Goldman Sachs tells clients to buy 23 lagging stocks as the tech trade wobbles

Goldman Sachs strategists led by Ben Snider told clients that investors should focus on buying stocks in sectors that have lagged, as the tech sector that drove the market wobbles^1,3. The list runs to 23 names drawn from those lagging sectors². Business Insider described the same 23 as defensive stocks and reported that the bank pointed to higher interest rates, which have cut into growth expectations for the US economy^4,5. Quartz reported the note as urging clients to buy 23 stocks from lagging sectors as big tech wobbles².

The reports disagree on when the note went out. MarketWatch said Snider’s team wrote to clients late on Friday¹, while Business Insider dated the note to Monday⁴. Business Insider Africa summarised the message as telling investors to buckle up for a more challenging year ahead for the US stock market⁵.

Why it matters to investors

The call is a rotation call rather than a bearish one. Snider maintained his year-end target of 8,000 for the S&P 500 in the new note, so the bank is still betting on a reasonable finish to the year even as it moves clients away from the leaders⁶. Yahoo Finance’s reading is that Goldman still thinks the year will end fine for investors⁶.

The reasoning rests on rates and on households. Business Insider reported the bank citing higher interest rates cutting into US growth expectations⁴. Snider also identified lagging consumer stocks as potential beneficiaries of improving household purchasing power in 2027, and Goldman forecasts S&P 500 earnings of $415 in 2027⁷. Read together, the argument is that the earnings base broadens out even if the index multiple does not expand, which is the condition under which laggards outperform^6,7.

What to watch

The first test is whether the tech wobble that prompted the note persists. Both MarketWatch and Morningstar frame the recommendation as conditional on the sector that powered the market losing momentum^1,3.

The second is the earnings path. The $415 figure for 2027 and the 8,000 index target are the two anchors of the call, and a cut to either would undermine the rotation case rather than strengthen it^6,7. The third is household purchasing power, which is the mechanism Snider names for the consumer names he favours⁷. Investors should also note that this is a published sell-side view distributed to clients, not a statement of fact about returns^1,2.