S&P 493 AI Spending Fails to Lift Margins as Health Care Profitability Halves Since 2015
Updated
Updated · Apollo Global Management · Aug 9
S&P 493 AI Spending Fails to Lift Margins as Health Care Profitability Halves Since 2015
3 articles · Updated · Apollo Global Management · Aug 9
Summary
Heavy AI spending across the S&P 493 has yet to raise profit margins, with gains showing up mainly at AI sellers rather than the companies buying the technology.
Sector data explain the shortfall: health care margins have halved since 2015, consumer staples remain near 6%, and consumer discretionary sits around 8% despite the investment push.
Energy and materials have surrendered most of their 2022-23 margin gains, while real estate is moving sideways and the few improvements elsewhere look more like a normal cyclical rebound than an AI-driven break higher.
The longer that return on AI capex is delayed, the bigger the downside risk for both the economy and a stock market increasingly concentrated around the AI trade.