Sell-side research rarely makes its way into mainstream financial media. It is typically written for institutional clients such as hedge funds, asset managers and pension allocators.
But the rise of self-publishing platforms like Substack has changed how financial research is distributed and consumed. Ideas that once circulated quietly among professionals can now spread rapidly and influence broader retail investor sentiment.
One recent example that rattled markets was a piece titled “The 2028 Global Intelligence Crisis” from Citrini Research, written as a macro memo from the future dated June 2028.
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The article sketched out a bleak scenario in which the owners of compute infrastructure benefited enormously from artificial intelligence (AI), while white-collar workers faced mass displacement.
The authors coined the term “ghost GDP,” describing an economy where output grows on paper but income fails to circulate through households in the form of wages. That thought experiment, though speculative, sparked sharp losses in several companies Citrini noted to be vulnerable to AI.
For example, shares of American Express Co. (ticker: AXP) and DoorDash Inc. (DASH) saw notable pullbacks as investors reassessed earnings and margin sensitivity to potential AI-driven disruption. Firms relying on white-collar knowledge labor, transaction processing, digital marketing or software-based workflows may face margin pressure if AI systems can replicate those services at lower cost.
Even before Citrini published its memo, several software-as-a-service companies long praised for high margins and premium multiples, such as Adobe Inc. (ADBE) and Salesforce Inc. (CRM), had already seen their share prices steadily drift lower amid concerns that AI could commoditize their offerings.
Investor anxiety about AI was amplified when Block Inc. (XYZ) CEO Jack Dorsey subsequently announced sweeping layoffs of more than 4,000 employees. Dorsey explicitly cited AI as the main driver of operational restructuring, causing shares of the fintech to rise more than 16% on the news.
“Legacy software companies had their feet to the fire as of late as they continue to take on massive debt issuance to fund AI capital expenditures,” says Mark Andraos, partner and wealth advisor at Regency Wealth Management. “The market has a ‘show me now’ mentality, exacerbated by the ‘sell-the-news’ reactions to earnings reports showing anything less than a stellar AI-driven guidance raise.”
The flip side of the AI debate is what some on Wall Street have termed “high asset, low obsolescence,” or HALO. This acronym refers to less flashy companies with tangible infrastructure, regulatory moats or physical assets that analysts believe are unlikely to be displaced by AI yet.
“I think 2026 may prove to be a year where ‘boring is beautiful’ as investors continue to favor fundamentals and AI-resistant HALO companies with attractive valuations, more so than thematic-AI-sentiment-driven storylines,” Andraos says.
Here are six of the best AI-proof stocks to buy in 2026:
| Stock | Forward P/E ratio | Dividend yield |
| Service Corp. International (SCI) | 19.7 | 1.6% |
| Waste Management Inc. (WM) | 29.3 | 1.4% |
| Rollins Inc. (ROL) | 49.0 | 1.2% |
| Cintas Corp. (CTAS) | 37.5 | 0.9% |
| Prologis Inc. (PLD) | 24.1* | 3.0% |
| Public Storage (PSA) | 18.3* | 3.9% |
*The price-to-funds-from-operations ratio is used in lieu of price-to-earnings ratios for PLD and PSA, which are real estate investment trusts.
Service Corp. International (SCI)
“The HALO trade is a sober recognition that while AI can write a sonnet or code, it cannot yet unclog a drain or haul away a ton of industrial waste, at least not until the robots come,” says Michael Ashley Schulman, partner and chief investment officer at Running Point Capital Advisors. “Investors are rediscovering the charm of defensible businesses that own and do things in the physical world.”
When it comes to unglamorous but durable businesses, few are as entrenched as SCI, one of the few publicly traded funeral and cemetery operators in the U.S. The company benefits from a pre-need model that allows customers to prepay for death care services, providing greater visibility into future cash flows and capital to reinvest. SCI’s 25.5% operating margin reflects strong pricing power.
Forward price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio: 19.7 Dividend yield: 1.6%
Waste Management Inc. (WM)
“WM is largely a real estate play disguised as a utility with a side of logistics — they own the landfills which are the ultimate heavy assets because nobody wants a new one in their backyard, thus creating a regulatory barrier,” Schulman says. WM also consistently generates strong free cash flow, which it liberally uses to consolidate a highly fragmented industry by acquiring smaller regional haulers.
WM’s strategy expands route density, improves pricing power and strengthens its network of collection, transfer and disposal assets. The result is a vertically integrated waste platform that is difficult for new entrants to replicate. “AI might help WM optimize their routes or sort their recycling more efficiently, but the core value remains the physical possession of the trash and the land it sits on,” Schulman says.
Forward P/E: 29.3 Dividend yield: 1.4%
Rollins Inc. (ROL)
“ROL is an archetypal HALO name because it combines a massive distributed physical footprint with a service that is fundamentally non-discretionary; you may be able to delay a software upgrade, but you cannot negotiate with a bedbug infestation,” Schulman explains. “The company operates in a competitive and fragmented industry where their scale provides significant logistics advantages.”
ROL has also steadily expanded through a roll-up strategy, acquiring smaller regional pest-control operators and integrating them into a national platform. These tuck-in acquisitions allow Rollins to leverage centralized purchasing, branding, training and back-office systems while preserving local customer relationships. Over time, that approach has increased route density and improved margins.
Forward P/E: 49 Dividend yield: 1.2%
[Read: 7 Stocks That Outperform in a Recession]
Cintas Corp. (CTAS)
Citrini’s scenario envisioned a world where large numbers of displaced white-collar workers would need to re-skill for more service-oriented, hands-on roles. If that were to occur, one company positioned to benefit squarely in the background would be Cintas, which provides workplace uniforms, facility services, safety supplies and first-aid products to businesses across a wide range of industries.
CTAS boasts an operating margin of 23.4% and a return on equity of 43.4%, underscoring its pricing power and efficient use of capital. The company is also a Dividend Aristocrat, having increased its dividend for more than 25 consecutive years, including a recent hike that marked its 42nd straight annual increase. In addition, management authorized $1 billion of share buybacks last October.
Forward P/E: 37.5 Dividend yield: 0.9%
Prologis Inc. (PLD)
“AI can disrupt business models, but it can’t create land, shorten permitting timelines or replicate well-located real estate,” says Alex Pettee, president and director of research and ETFs at Hoya Capital Real Estate. “Buildings retain land value and can be repurposed, redeveloped or repositioned — a struggling mall can become housing, storage or logistics.” PLD is a good example of the last type of real estate investment trust (REIT).
PLD specializes in logistics facilities such as warehouses and distribution centers. The company leases space to more than 6,500 customers and controls roughly 1.3 billion square feet of logistics real estate across 20 countries. Approximately 3% of global GDP flows through properties in its portfolio, a figure that has grown thanks to the rise of e-commerce and supply chain automation.
Price-to-funds-from-operations (FFO) ratio: 24.1 Dividend yield: 3%
Public Storage (PSA)
People accumulate furniture, seasonal gear, inventory and personal belongings, and when living situations change, that excess needs a home. That is where self-storage REITs such as PSA come in. This subsector has historically been one of the more recession-resistant areas in real estate, supported at times by counter-cyclical demand as households downsize or relocate during periods of economic stress.
“We still have a huge supply-demand imbalance in the world of housing and people will always need a place to store their extra stuff, so PSA will likely not be obsolete as AI continues to grow,” says David Auerbach, chief investment officer at Hoya Capital. “PSA could be impacted by some aspects of AI (like renting a space through an app), but putting stuff in the storage unit will still require a human element.”
Price-to-FFO ratio: 18.3 Dividend yield: 3.9%
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6 Best AI-Proof Stocks to Buy Now originally appeared on usnews.com
