Investment bank
Goldman Sachs: what the AI capex boom does to S&P 500 profitability
Goldman's US Weekly Kickstart on the record 22% trailing ROE of the S&P 500 and whether AI capex sustains or erodes it. The index trades at 21x forward earnings (87th percentile since 1980) with returns driven by a 17% rise in earnings estimates, and the note models how depreciation from the AI buildout flows into margins and return on equity over the next several years. Context for anyone selling into, or raising from, public-company budgets that depend on this capex continuing.