{"slug": "goldman-says-big-investors-are-split-on-ai-but-are-showing-historic-bullishness", "title": "Goldman says big investors are split on AI, but are showing historic bullishness for one stock sector in particular", "summary": "Goldman Sachs reports that hedge funds and mutual funds have both increased their holdings in financial stocks to historic levels, with hedge funds' net tilt rising by over 300 basis points in Q2 to the largest position since before the global financial crisis, and mutual funds' overweight at its highest since at least 2012. The convergence comes as institutional views on AI diverge, with shared favorites including Capital One, Mastercard, Visa, SpaceX, Boeing, and Thermo Fisher Scientific, which have delivered an annual return of 17% since 2013.", "body_md": "# Goldman says big investors are split on AI, but are showing historic bullishness for one stock sector in particular\n\n[Business Insider](https://www.businessinsider.com)\n\nGoldman says hedge funds and mutual funds alike have converged on the financials sector in recent months, while views of AI have split.\n\n- Big investors have converged on one corner of the market.\n- According to Goldman Sachs, hedge funds and mutual funds have piled into financials this quarter.\n- Stocks they've been snapping up include Capital One, Fiserv, and Interactive Brokers.\n\nInvestors are split on the AI trade, but they've converging on one sector of the stock market in particular in recent months: financials.\n\nHedge funds and mutual funds have both poured money into the sector, even as their investing moves diverge when it comes to high-flying areas like AI. In fact, both groups' buying of financial stocks rank at the highest levels in Goldman's historical data set.\n\n\"Hedge funds increased their net tilt toward Financials by over 300 bp during Q2 to the largest position in the sector since prior to the GFC,\" wrote the bank's chief strategist Ben Snider in a note to clients. \"Mutual funds also increased their tilt to Financials last quarter and now carry their largest overweight since at least 2012.\"\n\nThe strong bullish tilt toward financials comes after many companies in the sector reported [strong earnings in the second quarter](https://www.businessinsider.com/wall-street-earnings-jpm-citi-goldman-bofa-wells-markets-outlook-2026-7). But when it comes to the stocks that both hedge funds and mutual funds have been buying, performances have been mixed in 2026. Snider's team shared four names that have been rising in favor among both investor groups.\n\nSnider also named six \"shared favorites\" that appear both on Goldman's lists of hedge fund long positions and largest overweight positions for mutual funds. While only Capital One appears on both, the shared favorites list also includes credit cards giants [Mastercard](https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/ma-stock) and [Visa](https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/v-stock). Other non-financial names include [SpaceX](https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/spcx-stock), [Boeing,](https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/ba-stock) and [Thermo Fisher Scientific](https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/tmo-stock).\n\n\"The stocks that are both hedge fund and mutual fund favorites have a track record of outperformance at the expense of higher volatility,\" Snider said, adding that since 2013, shared favorites have delivered an annual return of 17%.\n\nInvetors' recent appetite for financials comes as institutional bullishness on the [previously red hot](https://www.businessinsider.com/stock-market-bubble-warning-ai-tech-stocks-valuations-selloff-pltr-2025-11) AI trade is diverging, with one group staying heavily invested while another has pulled away.\n\n\"The returns of hedge funds and their most popular holdings have been closely correlated with swings in the AI trade during the last few months,\" Snider said. \"The [weight](/glossary/weight) of AI infrastructure stocks in mutual fund portfolios has risen sharply this year but failed to keep pace with [benchmark](/glossary/benchmark) weights.\"\n\nSome big name hedge funds are also bullish on financials. Bill Ackman recently revealed that Pershing Square increased positions last quarter in both Mastercard and Visa, as well as in New York Stock Exchange operator [ Intercontinental Exchange ](https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/ice-stock)and market intelligence firm\n\n[S&P Global](https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/spgi-stock?_gl=1*v5g61e*_ga*MTk3MDI3NDI3MC4xNzU4MjA4ODc4*_ga_E21CV80ZCZ*czE3ODc1OTE5MzgkbzExODkkZzEkdDE3ODc1OTM1MDEkajQ5JGwwJGgw).\n\n[Business Insider](https://www.businessinsider.com/ai-stocks-financials-hedge-mutual-funds-goldman-sachs-fisv-ibkr-2026-8)\n\nGet AI news in your inbox\n\nDaily digest of what matters in AI.", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/goldman-says-big-investors-are-split-on-ai-but-are-showing-historic-bullishness", "canonical_source": "https://www.machinebrief.com/news/goldman-says-big-investors-are-split-on-ai-but-are-showing-h-1dg3", "published_at": "2026-08-25 09:35:02+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-08-25 10:43:35.361762+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["artificial-intelligence"], "entities": ["Goldman Sachs", "Ben Snider", "Capital One", "Fiserv", "Interactive Brokers", "Mastercard", "Visa", "Pershing Square"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/goldman-says-big-investors-are-split-on-ai-but-are-showing-historic-bullishness", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/goldman-says-big-investors-are-split-on-ai-but-are-showing-historic-bullishness.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/goldman-says-big-investors-are-split-on-ai-but-are-showing-historic-bullishness.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/goldman-says-big-investors-are-split-on-ai-but-are-showing-historic-bullishness.jsonld"}}