One of the market's hottest stock themes is buying everything AI can't replace

As investors worry about all of the companies that AI will wipe out, they are rotating into the ones that AI will have a harder time disrupting. And the HALO trade, as it is called, is working. HALO, which stands for "heavy assets, low obsolescence," was coined by Josh Brown, co-founder and CEO of Ritholtz Wealth Management, in February , premised on the idea that an era of rapid AI disruption requires a search by investors for companies that are immune to it. In Brown's view, it is one of the most important investment trends of the year. Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley have both incorporated HALO into their investment research in 2026 as HALO stocks are doing well across the board. Some of the stocks cited by Brown are examples: FedEx and ExxonMobil are both up close to 30% since the beginning of the year, while Coca-Cola is up close to 17%. HALO companies share two traits, according to Dave Mazza, CEO of Roundhill Investments, whose firm launched an ET based on the HALO theme last week. These stocks require meaningful hard physical assets in order to generate revenue, and they are durable. While AI may change how work gets done at low obsolescence companies, it does not eliminate the need for work at them, according an article he wrote on the topic. For example, electricity has to flow and goods have to get produced. The Roundhill Halo ETF ( LOHA ) launched on Thursday. The fund tracks an index that screens the largest listed U.S. …