Vickers Stock Research, a subsidiary of Argus Research Group, tracks and analyzes insider trading and institutional stock ownership trends. Form 13-Fs, which institutions must file to report their holdings, are due 45 days after the end of calendar quarters, and have now come in from 4Q25. We like to review the 13Fs of the major activist investors -- including Carl Icahn, Trian Fund Management, Jana Partners, Starboard Value and ValueAct Holdings, among others -- in order to determine their core holdings and new purchases. Activist investing has evolved in recent years and is now less about generating a short-term return on an underpriced stock and more about achieving long-term returns through an active management/investor partnership. Activists have made progress in the past year, with high-profile investments into blue-chip companies such as Fedex and Union Pacific. As reported by Vickers, here are some recent new purchases and key holdings of activist investors, as well as other high-profile money managers such as Warren Buffet of Berkshire Hathaway (his last as CEO of Berkshire Hathaway).

Argus is hosting a five-part webinar series on Artificial Intelligence (AI), examining how this dynamic force will have an impact across the investing universe. Our team of analysts will identify companies we see as leaders or innovators in this evolving space. The series started on February 4 with a look at how AI is playing out in its dominant sector: Information Technology. Argus Analysts Jim Kelleher, CFA, and Joe Bonner, CFA, broke down the impact of AI on multiple industries within Information Technology. In subsequent webinars, we will examine the impact of AI on the Healthcare (March 4), Consumer (April 1), Financial (May 6), and Industrial/Energy (June 3) sectors. For our list this week, we present stocks that were featured in our initial webinar on IT, all of which are rated BUY at Argus.

Amazon.com is the leading U.S. e-commerce retailer and among the top e-commerce sites globally. Amazon.com also includes Amazon Web Services (AWS), the global leader in cloud-based Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) platforms. The company's Prime membership platform is a key online retail differentiator, providing customers with free shipping (after an annual fee) along with exclusive media content (music, video, audible books, etc.). The company's Kindle reader and Alexa-based Echo and Dot digital voice assistants are category leaders.

The S&P 500 (SPX) found technical support at its 50-day average on Wednesday, but that broke early Thursday morning. In addition, the index broke down and completed a bearish-ending diagonal. This is the fourth time since November that the index has undercut the 50-day, although two of the times it was only for a day. We have seen a bearish exponential moving average (EMA) crossover, and the SPX closed right on initial chart support from the most-recent low at 6,797. The next support comes in around 6,755 from the 21-week EMA and then at 6,720 from the December low. The 21-day rate-of-change (ROC) is negative and the daily moving-average convergence/divergence (MACD) is close to cycling into bearish territory. Like the Nasdaq 100 (QQQ) ETF, there have been five distribution days out of the past six days, and we are quite sure that the heavy selling volume is from the liquidation in Information Technology. Everything is on sale, as the selling avalanche moves from one market to another. The pullback started in crypto, moved to the metals, and now, to a much-lesser degree, to the stock market.