Goldman Sachs is getting worried about the stock market and the economy, so the firm is giving clients strategies to ride out these coming turbulent times. The investment bank lowered its 2025 year-end S & P 500 target to 6,200 from 6,500 in a research note on Tuesday. The downgrade comes as the S & P 500 has fallen 9% from its all-time high over the past three weeks. More than half of this pullback has come from a 14% decline in “Magnificent Seven” stocks, according to chief U.S. equity strategist David Kostin. “The key market risk going forward is a major further deterioration in the economic outlook,” wrote Kostin in the note, noting that the S & P 500 declined by a median 24% from peak to trough during recessions. Kostin’s team identified stable growers for clients to buy to ride out a possible recession. The firm looked for stocks that have increased cash flow reliably with little variance from year to year over the past decade. The stocks are also projected by Goldman analysts to have stable or higher earnings this year. Here are some of the names in Goldman’s stable growth basket: Alphabet is one of the few tech names on Goldman’s list of steady growth names. The investment bank forecasts the Google parent company’s earnings per share and sales to rise 11% each in 2025. Another Wall Street firm bullish on Alphabet is Evercore ISI, which reiterated its outperform rating on the stock in a note on Wednesday, noting its generative artificial intelligence innovations. Thus far year to date, Alphabet shares have declined nearly 13%. Domino’s Pizza was also featured in the basket. Goldman forecasts the pizza chain’s sales and earnings per share in 2025 to increase 5% this year. The pizza company announced a stuffed crust offering earlier in the month, 30 years after rival Pizza Hut debuted the menu, in order to win over customers. The stock has added 5% year to date. DPZ YTD mountain Domino’s Pizza in 2025 PepsiCo is another consumer giant Goldman featured on its list. Shares inched up 2% in 2025. Uncertainty around the company has risen in recent weeks following the appointment of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as Health and Human Services secretary, who has lashed out against major food companies as part of his Make America Healthy Again platform. In a meeting with prominent food executives, including PepsiCo’s North America CEO, Kennedy called for the removal of artificial dyes from foods. Goldman estimates the soft drinks giant’s sales to remain flat in 2025 and earnings per share to grow 2%. — CNBC’s Michael Bloom contributed to this report.
