Strategy Espresso: HALO Reloaded: From re-rating to earnings

Research evidence excerpt

Strategy Espresso: HALO Reloaded: From re-rating to earnings

Portfolio Strategy Research

7 July 2026 | 5:01AM BST

n We have been recommending investors focus on HALO stocks: Heavy Assets, Guillaume Jaisson

+44(20)7552-3000 |

Low Obsolescence. Higher real yields, geopolitical fragmentation and supply guillaume.jaisson@gs.com

Goldman Sachs International

chain rewiring have shifted equity leadership back towards tangible productive

Peter Oppenheimer

assets. Markets have increasingly rewarded Capital Intensive companies for their +44(20)7552-5782 | peter.oppenheimer@gs.com

capacity, networks, infrastructure and engineering complexity—assets that are Goldman Sachs International

costly to replicate and less exposed to technological obsolescence. At the same Sharon Bell +44(20)7552-1341 |

time, AI has transformed the debate around Capital Light businesses. The same sharon.bell@gs.comGoldman Sachs International

AI revolution that turned some of the most iconic “asset-light” winners into the Giovanni Ferrannini

largest capital spenders in history is also raising questions around margins, +44(20)7051-2589giovanni.ferrannini@gs.com|

competitive advantages and, ultimately, terminal values, particularly across Goldman Sachs International

Elena Porfidia Software and Services. +44(20)7051-5240 |

elena.porfidia@gs.com

n The first phase of the HALO trade is largely complete, but the second phase Goldman Sachs International

is only beginning. Capital Intensive stocks have significantly outperformed

Capital Light stocks, driving a substantial convergence in valuations. Going

forward, we expect returns to be increasingly driven by earnings, with greater

dispersion between winners and losers. Meanwhile, the capex boom continues to