24/7 Wall St. studies that the First Belief NASDAQ Cybersecurity ETF (NASDAQ:CIBR) gained ~13 p.c in 2025, trailing the Nasdaq-100 by practically 7 proportion factors. This underperformance comes as AI-enabled threats are anticipated to drive unprecedented demand for cybersecurity options in 2026, making for a singular alternative proper now.
Cybersecurity Ventures initiatives international spending on safety services and products will exceed $520 billion in 2026, up from $260 billion in 2021. A lot of this acceleration stems from what Harvard Enterprise Overview describes as a “surge in AI agent assaults” the place adversaries exploit the identification disaster created by deepfakes and artificial identities that may command automated programs in actual time.
Watch quarterly earnings calls from CIBR’s largest holdings. Palo Alto Networks, CrowdStrike (NASDAQ:CRWD), and Cloudflare (NYSE:NET) collectively symbolize practically 20 p.c of the portfolio, and their commentary on AI safety spending offers the clearest sign of whether or not enterprise budgets are shifting towards agentic protection. Income development acceleration above 25 p.c in these names would validate the thesis that 2026 marks an inflection level.
CIBR’s $11.1 billion in belongings makes it 5 occasions bigger than competitor HACK, offering superior liquidity. The fund’s 36 holdings supply broader diversification than pure-play alternate options, together with publicity to protection contractors like Leidos (NYSE:LDOS) and Booz Allen Hamilton (NYSE:BAH) that seize authorities cybersecurity budgets. Federal spending on cyber protection exceeds $25 billion yearly and is rising as nation-state threats intensify.
Learn the Full Story
