Dan Ives’ AI ETF Looks Compelling for Growth-Minded Investors

Wedbush Securities’ Dan Ives has to be one of the most recognized men on financial television. If it’s not his bold, thought-provoking vision of the future of the AI revolution, or his incredibly bullish stance on a number of tech firms with front-row seats to the AI trade, it’s his colorful attire and entertaining use of analogies. Any way you look at it, Ives is gaining a significant audience. What’s more interesting, though, is that the man has been right, at least for the most part, to be bullish, even at times when it seemed like the rug was going to be pulled from underneath the tech plays. 

As you’d expect, Ives remains bullish on the big tech names, including the obvious ones. After all, sometimes the best plays are the ones hiding in plain sight. With a wealth of experience, boots on the ground, and a very strong counterargument to all the AI bubble chatter, I do think the man is worth listening to if you’re looking to play the continued AI boom as the terrain gets a bit choppier. 

Dan Ives’ AI ETF is perfect for the fans of the man

For the big fans of the man, there’s now an ETF for that with the Dan IVES Wedbush AI Revolution ETF (NYSEARCA:IVES). While this AI ETF isn’t the only one to play the so-called fourth industrial revolution, it certainly does have a lot of firepower behind it.

We’re talking the mega-cap AI stars as well as some of the names well-positioned to play the boom from the background. Any way you look at it, the ETF is full of names that ought to be appealing to growth-minded investors who want to go above and beyond the Nasdaq 100 for more exposure to the theme of AI, even as it starts to cool off a bit. If anything, perhaps it’s a wise time to buy now that investors are more focused on a rotation out of AI and CapEx-heavy tech and into hard assets and cash cows.

In any case, the Dan Ives AI ETF holds many of the names the man praises on television. That includes some of the Mag Seven winners, but also the high-risk/high-reward plays, such as Oklo (NASDAQ:OKLO), that might offer a bit of convexity if the AI trade does experience another leg higher.

The case for buying the ETF over the Nasdaq 100

Dan Ives’ ETF sports a 0.75% expense ratio, which is some basis points more expensive than a vanilla Nasdaq 100 index ETF. And while there is quite a bit of overlap when it comes to the top-10 holdings (think the exposure to the Magnificent Seven), it’s what’s beyond the top 10 that I think allows Ives’ ETF to be worth the additional cost. In a prior piece, I highlighted such wild cards, which were reasonably represented in the ETF, as the potential difference makers.

Whether we’re talking about more semiconductors, nuclear energy, AI infrastructure, agentic software, or data center exposure beyond the hyperscalers, I do see the Ives ETF as a more potent and explosive basket of stocks to play a bull-case scenario with AI. Add the other higher-beta AI beneficiaries, like Oklo, into the equation, and Ives’ ETF certainly does stand out as a more exciting, albeit choppier ride than most other tech ETFs on the market right now.

Could Ives’ ETF be the perfect one-stop shop for the bulls who reject the AI bubble narrative that’s weighed on valuations of late? Possibly. Either way, it’s a great must-watch ETF for those who aren’t ready to give up on AI quite yet, just because some big bills are coming due in the next year and a half.