Asset Returns: Tech Check 10-11-26

The ebb and flow of software vs. semiconductors continues with this week with software materially outperforming.

The chart details the weekly price returns of the Tech Check mix we monitor across ETFs and single names. Overall, we see a mediocre week with a score of 19-13. The week saw 5 of 7 from the Mag 7 in positive range with Meta (META) and NVIDIA (NVDA) in negative range at the bottom of the 3^rd quartile. Both underperformed the broader NASDAQ and S&P 500. Apple (AAPL) posted positive returns but also underperformed the S&P 500.

It was a favorable week for the software and SaaS names in relative terms after a very tough and volatile YTD period. We see the Software ETF (IGV) in the top quartile at +3.91% or almost 9 points ahead of the Semiconductor ETF (SOXX) at -5.01% in the bottom quartile.

The single name semis struggled this week. That is evident in the bottom quartile with Intel (INTC) in dead last at -12.26% in a quartile that shows 7 of 8 names directly or indirectly tied to semiconductor operations. Applied Materials (AMAT) is a semiconductor equipment manufacturer and correlated with the global capex cycle. Salesforce (CRM) was the lone software operator as the lead name in the bottom quartile. CRM remains in negative return range YTD in the bottom quartile

The big winners this week included Palantir (PLTR) on a series of bullish street upgrades and revisions. PLTR has been rebounding from some earlier steep selloffs and is in the middle of the 2^nd quartile YTD among the tech check names. Many of the software bellwethers remain in negative range YTD as we cover separately.

Among the weekly leaders, we see more rebounds with 5 of the 8 names in the top quartile from software and SaaS peers. Those 5 join Cisco (CSCO), Amazon (AMZN) and Dell (DELL) in the top tier for the week.

FactSet (FDS) took the #2 slot behind PLTR at just under +8% with Intuit (INTU) ranked at #3 with +7.7%. INTU remains dead last YTD at -54.3%. FDS is slightly negative YTD at -1.0% YTD and has edged into the bottom of the 3^rd quartile. Rounding out the top 5 is bellwether Cisco (CSCO) followed by ServiceNow (NOW). It took 4.8% to make the top 5 this week.