Corporate Profits Soared Fueled By AI Investment As Markets Gear Up For Q3 Earnings Brian Slupski Tue, October 13, 2026 at 11:27 AM EDT 2 min read GS +0.65% ^GSPC -0.24% Trade GS on Coinbase Trading disclosure Trading disclosure The above button links to Coinbase. Yahoo Finance is not a broker-dealer or investment adviser and does not offer securities or cryptocurrencies for sale or facilitate trading. Coinbase pays us for certain activity generated through this link. Prices displayed are informational.
Corporate earnings have boomed, thanks in large part to investment in AI. In the second quarter of the year, corporate profits reached an all-time record of more than $4.7 trillion according to data from the U.S. Commerce Department.
Third-quarter earnings per share are projected to rise 29 percent for the S&P 500, compared with the same quarter in 2025. This increase would be on top of a second quarter that saw earnings per share jump 51 percent year over year.
The explosive growth has largely been attributed to AI-related stocks. Ben Snyder, chief US equity strategist at Goldman Sachs Research, observed that recent earnings growth had been "extraordinary."
Goldman Sachs wrote in September that AI investment is responsible for almost half of the S&P growth in 2026.
"The recent strength of S&P 500 earnings has raised concerns among some investors that stocks are in an 'earnings bubble,'" Goldman Sachs Research stated. "Our strategists expect the boost to earnings from investment in artificial intelligence (AI) to gradually fade, making productivity gains from AI increasingly important for stock profitability."
Earnings growth far exceeds historical precedent. Goldman Sachs pointed out that the 51 percent growth in the second quarter dwarfs the historical average growth of 7 percent seen over the last 30 years. Also, in the last four quarters, earnings per share grew 26 percent.
However, Snider said the numbers did not equate to a bubble: "Because equity prices have failed to keep pace with surging earnings, near-term valuations show no hint of a bubble."
"Our base case is for S&P 500 earnings growth to decelerate, not collapse, in coming years," Snider said.
According to the bank, the biggest hyperscaler companies were on pace to spend $800 billion on capital expenditures this year, a 94 percent increase over 2025. The firm is expecting continued, massive investment in AI going forward with $1.2 trillion in capex projected in 2027 and $1.4 trillion projected in 2028.
"Hyperscaler capex has consistently surprised relative to consensus estimates during the last few years, and the potential for additional surprises going forward creates a wide range of potential S&P 500 earnings outcomes," Snider stated.
