Latest news with #IGV
CNBC
08-08-2025
- Business
- CNBC
How to play the pullback in tech software names this week using options
Better-than-expected earnings growth in Q2 has kept the equity bulls in control. Underneath the surface investors are enjoying the outperformance in technology software names as markets now sit in an interesting vacuum until the Fed's critical September meeting. Even though this rally is getting long in the tooth, I believe there is more room to run. I want to use the iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF (IGV) to define risk as this basket of tech software stocks has had a tremendous run since Liberation Day lows in April while seeking to further capitalize on a move higher in this basket of software names such as Palantir , Oracle , and AppLovin . CPI data next week will further assist investors in better understanding what the Fed might do at their meeting in September, but the CME Group's Fed Watch tool is currently suggesting a 91% chance of the Fed cutting interest rates. This would be the first 2025 rate cut. Software stocks have endured some broad selling pressure recently, but Fortinet was an extreme example as the cybersecurity leader dropped by over 20% Thursday. Shares plunged after the cybersecurity firm implied a product refresh cycle may be less impactful than the bulls wanted. That being said, I still believe the momentum in tech has the ability to push associated names higher. Instead of picking one individual name, I am choosing to use IGV which owns roughly one hundred different tech companies. I want to define my risk by owning a call spread in the event momentum fades in tech software names and the impressive 2025 rally comes to a screeching halt. The trade Bought the $110 Sept. 19 IGV Call for $3.75 Sold the $120 Sept. 19 IGV Call for $0.50 This trade was executed when IGV was trading just above $110 This spread will cost an investor $3.25 or $325 per one lot The spread will have the ability to profit when IGV is trading above $113.25 DISCLOSURES: (Long IGV, long this call spread) All opinions expressed by the CNBC Pro contributors are solely their opinions and do not reflect the opinions of CNBC, NBC UNIVERSAL, their parent company or affiliates, and may have been previously disseminated by them on television, radio, internet or another medium. THE ABOVE CONTENT IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY . THIS CONTENT IS PROVIDED FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY AND DOES NOT CONSITUTE FINANCIAL, INVESTMENT, TAX OR LEGAL ADVICE OR A RECOMMENDATION TO BUY ANY SECURITY OR OTHER FINANCIAL ASSET. THE CONTENT IS GENERAL IN NATURE AND DOES NOT REFLECT ANY INDIVIDUAL'S UNIQUE PERSONAL CIRCUMSTANCES. THE ABOVE CONTENT MIGHT NOT BE SUITABLE FOR YOUR PARTICULAR CIRCUMSTANCES. BEFORE MAKING ANY FINANCIAL DECISIONS, YOU SHOULD STRONGLY CONSIDER SEEKING ADVICE FROM YOUR OWN FINANCIAL OR INVESTMENT ADVISOR. Click here for the full disclaimer.
Yahoo
22-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
'I beat the horse racing odds and I'm now on track for £18m with my digital publishing firm'
'I would have saved myself a lot of aggro had I not set it up in Manchester all those years ago,' Andrew Trotman says of his regular M62 commutes from Leeds to front one of the biggest social media publishers in the UK. 'But I don't regret it.' After launching a horse racing tips subscription service during his university days to creating some of the biggest sporting parody accounts on X, formerly Twitter, Trotman founded digital publisher Komi Group in 2016. Starting out as Facebook page It's Gone Viral (IGV), Komi Group builds, owns and operates over 40 creator brands on social media. While IGV has 11 million followers, reach across its brands totals more than 150 million and generates over 4 billion monthly views in total. Read More: We sold a hand cream every 36 seconds after appearing on This Morning With 125 staff based out of Manchester — less than a mile from fellow publishing giant LadBible — and set to grow headcount by another 25% this year, Komi Group's stock has risen after several years working on how to best deliver content and serve audiences. 'It was very exciting, the fact that we could go after the big players in the game and, for many years, stay really silent and actually build this business,' says Trotman. 'I love the idea you can be a bit of an underdog that suddenly people have got to take notice.' Growing up in Scotland, Trotman moved to Leeds aged 15 and attended Northumbria University to study business management and marketing. He didn't know anything about horse racing when he first set up his tipster service, but instead looked at ways to beat the odds with overvalued prices. Following a placement working in marketing at a private school, he returned to his final year with a fully functioning, six-figure business. He left Northumbria with a first as the road to entrepreneurship took shape. 'I've never worked for anybody else in my life,' he says. 'I've always taken the mantra that if I'm going to do something it's because I believe it's the right thing to do." Trotman turned to X to build the UK's largest network of football pages despite the running theme of not knowing about the sport he was engaging. 'Social media is a great opportunity because everything's so new and there's so many opportunities to be better than other people,' says Trotman, a former rugby player and now sponsor at Wetherby RC. The account he is most proud of, Zlatan Facts, centred on "Chuck Norris type facts" on the well-travelled footballer Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Read More: The boss who has found 'nature's answer to plastic' The viral account reached its peak when Ibrahimovic was interviewed by Bleacher Report reading out some of the best tweets. Trotman never envisaged reaching the former Swedish star in such a way but understood the power of social media. He has taken diversification into the Komi Group, which now has over 100 different revenue sources and includes talent management and licensing arms. Social media stagnation is clearly not in Trotman's business outlook, with the rise of other in-house brands such as Ultimate, Go Fetch, Back to the Past and The Tradesman. With over 100,000 licensed clips, Trotman says the difference between his business against the more traditional spaces is an ability to leverage its expertise and identify content faster for a competitive edge. Komi uses its Insights platform to see when videos are doing better than average. A case in point is last year's viral video of an Amazon (AMZN) driver helping a mother with health conditions who had fainted after her six-year-old had asked for his help. Footage was captured on a Ring doorbell and the story went global. 'We were one of the first people to view this, we licensed the content and it went all over the news,' says Trotman. Amazon commissioned Komi Group to create a bigger story around the content which the retail giant then published across its social channels with record engagement. 'The way that brands use UGC (user-generated content) is still a massive untapped potential,' adds Trotman. The Manchester-based firm's average employee age is 28 and Trotman believes that putting staff and audience first is key to its success. 'The most important people in our business is where the value exchange happens and that is the creators and editors in our business,' he admits. 'We aren't top-down and we do everything the other way around. 'You'll regularly hear me and Sam [Lenehan, group managing director] say, 'We are the least important people in the business because we're the furthest away from the audience.' Read More: The Briton who invented Alexa is now helping to make AI trustworthy 'It's our job to make sure that we've got the right data, training and resources for those people so that we can serve our audiences.' Komi Group has raised over £10m from private equity firm BGF and, with 40% of its audience based in the US, is seeing 45% growth year-on-year. After revenues of £2m in 2021, Trotman says Komi Group is on track to double revenue to £18m for 2025. 'I'm a very inquisitive person, I love to ask questions, how things work and I hope that that never stops,' adds the 34-year-old. 'Being a young entrepreneur, I think it's very easy to get swept up in trying to pretend you're something that you're not. 'What I've tried to do over the last couple of years is make sure that whatever room that I go into, whether that's with older people, investors or any team member, that I'm just me and I'm the same person.' Even if that means negotiating the monotony of the trans-Pennine motorway traffic. Read more: 'Our £30m success is due to mums making sure our children's food looked great' Meet the 'jokers from London' who sold 100,000 blocks of butter in first 10 weeks Britain's 'king of billboards' who sold his business for £1bnError in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
22-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
'I beat the horse racing odds and I'm now on track for £18m with my digital publishing firm'
'I would have saved myself a lot of aggro had I not set it up in Manchester all those years ago,' Andrew Trotman says of his regular M62 commutes from Leeds to front one of the biggest social media publishers in the UK. 'But I don't regret it.' After launching a horse racing tips subscription service during his university days to creating some of the biggest sporting parody accounts on X, formerly Twitter, Trotman founded digital publisher Komi Group in 2016. Starting out as Facebook page It's Gone Viral (IGV), Komi Group builds, owns and operates over 40 creator brands on social media. While IGV has 11 million followers, reach across its brands totals more than 150 million and generates over 4 billion monthly views in total. Read More: We sold a hand cream every 36 seconds after appearing on This Morning With 125 staff based out of Manchester — less than a mile from fellow publishing giant LadBible — and set to grow headcount by another 25% this year, Komi Group's stock has risen after several years working on how to best deliver content and serve audiences. 'It was very exciting, the fact that we could go after the big players in the game and, for many years, stay really silent and actually build this business,' says Trotman. 'I love the idea you can be a bit of an underdog that suddenly people have got to take notice.' Growing up in Scotland, Trotman moved to Leeds aged 15 and attended Northumbria University to study business management and marketing. He didn't know anything about horse racing when he first set up his tipster service, but instead looked at ways to beat the odds with overvalued prices. Following a placement working in marketing at a private school, he returned to his final year with a fully functioning, six-figure business. He left Northumbria with a first as the road to entrepreneurship took shape. 'I've never worked for anybody else in my life,' he says. 'I've always taken the mantra that if I'm going to do something it's because I believe it's the right thing to do." Trotman turned to X to build the UK's largest network of football pages despite the running theme of not knowing about the sport he was engaging. 'Social media is a great opportunity because everything's so new and there's so many opportunities to be better than other people,' says Trotman, a former rugby player and now sponsor at Wetherby RC. The account he is most proud of, Zlatan Facts, centred on "Chuck Norris type facts" on the well-travelled footballer Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Read More: The boss who has found 'nature's answer to plastic' The viral account reached its peak when Ibrahimovic was interviewed by Bleacher Report reading out some of the best tweets. Trotman never envisaged reaching the former Swedish star in such a way but understood the power of social media. He has taken diversification into the Komi Group, which now has over 100 different revenue sources and includes talent management and licensing arms. Social media stagnation is clearly not in Trotman's business outlook, with the rise of other in-house brands such as Ultimate, Go Fetch, Back to the Past and The Tradesman. With over 100,000 licensed clips, Trotman says the difference between his business against the more traditional spaces is an ability to leverage its expertise and identify content faster for a competitive edge. Komi uses its Insights platform to see when videos are doing better than average. A case in point is last year's viral video of an Amazon (AMZN) driver helping a mother with health conditions who had fainted after her six-year-old had asked for his help. Footage was captured on a Ring doorbell and the story went global. 'We were one of the first people to view this, we licensed the content and it went all over the news,' says Trotman. Amazon commissioned Komi Group to create a bigger story around the content which the retail giant then published across its social channels with record engagement. 'The way that brands use UGC (user-generated content) is still a massive untapped potential,' adds Trotman. The Manchester-based firm's average employee age is 28 and Trotman believes that putting staff and audience first is key to its success. 'The most important people in our business is where the value exchange happens and that is the creators and editors in our business,' he admits. 'We aren't top-down and we do everything the other way around. 'You'll regularly hear me and Sam [Lenehan, group managing director] say, 'We are the least important people in the business because we're the furthest away from the audience.' Read More: The Briton who invented Alexa is now helping to make AI trustworthy 'It's our job to make sure that we've got the right data, training and resources for those people so that we can serve our audiences.' Komi Group has raised over £10m from private equity firm BGF and, with 40% of its audience based in the US, is seeing 45% growth year-on-year. After revenues of £2m in 2021, Trotman says Komi Group is on track to double revenue to £18m for 2025. 'I'm a very inquisitive person, I love to ask questions, how things work and I hope that that never stops,' adds the 34-year-old. 'Being a young entrepreneur, I think it's very easy to get swept up in trying to pretend you're something that you're not. 'What I've tried to do over the last couple of years is make sure that whatever room that I go into, whether that's with older people, investors or any team member, that I'm just me and I'm the same person.' Even if that means negotiating the monotony of the trans-Pennine motorway traffic. Read more: 'Our £30m success is due to mums making sure our children's food looked great' Meet the 'jokers from London' who sold 100,000 blocks of butter in first 10 weeks Britain's 'king of billboards' who sold his business for £1bnError in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
11-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Should You Invest in the iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF (IGV)?
Looking for broad exposure to the Technology - Software segment of the equity market? You should consider the iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF (IGV), a passively managed exchange traded fund launched on 07/10/2001. While an excellent vehicle for long term investors, passively managed ETFs are a popular choice among institutional and retail investors due to their low costs, transparency, flexibility, and tax efficiency. Additionally, sector ETFs offer convenient ways to gain low risk and diversified exposure to a broad group of companies in particular sectors. Technology - Software is one of the 16 broad Zacks sectors within the Zacks Industry classification. It is currently ranked 7, placing it in top 44%. The fund is sponsored by Blackrock. It has amassed assets over $11.69 billion, making it one of the largest ETFs attempting to match the performance of the Technology - Software segment of the equity market. IGV seeks to match the performance of the S&P North American Technology-Software Index before fees and expenses. The S&P North American Expanded Technology Software Index comprises of North American equities in the software industry and select North American equities from interactive home entertainment and interactive media and services industries. Since cheaper funds tend to produce better results than more expensive funds, assuming all other factors remain equal, it is important for investors to pay attention to an ETF's expense ratio. Annual operating expenses for this ETF are 0.41%, making it on par with most peer products in the space. While ETFs offer diversified exposure, which minimizes single stock risk, a deep look into a fund's holdings is a valuable exercise. And, most ETFs are very transparent products that disclose their holdings on a daily basis. This ETF has heaviest allocation in the Information Technology sector--about 97.10% of the portfolio. Looking at individual holdings, Microsoft Corp (MSFT) accounts for about 8.77% of total assets, followed by Salesforce Inc (CRM) and Oracle Corp (ORCL). The top 10 holdings account for about 59.51% of total assets under management. Year-to-date, the iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF return is roughly 5.75% so far, and was up about 31.35% over the last 12 months (as of 06/11/2025). IGV has traded between $77.94 and $110.05 in this past 52-week period. The ETF has a beta of 1.15 and standard deviation of 26.21% for the trailing three-year period, making it a high risk choice in the space. With about 120 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk. IShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF holds a Zacks ETF Rank of 2 (Buy), which is based on expected asset class return, expense ratio, and momentum, among other factors. Because of this, IGV is an excellent option for investors seeking exposure to the Technology ETFs segment of the market. There are other additional ETFs in the space that investors could consider as well. Invesco AI and Next Gen Software ETF (IGPT) tracks STOXX WORLD AC NEXGEN SOFTWARE DEV ID and the SPDR S&P Software & Services ETF (XSW) tracks S&P Software & Services Select Industry Index. Invesco AI and Next Gen Software ETF has $443.02 million in assets, SPDR S&P Software & Services ETF has $529.58 million. IGPT has an expense ratio of 0.58% and XSW charges 0.35%. To learn more about this product and other ETFs, screen for products that match your investment objectives and read articles on latest developments in the ETF investing universe, please visit Zacks ETF Center. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF (IGV): ETF Research Reports Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) : Free Stock Analysis Report Salesforce Inc. (CRM) : Free Stock Analysis Report Oracle Corporation (ORCL) : Free Stock Analysis Report SPDR S&P Software & Services ETF (XSW): ETF Research Reports Invesco AI and Next Gen Software ETF (IGPT): ETF Research Reports This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research ( Zacks Investment Research Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
11-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
What software earnings, the economy could signal for AI adoption
Oracle (ORCL) is among the top software companies prepping to report earnings this week, the cloud company is set to drop its fiscal fourth quarter results on Wednesday. RBC Capital Markets managing director of software Rishi Jaluria sits down with Josh Lipton for a conversation about the state of the software industry following President Trump's tariff wars, the sector's recession sensitivities, and the adoption trends in AI enterprises. To watch more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, check out more Asking for a Trend here. Oracle gearing up to report fourth quarter earnings tomorrow, giving investors more insight into the software sector, which has largely been considered as tariff resistant. Joining me now is Rishi Jaluria, Managing Director of Software at RBC Capital Markets. Rishi, it is great to see you, especially on set live here. Uh let me ask you this. Right, first question, big question I think for software investors who are listening right now, many might consider the the software sector, Rishi, which you know so well as relatively tariff resistant. Now that we've gone through earning season, you've read through those reports, Rishi, were in all those conference calls, is that your takeaway? Tariff resistance. I I think that's right. Josh, always great to be with you and especially in person in the studio. I think you're exactly right. I mean, the idea is you cannot actually tariff software as a service. There's there's no real mechanical way to do this. Um and and even if you think about it from a quote reputational standpoint, for most of the large software vendors out there, there aren't really good local alternatives to them as well, right? There aren't any good European alternatives to Microsoft or to Salesforce or anything like that. So I think we have been seeing that. However, what we also have been seeing is maybe some of the underlying cracks are this showing up, whether it's tariff, talks and uncertainty impacting the actual end customer base or whether it's just uncertainty leading to some issues overall as well. So and those those cracks you're pointing out, in your opinion, Rishi, are those are those priced in at these levels? You know, candidly, I don't think they are. Uh you know, if you look at it, the software index, the IGV, which is what we use to track, um is at basically near all-time highs in spite of the fact that we are introducing a lot of uncertainty into the equation. We don't know how this is going to play out, but I'm already starting to pick up in my conversations increased deal scrutiny, longer sales cycles. Um there's definitely some of that sort of issue. And I think initially when we went through, especially the March quarter end earnings, it seemed like things were fine, but I worry that some of those cracks were offset by pulled forward business. And now, I think we're going to see a little bit of that. I'm worried that just numbers and expectations may be a little bit higher than where they're actually going to shake out. And so I think we have to it's a stock picker's market. We have to pick and choose our spots too. Let me ask you, we talked about tariffs. Uh what about the macro? What about expectations of slowing economic growth? That that impacts your coverage universe how, Rishi? Uh absolutely. And and look, I mean, I think even when we think about recession sensitivity, we we've written a lot on this topic, even relative to recessions, software should be a little bit more resilient than other areas of of the economy. It is a secular growth driver of really the global economy. Uh we're still in very early stages on digital transformation. And by the way, the last time we had a really major recession going back to 08-09, it actually accelerated cloud adoption. And we're now in the middle of a new paradigm shift, which is AI. And you know, there is a case to be made, especially when you think about efficiency gains and cost savings that maybe, God forbid if we do hit an economic slowdown, it may actually accelerate AI adoption. Let's talk more about AI. What does AI adoption in the enterprise look like right now? What are the trends? Yeah, look, the trends are are I would say twofold. Number one is we are actually seeing not just up into the right, but I think we've seen an inflection in enterprise AI demand really over the past six months and nine months. And I think it's a function of the technology has just gotten better, the use cases are there, there's more urgency from companies and boards. But also I think the other really interesting trend that we're starting to pick up on is we're seeing adoption of AI in kind of more quote traditional industries because you'd expect the technology sector to see huge AI demand, you'd expect financial services to kind of follow behind that, but we're seeing it in industrials and manufacturing, retail, healthcare, food services. And I think that's because of this viewpoint that can generate real margin expansion. So if anything, the adoption of AI is maybe tracking ahead of previous technological waves.
