C.H. Robinson CEO on AI fears: ‘We’re the disruptor and not the disrupted’

Brian Sozzi · Executive Editor

Thu, February 19, 2026 at 12:53 AM GMT+9 3 min read

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CHRW

+1.95%

HOG

+0.79%

RIME

+20.03%

AMZN

+2.53%

CAT

+0.40%

A logistics CEO is fighting back against the Great AI Scare of 2026.

“Leadership decisions are always made with a calm head. Understand the data, and understand what’s going on. And I quickly found that at the end of the day at Robinson, we’re just not going to let a moment of uncertainty really blur the difference between what is perception and reality. And the reality is this: We are the disruptor and not the disrupted,” C.H. Robinson (CHRW) CEO Dave Bozeman said on Yahoo Finance’s Opening Bid (video above).

Allow me to set the scene for you to provide some context for Bozeman’s comments.

It’s Feb. 12, 2026. Some random Florida-based holding company called Algorhythm Holdings (RIME) said it achieved a breakthrough on the AI front. It claimed that its AI platform scales freight volumes by 300% to 400% and reduces empty trucking miles by 70%.

Interesting at first pass.

No matter that nobody had heard of this company the day before. No matter that the company was better known for its karaoke machines and it was unclear when it pivoted to freight technology. No matter that the company is basically a penny stock that has no Wall Street analyst coverage, according to Yahoo Finance data. The market moved first and asked questions later, sending shares of trucking and logistics companies sharply lower.

One company caught up in the selling frenzy was C.H. Robinson, founded in 1905 as a produce brokerage house. By the close of trading, the stock tumbled 14.5% — its largest one-day percentage loss in more than six years.

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What the market seemingly forgot is that C.H. Robinson has been leading on the AI front in transportation logistics. That’s a major reason why the stock hit a record on Feb. 6.

Bozeman has led the 120-year-old logistics player for more than two years, following considerable stints in transportation operations at Amazon (AMZN), Harley-Davidson (HOG), and Caterpillar (CAT). Since Bozeman’s arrival, C.H. Robinson has leaned hard into AI to drive improved operating profits.

To boot, the company’s strong growth rates have come despite an ongoing freight recession, as industry insiders call it.

And the Street still has confidence in that story continuing when looked through the prism of analyst sales and profit estimates for the next two years.

“We’re not going anywhere. We’ve got a lot to do. We are super-excited about the next two years because the last two years have been pretty damn exciting, and there is more to come where that comes from,” Bozeman added.

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Although the AI scare is likely to hang over the stock in the near term.

“We still believe CHRW has a differentiated model and this did not change overnight,” JPMorgan analyst Brian Ossenbeck said in a note post-sell-off on Feb. 13. “However, we don’t expect this overhang will dissipate quickly given the hair-trigger response to any hint of AI-disintermediation risk as the burden of proof will shift to the companies deemed to be disrupted until proven otherwise.”

StockStory aims to help individual investors beat the market.

Brian Sozzi_ is Yahoo Finance’s Executive Editor and a member of Yahoo Finance’s editorial leadership team. Follow Sozzi on X @BrianSozzi, Instagram, and LinkedIn. Tips on stories? Email brian.sozzi@yahoofinance.com._

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