S&P 500 Other Than AI Infrastructure Is Growing at 0%. Lance Roberts Warns What Happens if the AI Boom Stumbles.
Key takeaways
- S&P 500 Other Than AI Infrastructure Is Growing at 0%.
- Roberts, chief investment strategist at RIA Advisors, walked through what he called the concentration ladder hiding inside the index.
- Spread evenly across 500 companies, it would be normal corporate progress.
S&P 500 Other Than AI Infrastructure Is Growing at 0%. Lance Roberts Warns What Happens if the AI Boom Stumbles. Jeremy Phillips Mon, May 25, 2026 at 7:31 PM GMT+7 4 min read ^GSPC SPY QQQ NVTS NVDA Strip AI infrastructure and energy from the S&P 500 s forward earnings picture and growth collapses to zero. That s the single most uncomfortable number from Lance Roberts s recent appearance on Adam Taggart s Thoughtful Money, and it reframes everything about market risk right now.
Roberts, chief investment strategist at RIA Advisors, walked through what he called the concentration ladder hiding inside the index. "Here s the cumulative year-to-date change in consensus 2027 EPS estimates AI infrastructure stocks, 32%. Energy is 19%. S&P 500 is 8%," he said. Then he delivered the punchline: "If you look down at the bottom, the gray line, S&P 500 ex-AI infrastructure and energy, it s 0% growth."
An 8% lift in 2027 EPS estimates sounds healthy. Spread evenly across 500 companies, it would be normal corporate progress. But it isn t spread evenly. Most of the earnings improvement is concentrated in the Magnificent 7, with semiconductors just below. The rest of the economy is barely increasing earnings growth at all this year.