Dan Ives Anticipates a 'Remarkable 2026' for Tesla and Nvidia, Notes Bears Are Still Observing from 'The Sidelines'
Dan Ives' Bullish Outlook: Dan Ives, Global Head of Tech Research at Wedbush Securities, remains optimistic about the U.S. technology sector, predicting a "magical year" for Tesla and highlighting Nvidia as a leader in the early stages of the AI revolution.
Tesla and Nvidia as Key Players: Ives identifies Tesla and Nvidia as the top "physical AI plays," with Tesla's focus on autonomy and robotics expected to be pivotal by 2026, while Nvidia continues to lead the foundational infrastructure of the tech boom.
Continued Tech Rally: Despite recent tech market gains, Ives believes the bull run is far from over, projecting the Nasdaq could reach between 25,000 and 30,000 in the next 12 to 24 months, with growth extending to emerging software companies.
Opportunities Amid Volatility: Acknowledging potential market volatility due to geopolitical tensions, Ives views these moments as opportunities to invest in leading companies in the AI sector.
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- Market Size Growth: The digital rights management market is projected to grow from $3.97 billion in 2025 to $4.75 billion in 2026, reflecting a 19.1% CAGR, driven by the proliferation of digital media channels and video-on-demand platforms.
- Surge in OTT Consumption: The OTT audience in India reached over 481 million in 2023, marking a 13.5% increase from 2022, significantly fueling the demand for digital rights management to protect content from unauthorized duplication.
- Strengthened Strategic Collaborations: CDNetworks' partnership with Irdeto integrates DRM capabilities into its media delivery platform, expected to enhance content protection, while Vobile Group Inc.'s acquisition of Pex Inc. aims to solidify its leadership through advanced content identification technologies.
- Diverse Market Participants: Key players include Google, Microsoft, and Apple, with North America being the largest market in 2025, highlighting the region's significance in the digital rights management landscape and reflecting broad global participation.
- TurboQuant Launch: Google Research released TurboQuant last week, a software-based AI memory compression technology that significantly enhances inference efficiency by increasing KV-cache capacity sixfold and speeding up AI inference eightfold, although this may reduce memory demand, overall market confidence remains intact.
- Market Reaction: Following the release of TurboQuant, major memory companies like Micron saw their stocks plummet sharply, indicating that investor concerns about short-term memory demand may be overstated despite strong ongoing demand for AI inference.
- HBM Market Outlook: While TurboQuant poses a potential risk to the high-bandwidth memory (HBM) market, HBM remains the primary memory type for AI model training, and demand is expected to continue growing, especially as the AI inference market expands.
- Investment Opportunity: Despite the short-term volatility in memory stocks, analysts view this as an investment opportunity, particularly for those who missed out on the rise of Micron and related semiconductor stocks over the past year, as the current market adjustment may provide a favorable entry point.
- Investor Focus Shift: As investors increasingly turn to emerging potential winners, Apple's status as Buffett's largest holding may lead to a stock price surge in 2026, particularly following its gradual entry into the AI space, which enhances market recognition of its safety and growth potential.
- Brand Loyalty: Apple continues to profit from sales of smartphones and Macs due to its strong brand effect and customer loyalty, with future growth drivers expected to stem from its services business, especially recurring revenue linked to over 2.5 billion active devices.
- Growth Potential in Services: Apple's services business has shown robust growth, as customers typically subscribe to additional digital entertainment or storage services after purchasing an iPhone, creating a steady revenue stream that further solidifies its market position.
- Strong Financial Performance: Apple has reported record services revenue in recent quarters, and with a gross margin of 47.33% and a dividend yield of 0.41%, the company demonstrates financial health and growth potential that attracts more investor interest.
- TurboQuant Launch: Google Research released TurboQuant last week, a software-based AI memory compression technology that can increase AI inference speed by eight times and KV-cache capacity by six times without any loss of accuracy, significantly enhancing the efficiency of AI models.
- Market Reaction: Despite a sharp sell-off in Micron and related memory semiconductor stocks due to concerns over declining demand, the introduction of TurboQuant could actually stimulate memory demand as AI companies invest in more advanced models leveraging efficiency gains.
- Memory Market Dynamics: The introduction of TurboQuant may shift the AI inference market from high-bandwidth memory (HBM) to traditional memory types like DDR5, although HBM will still dominate AI model training, potentially alleviating supply constraints in the memory market.
- Investment Opportunity: While memory stocks face short-term pressure, analysts believe this could present a buying opportunity, especially given the strong performance of memory stocks over the past year, prompting investors to consider increasing or establishing initial positions.
- Buffett's Endorsement: Buffett praised Apple CEO Tim Cook at the recent shareholder meeting, indicating his ongoing confidence in the company, even as he has gradually reduced his stake; Apple remains the largest holding in Berkshire Hathaway's portfolio, underscoring its significance.
- Active Device Count: Apple now boasts over 2.5 billion active devices worldwide, providing a substantial user base that fuels recurring revenue through its services business, as customers typically subscribe to additional digital entertainment or storage services after purchasing an iPhone, leading to stable cash flow.
- Service Revenue Growth: The company has reported record service revenue in recent quarters, highlighting the strong growth potential of its services segment, and with ongoing demand for new products, this trend is expected to further enhance overall performance.
- AI Market Potential: Although Apple was late to the AI game, the increasing investor interest in AI stocks may position Apple as a new winner; combined with its strong brand loyalty and stable revenue streams, significant growth is anticipated in 2026.
- Historical Return Potential: The Nasdaq-100 has achieved an average five-year return of 103% over the past two decades, with historical data suggesting that it could nearly double investors' money in the next five years, making it an attractive option for investors.
- AI-Driven Growth: The Invesco QQQ Trust is heavily invested in AI-related stocks, with top holdings including tech giants like Nvidia and Apple, which are expected to benefit from the rapid development of AI technologies, further enhancing market performance.
- Market Correction Timing: The Nasdaq Composite is currently in a market correction, down over 10% from its all-time high, and historical data indicates that such corrections have led to an average five-year return of 146%, presenting a favorable investment opportunity.
- Concentration Risk Warning: While the Invesco QQQ Trust has a reasonable expense ratio of 0.18%, its top ten holdings account for nearly 50% of its performance, prompting investors to carefully consider the concentration risk and potential price volatility.











