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The IVES ETF holds 30 companies identified by analyst Dan Ives. (0:15) Private sector shows anemic job growth. (0:57) UnitedHealth cancels former CEO stock awards. (3:50)
This is an abridged transcript of the podcast:
Our top story so far, Wedbush star tech analyst Dan Ives, known for his bullish AI thesis, see his namesake exchange-traded-fund launch today.
The Dan Ives Wedbush AI Revolution ETF (NYSEARCA:IVES) – ticker symbol (surprise surprise) IVES – opened for trading at $25.37 today. The management fee is 0.75%.
“It's all about the use cases exploding which is driving this tech transformation being led by software and chips into the rest of 2025 and beyond and thus speaks to our tech bull and AI Revolution thesis with these 30 core names,” Ives said last month.
Among the 30 holdings are Microsoft (MSFT), Google (GOOG) (GOOGL), Amazon (AMZN), Nvidia (NVdA), Palantir (PLTR), Snowflake (SNOW), Apple (AAPL), Meta (META), Palo Alto Networks (PANW) AMD (AMD) and Micron (MU).
On the economic front, ADP said private sector employment rose by just 37,000 in May, missing the +110,000 consensus and cooling from 60,000 in April. That’s the lowest level since 2023.
That low figure caused some market jitters ahead of Friday’s official jobs report, wiping out gains in stock market futures and pushing the 10-year yield (US10Y) closer to 4.4%.
But as Pantheon Macro reminds us: “ADP’s forecast error, regardless of sign, has averaged 84K - and has been as big as 348K - since its methodology was overhauled in August 2022.”
“That's a bigger average error than for the consensus forecast, about 50K, and the 73K error from simply taking the average first official estimate of growth in private payrolls over the previous six months. The breakdown of ADP’s employment estimates is just as unreliable, with the average absolute forecast errors for every major sector also bigger than simply assuming the prior six-month average growth rate.”
But that didn’t stop President Donald Trump from highlighting ADP as another reason he thinks Fed Chairman Jay Powell should start cutting interest rates.
In addition, the May ISM services index painted what Schwab strategist Kathy Jones called a soft picture of the economy. The overall index fell into contraction territory at 49.9, down from 51.6 and below the 52 consensus. That’s the lowest level since in a year.
New orders slumped to 46.4 from 52.3, while prices paid rose to 68.7 vs. 65.1. Employment held above 50, though.
Among active stocks, Apple (AAPL) caught a rare downgrade from Needham, which cut the stock to Hold from Buy, amid concerns over earnings growth and iPhone competition.
Analyst Laura Martin said: “Despite AAPL's premium valuation, it is growing (revenues) and margins slowest among its Big Tech competitors. In fact, the other 3 Big Tech companies we cover reported 2x-3x faster rev growth and 3x-12x faster margin expansion than AAPL for the March quarter, suggesting that AAPL's premium valuation (versus) Big Tech peers is at risk.”
Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) is soaring after fiscal second-quarter results beat estimates.
Evercore analyst Amit Daryanani noted Hewlett Packard pointed to a more positive outlook than feared going into the print, guiding July-quarter revenue of $8.35 billion at midpoint, ahead of street at $8.22 billion and EPS of $0.40 to $0.45 versus consensus of $0.41. The company expects sequential growth across all of its product segments, including mid-teens quarter-over-quarter growth in servers, driven in part by the expected delivery of a large AI server order.
Guidewire Software (GWRE) is up after the digital platform provider for property and casualty insurance reported adjusted earnings per share of $0.88, which was much more than the consensus estimate of $0.47.
Looking ahead to Q4, Guidewire projects revenue between $332 million to $340 million, with a midpoint of $336 million more than the consensus of $332 million.
In other news of note, UnitedHealth Group (UNH) announced that board members canceled the performance-based restricted stock units granted to former CEO Andrew Witty, who abruptly resigned from the company in May.
Witty’s sudden departure sent UnitedHealth shares sharply lower in mid-May as the company concurrently withdrew its full-year earnings outlook under new CEO, Stephen Hemsley.
The Compensation and Human Resources Committee of the board decided to cancel Witty’s performance-based restricted stock units granted on Feb. 20. Witty has agreed to the cancellation, UnitedHealth added.
And in the Wall Street Research Corner, Jefferies added six new names to its list of highest-conviction, Buy-rated stocks. The list comprises stocks that "are underpinned by differentiated analysis, supported by catalysts and sit at valuation levels that suggest upside."
The new names are: Nvidia (NVDA), Capital One Financial (COF), Expand Energy (EXE), Huntington Bancshares (HBAN), PVH (PVH) and UGI (UGI). ConocoPhillips (COP) and Global-E Online (GLBE) were removed.
Among other names are: Caterpillar (CAT), DraftKings (DKNG), Gilead (GILD), Microsoft (MSFT) and Ventas (VTR).
Check out the whole list.
