Dan Ives, Global Head of Technology Research at Wedbush, praises Tesla’s Robotaxi debut but admits lagging tech. Sarah Kunst, Managing Director at Cleo Capital highlights cyber risks and favors Meta. Both see tech stocks facing mixed sentiment amid global tensions.

Tesla’s robotaxi demonstration received strong praise from Dan Ives of Wedbush, who described the ride experience as smooth and impressive, even exceeding expectations compared to competitors like Waymo. However, Sarah Kunst of Cleo Capital pointed out that Tesla still lags behind rivals in key areas such as safety data and LIDAR technology, and noted reports of the vehicles exhibiting unsafe driving behaviors.

Both analysts discussed the broader technology sector, observing that investor sentiment is mixed due to ongoing geopolitical tensions and cyber risks. While some tech stocks, especially in cybersecurity, may benefit from heightened awareness, others could be seen as less safe. Kunst favors Meta and NVIDIA, while Ives highlights cybersecurity firms like CyberArk, Palo Alto, CrowdStrike, and Zscaler as top picks in the current environment.

Tesla’s Robotaxi impresses; cyber, tech stocks face mixed views

Dan, you weren't there personally. I'm sure everybody was a little disappointed you weren't there personally, but you had one of your associates and your team there. What did you make of these rides, a few vehicles in a very limited geo-fenced off space? I mean, I thought it was extremely smooth, everything we saw, not just from a safety perspective. Maneuverability was way impressive. I thought actually better than even Waymo coming out of the gates. I mean, Frank, going in, I thought it would be an 8 out of 10. I think it was a 10 out of 10 relative to our experience. Two 15-minute drives that our team had. And I think the other thing is that this is just a start. Because I think a year from now, 25 to 30 cities, it speaks to this trillion dollar autonomous valuation that we believe will only be for Tesla. So Sarah, coming over to you, I mean, I'm going to take Dan's words. It's just a start. Other companies are ahead of it, including Waymo. Also, Amazon has its own self-driving company that they're rolling out as well. What did you make of what we saw and heard over the weekend? I actually just saw a report that apparently people are capturing videos of them speeding, swerving into the wrong lanes. And look, I'm not a great driver. You can ask my mom. But I'm also not a computer car that's supposed to lead a company to a trillion dollar market cap. And so the whole sort of premise of robo-taxis is that they are safer and more efficient than having real drivers in the car, because there's a lot of cost to them. So is Tesla behind Waymo? Yes. I've lived in San Francisco for a long time, so I've seen almost every iteration of self-driving cars testing. I still have a lot of concerns about the fact that they don't have LIDAR, that they're not really seeing a ton of safety data. Time will certainly tell. I agree with Dan that it is the beginning. But I think that the reality is that they're pretty far behind most of their competitors. All right. Sarah, I'm going to stick with you for a second. Let's talk about the broader tech trade. We were showing some of the Mag 7 stocks pretty muted this morning. What does that say to you about the tech trade right now? Does that say that investors are not looking for a safe haven, or do they maybe no longer see these names as safe havens? I think it's really hard to find a safe haven right now. And one of the risks, I think, in this sort of uncertain geopolitical environment is that if cyber warfare becomes a part of that story, some of these software names might look a little bit less safe. You can't really bomb Microsoft, but you certainly can hack them, right? So I think that there's some of that. The reality is a lot of these have been trading at relatively high multiples. There are still names I like in there. I like Meta. I like NVIDIA. But I think that it's a time of uneasiness, and there's not a lot of enthusiasm to buy into something that you're already overweight in. So Dan, that leads us to the cyber trade right now. We had a guest on last week calling Iranian cyber professionals some of the most sophisticated, whether it's defense or offense. With that in mind, do you have some top picks in the cyberspace just to kind of play some of these geopolitical tensions and the potential Iranian threat? Yeah, look, I think cybersecurity is going to get a huge bid today, because it's just going to give another talent, CyberArk, Palo Alto, CrowdStrike. And I think Zscaler is another one. I mean, I think, look, this is just going to speak to just more talents that you're going to see for cybersecurity players. I also think Palantir is going to get more and more of a bid, because they're going to benefit, I think, on both sides. But I think it just shows that Sarah had some great points. I believe it's actually a risk on. I think you're going to see tech is going to be on today, because ultimately, it's going to be viewed as the black swan event in terms of Middle East is removed relative to a week in Iran. And that is, I think that's been a concern for investors. And I was thinking about what's happened in the Middle East with AI, I mean, in terms of UAE and everything. Do you share her opinion that software names might be seen as less safe right now in this current environment? And maybe that's why we're not seeing as big a move in some of those big tech names, like a Microsoft big software player, Alphabet? Yeah, look, I actually think, I mean, when it comes to software, it's actually even more of a safety name, because when you look at names like Microsoft, you look at Oracle, I get what Sarah's talking about on the valuation, but I actually think these are names that have huge valuation upside, and especially given what we're going to see, you're going to see more and more of an appetite. And I would say what Sarah talked about with Tesla, you know, look, I look forward to having some barbecue with Sarah down in Austin to show her the maneuverability. I thought it was actually pretty impressive. Look forward to talking with her there in Austin. Yeah, we'll have to set up you guys to get some ribs and all that kind of good stuff. Sarah, I want to come back over to you right now with this week, a lot of tensions, a lot of apprehension, even though we're not really seeing it in the market, but a lot of geopolitical tension. Is there one of those big tech names or even outside the Mag 7 that you see as potentially the best play? I like Meta. I think that it is reasonably priced. And the reality is that, you know, love him or hate him, you are using Zuck's platforms to consume this information. Nobody right now is logging off. And so the reality is that WhatsApp is sort of the default text message server for most of the world. And, you know, you have things like FedEx.

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