaction to that shift, Amazon blocked Muse from shopping on Amazon.com and asked Meta to remove the marketplace from the experience, a spokesperson told Business Insider. Amazon has also sued Perplexity over automated shopping through its Comet browser and moved to restrict agents from Google and OpenAI, according to Business Insider. That is why lead-generation and marketplace names such as EverQuote, LendingTree, CarGurus, Cars.com, and Instacart, and travel intermediaries such as Expedia and Booking Holdings, traded lower together: their models depend on shoppers still arriving on a site where ads and commissions are charged.

The stock market overreacts to news, and big price drops can present good opportunities to buy high-quality stocks.

Among others, the following stocks were impacted:

• Online Marketplace company LegalZoom (NASDAQ: LZ) fell 2.9%. Is now the time to buy LegalZoom? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
• Financial Technology company LendingTree (NASDAQ: TREE) fell 4.1%. Is now the time to buy LendingTree? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
• Social Networking company Yelp (NYSE: YELP) fell 2.9%. Is now the time to buy Yelp? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
• Consumer Subscription company Match Group (NASDAQ: MTCH) fell 2.9%. Is now the time to buy Match Group? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.

Zooming In On LendingTree (TREE)

LendingTree’s shares are extremely volatile and have had 36 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 biggest move we wrote about over the last year was 7 months ago when the stock gained 19.1% on the news that the company reported fourth-quarter financial results that beat revenue expectations and provided a strong growth forecast, which outweighed a miss on earnings per share. Revenue for the quarter grew 22.3% year on year to $319.7 million, surpassing analyst estimates. While this was a positive, the company reported an adjusted loss per share of $0.39, which was a significant miss compared to expectations. However, investors appeared to focus on the company's optimistic outlook. Management guided for first-quarter revenue to be $321 million, well above consensus estimates. Additionally, its full-year adjusted EBITDA forecast of $155 million also topped Wall Street's projections, signaling confidence in future profitability.

LendingTree is down 49.6% since the beginning of the year, and at $25.97 per share, it is trading 64.5% below its 52-week high of $73.15 from September 2025. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of LendingTree’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at only $168.63.

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