The technology sector, fuelled by a drive from artificial intelligence, has powered the stock market rally in the first half of the year, and amid growing fears of a correction, bullish analysts suggested Friday that the rally is likely to continue unimpeded.
Just getting started: “It’s only 9pm, but the AI-driven tech bull party will continue until 4am,” Wedbush analysts said. Daniel Ives In a note.
Analysts said their global fieldwork showed that the AI revolution is only just beginning. NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) and Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT). The second, third and fourth spinoffs of the revolution will start to happen over the next 12 to 18 months, he said, adding that “a trillion-dollar wave of spending will come into the technology sector.”
Ives took a closer look at how tech stocks performed in the first half of the year, saying they performed very well, driven mainly by big tech companies like Nvidia and Microsoft. Amazon, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META).
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Outlook for the second half: Ives reiterated his view that tech stocks should rise 15% on top of their gains in the first half of the year as technology fundamentals accelerate amid a significant expansion of AI use cases.
The enterprise AI revolution is led by Nvidia and Microsoft, while Meta is leading the consumer side Apple. (NASDAQ:META), and Alphabet’s (NASDAQ:GOOGL) (NASDAQ:GOOG) Google He said he would likely be the front-runner.
The winners in the next phase of the AI revolution will be technology vendors that can monetize their installed base with new AI platforms, the analyst said, while the losers will be “players who don’t have the tools, technology or software engineers to compete and are therefore locked out of sales cycles, technology-driven platforms and future growth opportunities,” he said.
Featured Products: Ives named nine stocks across the technology sector as the most promising tech stocks for the rest of the year. Here’s how they performed in the first half of the year:
| company | First half of 2024 performance | Sector/Category | Potential for increase* |
| Microsoft | +19.3% | Big Tech Companies Exposed to AI | +8.6 |
| apple | +9.7% | Big Tech Companies Exposed to AI | (-0.7%) |
| alphabet | +30.6% | Big Tech Companies Exposed to AI | +7.2% |
| Palantir Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:PLTR) | +47.5% | AI-based data analysis company | (-12.8%) |
| Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (Nasdaq:PANW) | +14.0% | Cloud Security Software Vendors | +0.4% |
| Check Point Software Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq:CHKP) | +8.0% | Cloud Security Software Vendors | +0.3% |
| CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CRWD) | +50% | Cloud Security Software Vendors | +3.9% |
| Zscaler, Inc. (Nasdaq:ZS) | (-13.3%) | Cloud Security Software Vendors | +17.0% |
| Salesforce Japan (NYSE:CRM) | (-2.2%) | CRM Vendors Exposed to AI | +16.0% |
of Invesco QQQ Trust QQQ (NYSE:QQQ), an exchange-traded fund (ETF) tracking the Nasdaq 100 index (comprised of the 100 largest non-financial technology stocks), rose 0.11% to $491.56 in pre-market trading, according to data from Benzinga Pro. The ETF is up 20.3% so far this year.
of Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLK) rose 0.08% to $232.35 in pre-market trading.
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