The firm stated that investors are flocking to stocks with the “HALO effect,” or stocks of companies with heavy assets and low obsolescence.
- Goldman added that big tech companies such as Amazon, Oracle, Microsoft, and Meta Platforms are on track to spend $1.5 trillion on AI infrastructure between 2023 and 2026.
- In comparison, these companies have invested about $600 billion throughout their entire history till 2022.
- Goldman added that earnings momentum is also in favor of capital-intensive stocks, with the consensus earnings estimate now higher for these companies than for capital-light firms.
Goldman Sachs analysts reportedly stated that capital-intensive stocks are outperforming capital-light stocks reliant on human or digital capital.
According to a Bloomberg report citing a recent note from Goldman, the firm states that capital-intensive stocks have outperformed capital-light stocks by nearly 35% since the beginning of 2025.
Goldman stated that investors are flocking to stocks with the “HALO effect,” or stocks of companies with heavy assets and low obsolescence. This includes sectors such as energy, utilities, and basic resources.
“Markets are rewarding capacity, networks, infrastructure and engineering complexity—assets that are costly to replicate and less exposed to technological obsolescence,” Goldman said in its note.
Big Tech On Course To $1.5 Trillion AI Spending
The firm added that big tech companies such as Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN), Oracle Corp. (ORCL), Microsoft Corp. (MSFT), and Meta Platforms Inc. (META) are on track to spend $1.5 trillion on AI infrastructure between 2023 and 2026.
In comparison, these companies have invested about $600 billion throughout their entire history till 2022.
Goldman added that earnings momentum is also in favor of capital-intensive stocks, with the consensus earnings estimate now higher for these companies than for capital-light firms.
Tech Stocks Struggling
During an interview with Schwab Network, Ken Mahoney, president and CEO of Mahoney Asset Management, pointed to tech stocks like Microsoft and Amazon struggling after reporting their latest quarterly results.
“They’re the epicenter of AI, maybe they can kinda fill us in [as to] what’s happening,” Mahoney said, referring to Nvidia.
Explaining what the AI bellwether needs to deliver in its earnings call on Wednesday, Mahoney said that investors need reassurance about the AI trade’s prospects.
“Even if Nvidia blows out the numbers, investors are still kinda gonna go like, ‘Okay, what’s gonna happen next?’” he said.
All but one Magnificent 7 stocks are in the red in 2026 so far. The exception is Nvidia, which is up about 3%.
Microsoft is the worst performer, having lost a fifth of its value in less than two months since the beginning of 2026. Amazon has shed about 11%, tying with Tesla Inc. (TSLA) for second place on the list.
Meanwhile, U.S. equities gained in Tuesday’s pre-market trade. At the time of writing, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY), which tracks the S&P 500 index, was up by 0.15%, the Invesco QQQ Trust ETF (QQQ) rose 0.25%, and the SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF Trust (DIA) gained 0.23%. Retail sentiment around the S&P 500 ETF on Stocktwits was in the ‘bearish’ territory.
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