+1.0%
since Oct 2
The idea
I believe corporate security spending is consolidating, with budgets shifting away from dozens of small point tools toward a handful of big AI-powered platforms, while AI itself makes attacks nastier and pushes that spending higher. This basket owns the platform leaders at its core, surrounded by cloud and network security, identity, AI-native defense, and attack-surface specialists, plus two sector ETFs for ballast so no single name can sink it.
What it owns
- These companies are winning market share by bundling multiple security tools into single platforms that replace customers' fragmented point products. · CrowdStrike HoldingsIt started at the endpoint and keeps adding modules that customers adopt instead of buying standalone tools, making it a direct play on consolidation flowing to larger vendors., Palo Alto NetworksIt actively bundles tools into a single platform to replace customers' point products, positioning itself as the primary beneficiary of security spending consolidation., MicrosoftIt sells security as part of licenses companies already pay for, making it the default consolidation choice for many buyers, while also owning the AI infrastructure powering modern defense., FortinetIt is converting its large installed base of firewalls into a broader platform covering where networking and security merge, capturing consolidation in that critical junction.32%
- These companies replace legacy network infrastructure with cloud-native services, capturing budgets that shift away from older perimeter-based tools. · ZscalerIt replaces the old corporate network perimeter with a cloud service, exactly the kind of legacy-tool replacement that consolidation budgets are funding., CloudflareIt sits in front of vast internet traffic and is layering security and AI services on top, positioning itself to capture consolidation as companies simplify their infrastructure., Check Point SoftwareIt is the profitable incumbent pushing its own consolidated platform at lower cost than newer competitors, offering the take a value-priced way to own the same consolidation shift., Akamai TechnologiesIts growth now comes from security and cloud compute rather than legacy content delivery, requiring security to keep growing as a share of revenue for this position to work.20%
- These companies built their platforms around AI from inception, positioning them to capture security budgets as automation and machine learning become table stakes. · RubrikIt protects and recovers data after ransomware attacks and is building AI-driven security on top of that data foundation, betting that higher attack stakes push recovery spending higher., SentinelOneIt built its defense around AI from day one and competes directly with larger players at lower prices, requiring sustained fast growth to justify its position in a consolidating market., DatadogIt watches everything running in a company's cloud infrastructure and is extending that visibility into security, fitting the consolidation story if it keeps converting monitoring customers into security customers.14%
- These companies map and secure what companies expose to the internet, a growing need as AI-powered attacks make vulnerability discovery faster and cheaper. · Tenable HoldingsIt maps everything a company exposes to the internet, a job that becomes more urgent as AI lets attackers discover vulnerabilities faster and at lower cost., Varonis SystemsIt secures data itself by controlling access to sensitive information, which matters more as companies feed sensitive data into AI tools and need tighter controls., QualysIt tells companies where they are exposed before attackers find it, and AI-generated attacks make that visibility more urgent, while its profitability provides stability as budgets consolidate.10%
- Broad cybersecurity index funds provide exposure to the sector's overall growth trajectory, insulating the take from any single vendor pick missing. · First Trust NASDAQ Cybersecurity ETFIt holds the broad cybersecurity sector, providing upside if security spending rises even if individual consolidation bets miss, while limiting downside from any single stock being wrong., Amplify Cybersecurity ETFIt is a second broad sector ETF spreading ballast across multiple fund managers with different holdings, keeping the take alive on sector spending trends even if individual picks miss.9%
- Identity is where most attacks originate, making it a critical layer for buyers consolidating their security stack onto fewer vendors. · OktaIdentity is where modern attacks begin, making it essential for consolidating buyers, and it is the largest independent player in this critical layer.5%
- Cash10%