Goldman Sachs: Investors Flock to "HALO Effect" Stocks

NightAirdropper · 2026-02-26T09:10:31+00:00

Goldman Sachs report shows that investors are increasingly favoring "HALO effect" stocks, especially in the utilities and energy sectors with heavy assets and low technological obsolescence risk. Since the beginning of 2025, capital-intensive stocks have outperformed light-capital stocks by approximately 35%. Geopolitical factors and rising yields have driven capital flows into capital-intensive markets, with the report listing several related companies.

NightAirdropper

2026-02-26 09:10:31

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Goldman Sachs report indicates that investors are increasingly favoring stocks with the so-called “HALO effect,” which are heavy assets with low obsolescence risk, mainly in utilities, basic resources, and energy sectors.

Goldman Sachs points out that as investors seek safe havens to avoid disruption from artificial intelligence (AI), stocks of companies with tangible productive assets perform better. Since early 2025, their selected portfolio of capital-intensive stocks (whose economic value comes from physical assets) has outperformed the lightweight capital companies relying on human or digital capital by about 35%.

The report states that the market is rewarding capacity, high-density manufacturing networks, infrastructure, and highly complex manufacturing projects, where replication costs are extremely high and AI systems require continuous large investments in trial-and-error production, making them less susceptible to AI obsolescence.

The report notes that higher real yields, along with geopolitical factors driving increased fiscal spending and support for manufacturing, are fueling capital flows into capital-intensive market sectors.

The Goldman Sachs team’s selected European capital-intensive stock portfolio includes ASML, Safran, LVMH, Air Liquide, and Airbus; the lightweight capital portfolio includes L’Oréal, Adyen, DSV, and Siemens Healthineers.

Goldman Sachs points out that the pursuit of AI leadership has also transformed previously lightweight market winners like five large-scale companies into capital-intensive enterprises.

Amazon, Microsoft, Alphabet, Meta Platforms, and Oracle are expected to invest about $1.5 trillion between 2023 and 2026 to advance AI infrastructure, compared to a total investment of approximately $600 billion before 2022.

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