Ives Names His AI Winners; Four of Six Rally on the Day
Dan Ives told CNBC viewers where AI dollars flow next after Nvidia's results: Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, Palantir and CrowdStrike. Live prices show a sharply split reaction across the six names.
On CNBC's Morning Call Sheet on August 27, 2026, tech analyst Dan Ives named Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, Palantir and CrowdStrike as the next beneficiaries after NVIDIA reignited the AI rally, arguing demand is accelerating 20%; NVDA traded at 227.67 (+8.59%) and CRWD at 222.19 (+17.45%) as of 16:12 GMT.
Dan Ives, the longtime technology analyst, used an appearance on CNBC's Morning Call Sheet on August 27, 2026 to answer the question every AI-exposed portfolio manager was asking that morning: after NVIDIA (NASDAQ: NVDA) reignited the artificial-intelligence trade, where does the next dollar go?
His list was short and familiar. The hyperscalers — Microsoft, Alphabet and Amazon, the three cloud operators that buy accelerators by the rack rather than the unit — plus Palantir on the software side and CrowdStrike in cybersecurity. The underlying argument was a demand one: Ives said demand is accelerating 20%, even in what would ordinarily be a seasonally quiet stretch of the calendar.
The market's response to that lineup was anything but uniform, which is the most useful thing about looking at the tape rather than the talking points.
What the tape said while Ives was talking
As of the last trade at 16:12 GMT on August 27, Nvidia was quoted at 227.67, up 8.59% from a prior close of 209.66 — a gain of 18.01 points and a price sitting essentially on the session high of 227.68, with the day's low at 220.90. A stock closing near the top of its range after a large gap higher is the classic signature of buyers who did not want to wait for a pullback.
CrowdStrike was the day's outlier. It changed hands at 222.19, up 17.45% from 189.18, a move of 33.01 points, having traded between 206.10 and 225.78. Palantir added 4.57% to 185.62, off a prior close of 177.50 and near the upper end of a 177.92–186.32 range.
The hyperscalers, though, did not cooperate with the narrative in equal measure. Microsoft rose 0.81% to 500.41, but only after a wide swing between 490.08 and 505.50 — a stock that has been pushed and pulled rather than simply bought. Alphabet slipped 0.33% to 340.88 from 342.00. Amazon fell 1.40% to 256.63, closing in on its session low of 255.58 after opening the day nearer 259.66.
So of the six names in the conversation, four were higher and two were lower, and the two laggards were the ones doing the actual capital spending. That split matters. When AI enthusiasm is genuinely broad, the buyers of chips rise with the seller of chips. When the enthusiasm is narrow, capital expenditure reads as a cost rather than a moat, and the picks-and-shovels names take the gains while the customers pay for them.
The index backdrop was tilted the same way
The benchmarks confirmed the shape of the day. The Nasdaq 100 tracker (QQQ) was at $718.51, up 1.00% from $711.37, while the S&P 500 tracker (SPY) sat at $770.58, up 0.59% from $766.08. The Dow 30 fund (DIA) trailed both at $535.58, up 0.25%. That leaves the Nasdaq proxy outperforming the broad-market proxy by roughly 0.41 percentage points on the session — modest in absolute terms, but a clean statement about which end of the market was doing the work.
Note the arithmetic of concentration here. A single large-cap chipmaker up 8.59% and a mid-cap security software name up 17.45% can lift a tech-heavy index by a full percentage point while two of the largest constituents in that same index are flat to lower. Index gains built that way are real, but they are not evidence that the whole complex is being re-rated.
The question the holdings disclosure has to answer
There is an obvious follow-up when a widely followed analyst names a basket of stocks on national television: does the fund attached to his name already hold them? It is a fair question and a structural one rather than an accusatory one. Analysts who run or lend their name to vehicles operate under disclosure regimes precisely so that viewers can check the overlap between the public call and the private book, and daily ETF holdings files are the place that check gets done.
45% can lift a tech-heavy index by a full percentage point while two of the largest constituents in that same index are flat to lower.
What can be said without guessing is what the incentive structure looks like. If a thematic AI fund already owns the hyperscalers and the software names, a televised endorsement is a restatement of the portfolio, not a new idea — and investors should treat it as a description of positioning rather than an independent signal. If the fund does not own them, the call is a forward-looking one and deserves to be judged on the demand thesis alone. The distinction changes how much weight a viewer should place on the list, which is why 24/7 Wall St. put the question in the frame in its report on the appearance.
How to test the 20% demand claim from here
The number doing the heavy lifting in the argument is the 20% acceleration. That is a claim about order books, not about share prices, and it has three checkable consequences over the coming quarters.
- Capital expenditure guidance from the hyperscalers. If demand is accelerating at that rate, Microsoft, Alphabet and Amazon have to keep raising spending plans. A flat capex guide would contradict the thesis regardless of what the chip supplier reports.
- Software monetisation, not just software enthusiasm. Palantir and CrowdStrike need revenue and bookings growth that plausibly derives from AI workloads, rather than multiple expansion driven by association with the theme.
- Breadth beneath the leaders. A durable cycle should eventually pull networking, power, cooling and memory suppliers along with it. A rally that stays confined to two or three tickers is a positioning story.
For now the honest summary of August 27 is narrower than the headline call. Nvidia's move was the event; CrowdStrike's was the sharpest reaction; and the three companies that actually write the cheques for AI infrastructure were, on the day, flat at best. Investors reading the endorsement as a green light for the whole basket should notice that the market did not treat it that way.
Frequently asked questions
Which stocks did Dan Ives name as the next AI winners?
On CNBC's Morning Call Sheet on August 27, 2026, Ives pointed to the three large hyperscale cloud operators — Microsoft, Alphabet and Amazon — plus Palantir in software and CrowdStrike in cybersecurity. He framed them as the next beneficiaries of AI spending after NVIDIA's results reignited the broader artificial-intelligence rally.
How did those stocks actually trade that day?
As of the last trade at 16:12 GMT on August 27, 2026, NVDA was at 227.67 (+8.59%), CRWD at 222.19 (+17.45%), PLTR at 185.62 (+4.57%) and MSFT at 500.41 (+0.81%). Alphabet slipped 0.33% to 340.88 and Amazon fell 1.40% to 256.63, so two of the six named companies were lower.
What does the 20% demand acceleration figure refer to?
Ives said on air that AI demand is accelerating 20%, and argued it was doing so even during what is normally a quieter seasonal period. It is a claim about the pace of order growth across the AI supply chain rather than a company-specific revenue or earnings figure, and the lead does not attach it to a single reporting period.
Does Ives' own fund hold the stocks he named?
That is the question raised around the appearance, and it is answerable only from the fund's disclosed holdings rather than from television commentary. Thematic ETFs publish holdings files, which is where any overlap between a public endorsement and an existing position would show up. No holdings breakdown is stated in the underlying report.
Why did the hyperscalers lag while Nvidia rallied?
Nvidia sells the accelerators; Microsoft, Alphabet and Amazon buy them. When investors focus on the demand signal, the chip supplier gets re-rated first. When they focus on the cost, heavy AI capital expenditure at the cloud operators reads as a drag on near-term margins and free cash flow rather than a competitive advantage.
What should investors watch next to test the thesis?
Three things: whether the hyperscalers keep raising capital expenditure guidance, whether Palantir and CrowdStrike convert AI enthusiasm into reported revenue and bookings growth, and whether the rally broadens beyond a handful of names into networking, power, cooling and memory suppliers. Narrow leadership is a positioning story rather than a cycle.
Sources
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