---
title: "monday.com's AI, R&D and product leaders are leaving; analysts still target $111.70 on a $90.37 stock"
description: "monday.com is betting its future on an AI-first platform, and the executives who lead that platform, its R&D and its product are all leaving within a month. The street still prices the pivot at $111.70 a share; the stock trades at $90.37."
publisher: "The Inference"
section: "Markets"
published: 2026-10-18T13:24:46.789Z
modified: 2026-10-18T13:24:46.789Z
canonical: https://theinference.org/article/monday-com-s-ai-r-d-and-product-leaders-are-leaving-analysts-still-target-111-70-on-a-90-37-stock
language: en
keywords: "Monday.com, AI, Layoffs, Analyst Ratings, Software, Executive Exits"
---

# monday.com's AI, R&D and product leaders are leaving; analysts still target $111.70 on a $90.37 stock

> monday.com is betting its future on an AI-first platform, and the executives who lead that platform, its R&D and its product are all leaving within a month. The street still prices the pivot at $111.70 a share; the stock trades at $90.37.

## The pivot's architects are walking out

Orly Stern Izhaki runs [monday.com](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/monday-com)'s AI Work Platform. That is the job title the company created for the product it says is its future: a workspace where employees and AI agents share tasks. She is expected to leave within the month, along with the vice president of research and development, the vice president of product, and a senior IT director of six years. They follow an R&D vice president who left in September [1]. The company said the moves mix management decisions with personal choices by executives about their future paths [1].

## 20% of staff out, $45 million to $55 million in net costs

[The restructuring these executives were meant to carry was announced in July](https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/2wsa7rgfb). About 20% of the workforce, an estimated 620 to 630 people, with net costs of $45 million to $55 million and completion targeted by end of 2026 [1]. Co-founder and co-CEO [Eran Zinman](https://theinference.org/markets/people/eran-zinman) told employees at the time the move "was not made to reduce costs or replace people with AI", positioning it as adapting the organization to an AI-first vision [3].

*Chart: **Revenue is still climbing, but growth is slowing** Quarterly revenue in millions of US dollars, Q1 2024 through Q2 2026, from monday.com SEC filings.*

*Quarterly revenue in millions of US dollars, from monday.com's SEC filings. Q2 2026 revenue of $364.6 million was up 21.9% year over year and beat estimates. [9]*

## The stated strategy, and the signs that undercut it

The complication is that the calendar argues with the strategy. The July announcement said the pivot would let monday.com "continue investing in strategic areas related to artificial intelligence" [1]. One quarter later the executives who lead artificial intelligence, R&D and product are exiting, and Zacks cut its rating to hold on October 16 [2].

The financial records are not the problem. Second-quarter revenue came in at $364.6 million, up 21.9% year over year, beating estimates, with [earnings per share of $1.48 against a $1.11 consensus](https://www.marketbeat.com/instant-alerts/analyst-mondaycom-nasdaq-mndy-cut-to-hold-at-zacks-research-2026-10-17/) [2][9]. First-half revenue reached $715.9 million [1]. Annual recurring revenue from AI products doubled from the first quarter and contributed 17% of net-new annual recurring revenue in the quarter [1]. The company added 287 enterprise customers paying more than $50,000 a year, to 4,834 total [6].

## AI is 17% of net-new ARR, roughly 1% of the total

The records that bother the sellers are the other ones. Growth has decelerated for nine straight quarters, from 34% in mid-2024 to 21.9% in the second quarter [9]. The company booked $21.4 million of restructuring expense in the first half [1]. [Barclays](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/barclays), which downgraded the stock on October 12, [noted AI is now 17% of net-new annual recurring revenue but roughly 1% of total ARR](https://seekingalpha.com/news/4652066-hubspot-and-mondaycom-downgraded-by-barclays-on-ai-concerns), "not large enough to slow the deceleration in its core business", while net dollar retention heads toward 108% [4]. [J.P. Morgan](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/jpmorgan-chase) had downgraded the shares on September 29 on headwinds to net-new ARR "in the immediate aftermath of a 20% RIF", with net dollar retention easing from 110% to 109% and sales cycles lengthening as customers weigh frontier-model alternatives [8]. [Yahoo Finance](https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/q2-earnings-highlights-monday-com-151131815.html)'s Q2 sweep noted the company delivered the weakest guidance update among the 16 productivity software names it tracks [6].

*Chart: **Nine straight quarters of slower growth** Year-over-year quarterly revenue growth in percent, Q1 2024 through Q2 2026, computed from monday.com SEC filings.*

*Year-over-year revenue growth in percent, computed from monday.com's SEC filings. Growth has slowed for nine straight quarters, from 34.4% in Q2 2024 to 21.9% in Q2 2026. [9]*

## The bulls have the earnings; the bears have the calendar

The strongest counterpoint is real: the business is growing 22% while cutting 20% of its staff, which is the arithmetic of a leaner operating model, and Zacks had upgraded the stock to strong buy on October 14, two days after Barclays cut, on a 47.3% rise in consensus earnings estimates over three months [5]. Twelve analysts still rate the stock a buy [2]. Renaissance Technologies raised its stake by 93% in the first quarter [2].

## The stock has already voted

But the strongest counterpoint does not resolve the calendar. On July 25 [TechCrunch](https://techcrunch.com/2026/07/25/the-running-list-major-tech-layoffs-in-2026-where-employers-cited-ai/) recorded that Financial Times analysis found companies citing AI in job cuts underperformed the Nasdaq by almost 10% in the 30 trading days after their announcements [3]. monday.com's own tape fits the pattern: $90.37 close, down 37% this year and about half its value over twelve months [2]. The market has heard [the pivot-before-profit story](https://theinference.org/article/hubspot-cuts-nearly-660-jobs-7-of-staff-as-barclays-dates-its-ai-payoff-to-late-2027) all year, across a list running from [Salesforce](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/salesforce) to Block, and it is now pricing monday.com as a company whose growth engine needs AI to work before the leadership that is building AI can finish the job [3].

## What decides it

The street's average target sits at $111.70, 24% above the tape [2]. That gap closes in one of two directions. If the fourth-quarter report, due in early 2027, shows AI ARR still doubling and net dollar retention stabilizing, the bulls own it. If the departures continue past the AI Work Platform's own vice president, the 620-630 who left in July will look like the opening round, not the whole cut. Watch the senior roster, not the guidance. The filings will confirm the revenue. The exits confirm the conviction.

## Sources

1. Calcalist/CTech, "Monday faces senior management exits amid AI restructuring", October 17, 2026. 2. MarketBeat, "monday.com (NASDAQ:MNDY) Cut to Hold at Zacks Research", October 17, 2026. 3. TechCrunch, "Monday.com is the latest tech company to blame AI for layoffs", July 25, 2026. 4. Seeking Alpha, "[HubSpot](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/hubspot) and monday.com downgraded by Barclays on AI concerns", October 12, 2026. 5. [Zacks Investment Research via MSN](https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/top-stocks/monday-com-mndy-upgraded-to-strong-buy-here-s-what-you-should-know/ar-AA2efiw8), "Monday.com (MNDY) upgraded to strong buy", October 14, 2026. 6. Yahoo Finance, "Q2 Earnings Highlights: monday.com vs productivity software peers", September 15, 2026. 7. Seeking Alpha, "monday.com Ltd. (MNDY) Q2 2026 Earnings Call Transcript", August 10, 2026. 8. Seeking Alpha, "Monday.com slips as JPMorgan downgrades on growth challenges", September 29, 2026. 9. [monday.com quarterly figures from SEC filings](https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0001845338), retrieved October 18, 2026.

## Takeaway

Earnings are not monday.com's problem. Nine straight quarters of slowing growth and a departing AI, R&D and product leadership team make the street's $111.70 target a bet on execution, not guidance.

## Sources

1. [Calcalist/CTech, Monday faces senior management exits amid AI restructuring, 17 October 2026](https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/2wsa7rgfb)
2. [MarketBeat, monday.com (NASDAQ:MNDY) Cut to Hold at Zacks Research, 17 October 2026](https://www.marketbeat.com/instant-alerts/analyst-mondaycom-nasdaq-mndy-cut-to-hold-at-zacks-research-2026-10-17/)
3. [TechCrunch, Monday.com is the latest tech company to blame AI for layoffs, here are 20 others, 25 July 2026](https://techcrunch.com/2026/07/25/the-running-list-major-tech-layoffs-in-2026-where-employers-cited-ai/)
4. [Seeking Alpha, HubSpot and monday.com downgraded by Barclays on AI concerns, 12 October 2026](https://seekingalpha.com/news/4652066-hubspot-and-mondaycom-downgraded-by-barclays-on-ai-concerns)
5. [Zacks Investment Research via MSN, Monday.com (MNDY) upgraded to strong buy, 14 October 2026](https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/top-stocks/monday-com-mndy-upgraded-to-strong-buy-here-s-what-you-should-know/ar-AA2efiw8)
6. [Yahoo Finance, Q2 Earnings Highlights: monday.com vs the rest of the productivity software stocks, 15 September 2026](https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/q2-earnings-highlights-monday-com-151131815.html)
8. [Seeking Alpha, Monday.com slips as JPMorgan downgrades on growth challenges, 29 September 2026](https://seekingalpha.com/news/4647926-monday-com-slips-as-jpmorgan-downgrades-on-growth-challenges)
9. [monday.com quarterly figures from SEC filings, retrieved 18 October 2026](https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0001845338)


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monday.com's AI, R&D and product leaders are leaving; analysts still target $111.70 on a $90.37 stock — The Inference. Canonical: https://theinference.org/article/monday-com-s-ai-r-d-and-product-leaders-are-leaving-analysts-still-target-111-70-on-a-90-37-stock