Anthropic is preparing for its initial public offering worth up to $64.35 billion, but CNBC’s Jim Cramer has raised three questions about whether the Claude developer can justify its extraordinary valuation.
Anthropic and existing shareholders plan to sell 825 million shares at $70 to $78 each, implying a fully diluted valuation of up to $1.405 trillion.
Bloomberg reported Thursday that orders were roughly six times the shares available, although allocations and demand could change.
Despite that enthusiasm, Cramer remains cautious about falling AI model prices, Anthropic’s next sources of revenue and the potential commercial cost of its safety commitments.
Anthropic IPO valuation: Can Anthropic keep growing as Claude gets cheaper?
The first concern is pricing. Anthropic has lowered prices for several Claude models as competition from OpenAI, Google and other developers intensifies.
Cheaper services can attract customers, but they also require much greater usage to maintain revenue growth.
The company generated $33.2 billion during the first nine months of 2026, more than thirteen times the previous year’s level.
Third-quarter revenue reached $16.96 billion, up 47% from the preceding quarter, although sequential growth slowed from 144% in the second quarter.
Cramer acknowledged that October sales remained strong after the reductions, but questioned whether that momentum would survive further price pressure.
“Volumes must keep outrunning price deflation to continue to post revenue growth,” Enrico Chinello, an analyst at Julius Baer, told The Economic Times on Wednesday.
Higher usage could offset lower prices. Yet investors need evidence that Anthropic can preserve margins while paying to run increasingly powerful models.
Rapid adoption alone will not settle that question. It must translate into profits, not merely impressive sales.
Anthropic IPO risks: Where will the next wave of revenue come from?
Cramer’s second concern is the reliance on Claude Code, which has become an important driver of enterprise demand. He sees opportunities in Claude Cowork, cybersecurity, life sciences and specialised business software, but each must prove capable of supporting meaningful sales.
The stakes are enormous. So are the financing risks. Anthropic’s prospectus discloses approximately $900.9 billion in computing and infrastructure commitments across multiple years.
Around $451.6 billion is expected before the end of 2030, including $70.7 billion due within twelve months after September 2026.
Those figures are future commitments, not expenditure already incurred. Nevertheless, they illustrate why sustained sales growth matters.
Anthropic reported $4.08 billion in adjusted operating income for the first nine months, against a $1.26 billion operating loss under standard accounting rules.
Adjusted profit excludes certain costs and does not remove future funding requirements.
Swissquote analyst Ipek Ozkardeskaya told Reuters that investors had become more concerned about “the costs of the AI buildout”, making the flotation a significant test of appetite for the sector.
Could Anthropic’s safety pledge limit its ambitions?
Cramer’s third question concerns the company’s identity.
Anthropic is a public benefit corporation committed to responsible AI development, which could mean additional testing or slower model releases as systems become more capable.
That discipline could constrain growth if competitors launch products faster. Equally, it might attract enterprises that place a premium on reliability, security and predictable safeguards.
Morningstar analyst Malik Ahmed Khan offered a more optimistic valuation, estimating fair value at $92 per share, above the proposed range.
But his scenarios stretch from $25 in a bearish outcome to $188 in a bullish one, reflecting considerable uncertainty.
“For now, I’ll just tell you that I’m wary of doing so,” Cramer said on CNBC about recommending shares at their debut.
Anthropic is expected to price the offering on 18 November and begin Nasdaq trading the following day under ANT.
Strong early demand may support the debut. Longer-term returns will depend on pricing power, new products and whether safety and computing costs remain manageable.
AI disclosure: AI tools assisted with research and drafting of this piece. An Invezz editor reviewed the facts, sources and wording before publication. Any opinions or analysis are Invezz’s, not those of an automated system.
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