00:00Wedbush out with its top AI stocks for 2026. Dan Ives writing, heading into 2026,
00:05investors are both excited and nervous about the AI revolution. 2026 is an inflection point year.
00:12Dan joins us now with his colorful self. Happy New Year. Wonderful to see you.
00:16As always.
00:17So let's talk about that. Why is it an inflection point? What do you mean by that?
00:20It's really about, to me, it's about the second, third, fourth derivatives playing out across AI.
00:25Look, it's monetization. And you talk about Tesla, it's the next phase in terms of autonomous, robotics, consumer AI,
00:33especially when it comes to Apple and I think what we're going to see.
00:36Look, I think it's a prove-it year, but that actually makes me more bullish because I think now we go into the next phase of AI.
00:43I think tech stocks are up 20, 25 percent in 2026, but it's not just big tech.
00:48It's about second, third, fourth derivatives playing out.
00:50I will be fascinated to see. I don't think anything is officially expected,
00:54but you're going to CES, right, which is not only the biggest tech conference in the world,
01:00but it has become the most important carmaker conference as well.
01:03It'll be fascinating to see if Tesla comes out with any other products there
01:07or if we see a lot more robotics and automization products.
01:11Yeah, and to your point, look, it all starts with the godfather of AI, Jensen.
01:15He'll be there with the black leather jacket because when his speech, to me, is just so important on Monday
01:20because it really starts off strategically what AI is going to look like.
01:25He's going to talk about physical AI in terms of autonomous robotics.
01:28I'm the two best physical AI players in the world today.
01:32It's NVIDIA and it's Tesla.
01:35And I think that speaks to you talk about Tesla, what everyone's focused on.
01:38This is autonomous chapter now coming to Tesla.
01:42I think you see Musk right now, wartime CEO.
01:44That's the focus when it comes to AI, but also it's demonization.
01:49Remember, only 3% of U.S. companies have gone down the AI path so far.
01:52Are these robots expected to be like B2B robots, so building things in factories,
01:58or like a Roomba for consumers?
02:01What kind of products do you expect them to monetize?
02:05Yeah, especially at CES.
02:06Look, humanoid robotics is going to be front and center, autonomous.
02:09You're seeing flying cars.
02:11Look, the presence, you talk about a lot of the tensions between the U.S. and China.
02:16The presence of Chinese companies is going to be, it's going to be a monster in terms of what we see there.
02:23I think doubling over the last few years.
02:25But I think it's really going to be about humanoid robotics.
02:29It's going to be about autonomous.
02:31But this is also going to be about more embedded AI devices that consumers are going to see.
02:36See, yes, we're not just talking about flying drones and refrigerators that talk to you.
02:42Now these are much more sort of front and center in terms of it to who's who.
02:47Every big tech player is going to be there, even if they're not unofficially there.
02:51They're there to look for acquisitions.
02:53I love the idea of opening the refrigerator and having it say, do you really want that?
02:57And I can just imagine the future for, you know, move over Ozempic.
03:00So there's this question here also about what some of the moves in late 2025 mean.
03:05And I'd love your take on this because we saw some acquisitions made by the likes of Meta and NVIDIA.
03:11And I just wonder whether there's more cost consciousness and more of a competitive advantage that they're looking to solidify at a time where suddenly companies are saying, hold on, what are we paying for this?
03:22And what are we actually getting?
03:23Look, I think you hit on a great point because the reality is this isn't it's an arms race.
03:28That's what's going on with big tech. And right now at the top of that mountain is big tech.
03:32And when you look at like Google's win versus DOJ, antitrust, I mean, this is sort of go time for big tech.
03:40And I think you're going to see more and more acquisitions.
03:42And we've talked about not just on enterprise, on energy, and I think really across the board.
03:47And it speaks to really what we're seeing right here is that it's not just about big tech getting bigger and bigger, doing acquisitions, spending.
03:54You're going to have 600 billion in capbacks and big tech.
03:57But it's also you're going to see other players being like, don't forget about me.
04:01Look at AMD.
04:02You know, you're going to see like, look at Cisco.
04:05Look at other, look at IBM.
04:06I mean, there's going to be a lot of other players saying like, hey, we want to get into that AI party.
04:12We don't want to look through the windows, you know, like a lot of the bears are.
04:16We were talking about BYD triumphed over Tesla to become the world's biggest electric vehicle manufacturer.
04:21We also have seen big tech in China outperform on an equity market perspective in 2025.
04:27Do you expect that to continue and for China to really solidify more of its neck and neck position with the U.S. or even supersede it?
04:34Look, I think the reality is for the first time in 30 years, U.S. is ahead of China when it comes to tech.
04:40And I think that's very important, obviously, led by Nvidia, Microsoft, Palantir and others.
04:44But in China, look, we're bullish on China tech.
04:48We talk about Alibaba.
04:50You look at Tencent.
04:51You look at a lot of the other names there.
04:52I think what you're seeing is it's a narrowing, but it's something where you're seeing robotics really play front and center, autonomous EVs, BYD and others in China.
05:03But when you think about how to play it, you have to play U.S. tech, and then there are Chinese tech players to go after.
05:11But in terms of AI revolution, like we've said, it's third inning, one out relative to this AI game.
05:18And I think the Bears, like I said, in hibernation mode, they can see AI in the spreadsheets.
05:24And I think 2026 is going to be a year that's going to be another bull market year for tech and for AI.
05:31I had really the same question as Lisa, again, because we've seen so many stories this morning about Baidu's chip unit filing for an IPO.
05:41Another chip designer, I think Briner, with a very successful IPO today.
05:46Another, maybe another mini deep seek moment, right, with a cheaper artificial intelligence.
05:51All among the most read stories on the Bloomberg terminals.
05:54So clients are paying attention to what's going on in China with AI.
05:58How do you bet on that?
05:59I mean, do you buy the individual stocks?
06:02Is there an ETF that you like?
06:04Do you have some of these stocks in your ETF?
06:06Yeah, sure.
06:06So obviously, you know, for the Ives ETF, I mean, what we really focus on is the AI 30.
06:11You know, it was like, who are the 30 winners?
06:13We have a few of the Chinese players in there.
06:15I think Baidu, you know, you look at Huawei in terms of the success they're having.
06:19Look, right now, NVIDIA is four to five years ahead of any other chip player.
06:24And I think that's well known.
06:25That's why even a third rate H200 restricted, China big tech is going to line up despite where
06:31the politics in Beijing.
06:32But this is an arm's race.
06:34It's the narrowing of the gap.
06:36You want to play some of those Chinese tech players.
06:39But the reality is in the U.S. from NVIDIA, AMD, we talk about our top five, Palantir,
06:45CrowdStrike and cybersecurity.
06:47Tesla, I think it's going to be the most important year ever for them.
06:50Microsoft, I think on hyperscale right now.
06:52Microsoft, Oracle, those are names, I think, you know, table pounders, in my opinion, in
06:58terms of what we see.
06:58And then Apple, finally, you know, they come to the AI party instead of being on the treadmill
07:032.0 speed.
07:04And now they actually start to get in terms of the consumer AI revolution, $75 to $100
07:09per share.
07:10There's only one company that you didn't mention that's on your list, and that's Microsoft.
07:14Where is Microsoft in terms of winning out versus Google?
07:18Who is its main competitor?
07:19Look, in terms of Redmond, the enterprise, this is their backyard.
07:24When you think about companies that are moving to AI, the first phone call goes to Nadella.
07:29And I think you're seeing Google, you're seeing Amazon, what Jassy's doing.
07:33And they're narrowing the gap, and they're going to be successful.
07:35But when I look at Microsoft, you have $25, $30 billion incremental monetization.
07:41I don't even think factor into street numbers.
07:43That's right.
07:43And the stock ultimately has a six in front of it.
07:46And I think this is going to be, we're going to go into January, into earnings season.
07:50I think that's going to be kind of the show me story showing, like, look, this is not
07:55stopping.
07:56Like we said, AI party started at 9 p.m.
07:59It's now 10.30, 10.45 p.m.
08:01Me and Lisa are asleep.
08:02But the party goes to 4 a.m.
08:07And that's where we are.
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