Dan Ives is one of the most closely followed personalities on Wall Street. Ives leads global technology research for Wedbush Securities, and can often be found touting bullish narratives and forecasts about artificial intelligence (AI) on financial media outlets such as CNBC or Bloomberg.
In late December, Ives took to social media platform X (formerly Twitter) to highlight his top 10 AI picks for 2025. Below, I’m going to explore three of his software picks and assess if now looks like a good opportunity to scoop up shares.
It should come as no surprise that Palantir Technologies (NASDAQ: PLTR) earned a position on Ives’ list of top ideas. The primary tailwind fueling Palantir boils down to one thing: the company’s newest software suite, dubbed the Palantir Artificial Intelligence Platform (AIP). Since launching in April 2023, AIP has helped Palantir make a splash in the private sector and remain a competitive option alongside many other data analytics tools flooding the software market.
Moreover, AIP has also helped Palantir form a number of strategic alliances with big tech and consulting firms including Oracle, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, Amazon, and Booz Allen Hamilton. Many of these partnerships are focused specifically on integrating AIP across cloud infrastructures within the Department of Defense (DOD) and other military-related agencies. In turn, Palantir has unlocked new ways to accelerate its historically lumpy government business.
While I am personally bullish on Palantir’s long-term potential, I must also admit that the stock has gotten overwhelmingly expensive. Last year, Palantir was the top-performing stock in the S&P 500 index (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC) after the company’s shares soared 340%.
Although I think 2025 should be another terrific year for Palantir, I’d caution investors against buying into the stock during a pronounced period of momentum.
The next company I’ll be exploring is Salesforce (NYSE: CRM). While Salesforce is primarily known for its sales and marketing tools, the company also owns and operates several other platforms that span across areas such as data analytics and workplace productivity.
Over the last couple of years, large language models (LLMs) and machine learning have garnered a lot of the chatter surrounding AI. However, during the company’s latest earnings call, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff made it clear that the company’s next growth wave revolves around agentic AI.
Agentic AI will utilize generative AI protocols such as LLMs and machine learning applications, but will not require a human to operate as these digital agents become “smarter” and more independent over time. Salesforce’s agentic AI platform is aptly called Agentforce, and right now it’s already being used by some of the world’s largest enterprises including IBM, FedEx, and Accenture.