BlackJack3D
Technology stocks, led by the mega caps such as Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) (GOOGL), Microsoft (MSFT), Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) and Meta Platforms (META), are likely to rise a further 15% in the second-half of the year, spurred on by artificial intelligence, Wedbush Securities said.
“We believe NASDAQ has another strong 2H ahead as tech stocks will be up 15% the rest of 2024 in our view with tech fundamentals set to accelerate as AI use cases materially expand,” analyst Dan Ives wrote in an investor note.
Ives reiterated his stance that the race to a $4T market cap is likely to be between Apple, Microsoft and Nvidia, with the latter’s GPU chips seen as “the new gold or oil in the tech sector.”
Wedbush’s top tech stocks for the second-half are: Apple, Alphabet, Palantir (PLTR), Palo Alto Networks (PANW), Crowdstrike (CRWD) and Zscaler (ZS). Additionally, software names like Salesforce (CRM), MongoDB (MDB), NICE Systems (NICE), Varonis (VRNS), SoundHound (SOUN), Pegasytems (PEGA), Progress Software (PRGS) and Verint (VRNT) are “way oversold.”
Driving the AI bus
Nvidia and Microsoft are likely to drive the story in enterprise AI, while Apple, Meta and Google are set to usher in the age of consumer AI, with the release of the iPhone 16 in the fall, Ives said.
While the aforementioned group has gotten much of the attention related to AI, the benefactors are expected to broaden out, as the tech vendors who are able to monetize their installed bases widens, demonstrating to their customers there are “clear value and data driven use cases built off generative AI models/applications.”
Conversely, companies that wind up being “the losers” of the AI revolution are those that will be squeeze out of sales cycles, platforms and future growth opportunities because they do not have the tools, tech or engineers to compete.