The chief optimist on Tesla has launched his AI ETF. What stocks did he include in it?

Analyst Wedbush, known on Wall Street for its most optimistic estimates on Tesla stock, has launched its own ETF on stocks of artificial intelligence-related companies. The fund, which began trading on NYSE Arca on June 4, tracks the Solactive Wedbush Artificial Intelligence Index, which includes 30 companies. The fund's price was little changed on the first day of trading.

Dan Ives, managing director and global head of technology research at Wedbush, has launched an exchange-traded fund specializing in AI stocks that his audience can invest in with him, reports CNBC.

A fund called Dan Ives Wedbush AI Revolution ETF began trading under the ticker IVES on NYSE Arca on June 4. At the start of trading, the price was $25.37, and the fund's capitalization « $1 million. During the day, the price of IVES ETF fluctuated within 0.1%.

Technically, an ETF is considered a passive investment vehicle. «We are balancing on the edge of an active and passive approach. We try to maximize Dan's ideas in an institutional structure that will provide investors with consistency and predictability,» explained Wedbush Fund Advisers Chief Investment Officer Cullen Rogers.

Revisions to the index's composition will occur quarterly, but unscheduled changes are possible in the event of corporate events, according to materials Wedbush filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

In fact, Wedbush Fund Advisers has launched a fund that will track the investment ideas of Dan Ives, an analyst whose confident recommendations in the technology sector have earned him widespread popularity, especially among private investors, commented on Bloomberg's ETF launch. The fund is based on an index based on the Ives AI 30 research list, which Ives oversees.

«It's based on our research. If there are new companies, they may enter the index and others may leave it. It's a living organism, not a static structure. And that's the key idea: the topic of AI will continue to evolve,» said Ives in an interview with CNBC.

Ives has over 180k subscribers at X and is a regular media personality. «When we analyzed our internal resources, it became clear: there is no more valuable asset than Dan Ives, his market views and the way he perceives the tectonic shifts taking place in the world - especially in artificial intelligence,» explained Rogers to Bloomberg.

- Software developers include Palantir Technologies, Salesforce, IBM, ServiceNow, Snowflake, Adobe, Pegasystems, MongoDB, C3.ai, Elastic, Innodata and SoundHound.

- Chipmakers include Nvidia, AMD, Taiwan Semiconductor, Micron and Broadcom.

- So-called hyperscalers are major companies that build and manage large-scale cloud infrastructure to process huge amounts of data. These are Microsoft, Alphabet (Google's parent company), Amazon and Oracle.

- Internet companies include Apple, Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, and Chinese companies Alibaba and Baidu.

- Robotics and drone developers: Tesla, an upcoming robotaxi, and startup Oklo, which is developing nuclear technology to provide energy for automation.

- Cybersecurity leaders include Zscaler, Palo Alto Networks and CyberArk Software.

According to Bloomberg, there are now more than 25 ETFs on the market that are either focused on the topic of artificial intelligence or use AI in asset management. In many cases, competing in such a crowded market has proven difficult - there have been numerous liquidations in recent years. In addition, weak returns can be a serious impediment to a fund's success.

AI ETFs remain a challenge for managers, as the industry is growing rapidly and some key players like OpenAI are still private companies. In addition, the biggest public beneficiaries of AI, like Nvidia, are already well represented in other funds.

The IVES fund will have to compete with a number of peers, including the Global X Artificial Intelligence & Technology ETF (ticker AIQ), which manages more than $3 billion in assets. AIQ has added 22% over the past 12 months - higher than the S&P 500's gains, but roughly in line with the returns of Nvidia alone over the same period, CNBC notes.

The Ives fund will charge a 0.75% management fee - higher than many popular thematic ETFs but below the average of 1% for active funds in the U.S. equity market, according to Morningstar. By comparison, AIQ's fee is 0.68%.