Ives Still Sees Big Winners Despite Software Selloff
Watch on YouTube ↗  |  February 11, 2026 at 21:24 UTC  |  5:56  |  Bloomberg Markets
Speakers
Dan Ives — Managing Director, Wedbush Securities
Dani — Host/Interviewer

Summary

  • The current "Sasspocalypse" (software selloff) is characterized as a "knee-jerk" and "Armageddon trade" that presents a golden buying opportunity.
  • There is a projected 8-to-10 dollar multiplier across the software and infrastructure ecosystem for every 1 dollar spent on an NVIDIA chip.
  • Big Tech CapEx is estimated to reach $700 billion to $1 trillion, creating massive moats akin to "building Vegas in the 1950s."
  • The AI revolution is only in year 3 of an 8-to-10 year buildout, suggesting the structural bull market remains intact despite short-term volatility.
Trade Ideas
Ticker Direction Speaker Thesis Time
MDB /PLTR /NOW /SNOW /CRM
LONG Dan Ives
Star Analyst at Wedbush 		Ives calls the current software selloff the "most head scratching sell off... I've ever seen." He explicitly names ServiceNow (NOW), Mongo (MDB), Snowflake (SNOW), and Palantir (PLTR) as companies that will play "instrumental roles." The market fears AI (like Anthropic) will replace software (the "Sasspocalypse"). However, Ives argues the opposite: AI requires vast data and security infrastructure to function in enterprise. Therefore, these incumbents with "decades of data" will integrate AI to become incrementally bigger, making the current dip a "golden buying opportunity." LONG these specific software names as the "hearts and lungs" of AI use cases. AI startups (like the tax strategy example mentioned) successfully disrupting legacy pricing models faster than incumbents can adapt. 2:53
FINANCIALS /ENERGY /HEALTH CARE
LONG Dan Ives
Star Analyst at Wedbush 		"And those derivatives, you could argue you're gonna go into energy, financials, health care as it plays out in terms of broadening market." Second-order thinking suggests that the AI trade isn't just about chips and software. The massive power requirements (Energy) and economic efficiency gains (Financials/Healthcare) will cause the "yellow brick road" of capital to flow into these sectors as the market broadens. LONG as a rotation/derivative play on the AI theme. Macroeconomic slowdowns affecting cyclical sectors like energy and financials regardless of AI adoption. 5:21
MSFT /ORCL
LONG Dan Ives
Star Analyst at Wedbush 		"That's why my view is, like, Microsoft, Oracle... I think what we essentially are going through... is almost like a deep sea type moment in tech." Hyperscalers are engaging in an "arms race," spending nearly $1 trillion on CapEx. This spending is not a waste but a defensive moat ("digging a deeper moat"). Microsoft and Oracle are positioned as the primary infrastructure winners of this spend. LONG based on the "follow the CapEx" logic. Overspending on CapEx without immediate ROI leading to margin compression. 2:00