Kyle Uhl, CEO of Dominari Securities, speaks with Quartz in the latest installment of the “Smart Investing” video series.
Watch the interview above and check out the transcript below. This transcript of the conversation has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
Andy Mills (AM): Companies like CrowdStrike, Palo Alto, and Zscaler see cybersecurity as a big trend in 2024. Why these names? Why now?
Kyle Uhl (KW): First of all, you’re the CEO of an investment bank, so it’s going to be close to home, right? Requirements from various regulators, whether it’s the SEC or Finra, are becoming stricter every day to ensure that what matters most is protecting your customer data. In other words, it’s not just us as an investment bank, but the major banks as well. Every big company has customer information, and there are many bad actors. In other words, is it North Korea or Russia, as people say? No, it’s probably just someone trying to ransom people with money. Similar to what’s happening with many Fortune 500 companies these days. You saw in the medical records what happened recently with the insurance companies, the $22 million or so that they extorted from the insurance companies needs to be protected. Do you think you can protect it perfectly? I don’t know right now, but I think I’ll probably be able to catch 90-95% of the attacks. So I think most people, like me, are really focused on that. The names you mentioned are publicly traded companies that you can invest in and take advantage of. Are there other private companies? Of course, but that doesn’t apply to everyone.
AM: Yes. A few months ago, I received the following email from 23andMe: “Oops, all your DNA data is gone. Now someone has it on the black market. Peace! Goodbye!’ We live in a world where things like that happen all the time, and it seems like these companies are the only ones we can rely on. Our data lives outside and someone needs to protect it.
keyword: that’s right. You’d think Microsoft would go to great lengths to protect your data, right? They have their own cybersecurity. You and I probably go back far enough to remember things like Symantec and Nortel. You don’t see that much anymore on computers. Check out other cyber cybersecurity companies. But Apple has also done a very good job with its own cybersecurity, and will continue to do so. When people have the opportunity to obtain data to make money and extort money, they try to take advantage of it. And our job is to invest in companies that we believe will do the best they can to protect that data.
read more: Apple’s rough 2024 timeline (so far)
AM: Apparently so. Apple and rose flowers have bloomed. It’s a great company, but it’s no longer considered a high-growth company. What do you think about that?
keyword: I’ve been a Mac user since I was young. I love Mac.new [Vision] A professional has come out. That was a little ambitious. But one thing I’ve noticed about Apple over the years is that when they get ambitious, they go back to square one. They usually come out with something very interesting. I was watching Steve Jobs launch his first iPhone the other day, and I remember that Blackberry had an absolute advantage. At that time and within a few years, Research In Motion disappeared. I can’t hold anything against Apple. But if you look at the charts, like the technical charts, I would say don’t be afraid to buy Apple on the upside.
AM: Well, thank you Kyle.
keyword: thank you.