The HALO trading theme has gained significant traction. Against the backdrop of rapidly advancing AI technology, a fundamental shift is occurring in the pricing logic of global stock markets. On February 24, Goldman Sachs released a pivotal report titled "The HALO Impact," indicating that markets are transitioning from chasing "scalable light assets" to rewarding "hard-to-replicate physical assets." This new paradigm, known as HALO (Heavy Assets, Low Obsolescence), is reshaping the investment landscape.
Related sectors in the A-share market have also experienced substantial gains. Since January, several sectors, including petroleum & petrochemicals, coal, basic chemicals, and non-ferrous metals, have seen increases exceeding 15%, ranking them among the top performers in the Shenwan primary industry classification. More notably, PetroChina recently saw its market capitalization briefly reclaim the top spot in the A-share market, thoroughly igniting investor enthusiasm for heavy assets. Some institutions have recently stated that, driven by multiple factors, a reevaluation of China's physical assets is underway.
**Reevaluating China's Physical Assets**
In early 2026, Goldman Sachs Global Investment Research released the significant report "The HALO Impact," positing that the "light asset, high growth" narrative of the internet era over the past decade is coming to an end. It is being replaced by a new asset pricing paradigm referred to as HALO. Goldman Sachs suggests that AI has not made the world "lighter"; instead, tangible physical capabilities—the ability to build, deliver, and supply power—have become the critical bottlenecks determining the ceiling of the digital future. It is within this context that HALO assets have become the new market darlings.
Related assets in the U.S. stock market have performed exceptionally well. According to a Guosen Securities research report, comparing the U.S. Infrastructure Stock Index (ticker: 8884041) with the U.S. SaaS Index (ticker: 8884025) over the statistical period from January 1, 2025, to February 27, 2026, the infrastructure index rose by 80.59%, while the SaaS index fell by 17.05%, indicating a significant outperformance by the infrastructure index. As of March 5, the respective gains for these two indices during this period reached 73.41% and -12.49%, with infrastructure stocks still substantially outperforming.
Guojin Securities stated that compared to U.S. stocks, the revenue distribution of A-shares is more concentrated in industries less susceptible to AI disruption, such as mining and manufacturing. From an industry-neutral perspective, the proportion of tangible assets to total assets for A-share listed companies is often higher than that of their U.S.-listed counterparts in the same industry. Chinese companies possess relatively stronger capabilities to withstand potential disruptions from AI. From the perspective of value-added across various sectors of the economy, China's share of manufacturing value-added and value-added from materials-related industries is also higher than that of other major developed economies. Global investors may discover that the HALO assets they are diligently seeking, which are resistant to disruption, will be widely distributed within the Chinese market. The production capacity value of Chinese assets will be irreplaceable. The concept emphasized since last year, that "productivity is wealth," will gradually become a reality. The reevaluation of China's manufacturing assets has already begun, accompanied by capital inflows and a recovery in domestic demand.
Guojin Securities further proposed that in today's world, where technological challenges disrupt industrial order and regional conflicts challenge globalization, physical assets, which were forgotten during periods of orderly prosperity, will gain systemic importance. Chinese assets, being the closest globally to tangible production attributes, are also poised for reevaluation. Recommendations include: first, resources not easily replaced by AI but benefiting from AI development and increased foreign government focus on commodities, such as copper, aluminum, tin, crude oil and oil tanker shipping, rare earths, and gold; second, segments with global comparative advantages and confirmed cycle bottoms in China's equipment export chain—power grid equipment, energy storage, construction machinery, wafer manufacturing—as well as domestic manufacturing sectors experiencing a cyclical rebound, such as petrochemicals, printing and dyeing, coal chemicals, pesticides, polyurethanes, and titanium dioxide; third, consumption recovery channels benefiting from capital回流, eased balance sheet reduction pressures, and increasing inbound travel—aviation, duty-free, hotels, and food & beverage; fourth, non-bank financials benefiting from capital market expansion and a bottoming out of long-term returns on the asset side.
**HALO-Themed Top 100 List Released**
To help investors more intuitively screen for high-quality HALO assets within the A-share market, Data Bao, incorporating views from institutions like Goldman Sachs and Guojin Securities, and considering factors such as the number of institutional ratings and total market capitalization, has compiled the A-share HALO-themed Top 100 list.
In terms of industry distribution, the non-ferrous metals sector has the highest number of constituents, covering leading companies in various resources like copper, aluminum, lithium, and gold, such as Zijin Mining Group, Aluminum Corporation of China, and Ganfeng Lithium. Following closely is the energy sector, including traditional oil & gas and coal giants like PetroChina and China Shenhua Energy. The basic chemicals sector also holds a significant proportion, involving industry leaders like Wanhua Chemical Group and Baofeng Energy Group. Furthermore, the HALO Top 100 list includes leading utility companies in hydropower, such as China Yangtze Power and Huaneng Hydropower, as well as representative enterprises from transportation and communication sectors, like China Railway Group and China Mobile.
The heavy-asset characteristics of the Top 100 companies are pronounced. Among them, PetroChina reported tangible assets exceeding 1.4 trillion yuan in its Q3 2025 report, ranking first in the A-share market; China Mobile followed with tangible assets接近 1.25 trillion yuan. Companies like CNOOC and China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (Sinopec) each had tangible assets exceeding 600 billion yuan, ranking third and fourth, respectively. Some companies have high total invested capital, creating significant barriers to entry. For instance, China National Nuclear Power had total invested capital接近 650 billion yuan in its Q3 2025 report, while companies like China Yangtze Power and Huaneng Power International each exceeded 500 billion yuan.
Some viewpoints suggest that the HALO theme is essentially a strong cyclical recovery accompanied by substantial volatility risks. However, other institutions emphasize that new demands, such as those from AI, are injecting fresh momentum into traditional heavy assets, giving them characteristics of "old trees blooming anew." It is this unique industrial cycle attribute that has propelled HALO assets to transition from purely "value stocks" to targets possessing both "value + growth" attributes, thereby establishing the unique allocation value of this strategy at the current stage.
**A Group of Steady Growth Stocks Emerges**
In terms of stock price performance, the average price increase for the Top 100 list since 2024 has exceeded 100%, with a median increase of over 80%, significantly outperforming the major market indices during the same period. The non-ferrous metals sector showed the most remarkable performance; for example, China Tungsten and High-Tech Materials Co. saw an increase of nearly 7 times, while companies like China Molybdenum Co. and Xingye Silver Tin Group rose over 300%. The chemicals sector also had several stocks that doubled, including Dongfang Precision & Technology, Yunnan Yuntianhua, and Juhua Group. In the petroleum & petrochemicals sector, stocks like CNOOC and PetroChina also recorded gains exceeding 90%.
Most stocks exhibit clear characteristics of steady growth. Stocks such as SDIC Power, XCMG Construction Machinery, Shandong Gold Mining, and Hengli Petrochemical have had no record of hitting the daily price limit since 2024. Over 20 stocks, including China Molybdenum Co., Tibet Summit Resources, and Tianshan Aluminum Group, have hit the price limit fewer than three times during this period.
Despite being at high price levels, many of these stocks that have doubled are not considered highly valued based on forward-looking metrics. According to consensus analyst forecasts for 2026 net profits, over 20 stocks, including Shenhuo Coal & Power, SDIC Power, Yunnan Yuntianhua, and Aluminum Corporation of China, have forward price-to-earnings ratios below 20 times. With recent price increases in related products, the forward valuations of some companies may have further room to decline.
Stocks like Huaneng Power International, Huadian Power International, and Zhejiang Zheneng Electric Power have forward P/E ratios as low as single digits. The lower valuation of power stocks is primarily due to market concerns about electricity prices. Huatai Securities recently published a report stating that while the probability of absolute electricity shortages in both China and the U.S. under the surge of AI demand is not high, the strain on power capacity is almost certain. The global daily token usage reaching quadrillions could impose a potential elasticity of around 10% on China's electricity volume and power demand, significantly impacting green certificate prices, capacity tariffs, and even energy charges.
All information provided by Data Bao does not constitute investment advice. The stock market involves risks, and investment requires caution.