The outlook for private credit

• Are there still opportunities in private credit?
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• The Big Number: A $1 trillion tide of investment
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• Black women start businesses faster than any other demographic
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Are there still opportunities in private credit? The asset class has more doubled in size since 2018, with about a trillion dollars entering private credit strategies.  

Some have raised concerns that the space may be getting crowded, with too much money chasing too few opportunities. But Stephanie Rader of Goldman Sachs Asset Management points out that “it's important to keep the context in mind.”

She explains that “private credit is filling a void left by the banks, which have pulled back on lending in light of post-financial crisis regulations.”

And while the asset class is popular among investors because of its potential to deliver high returns and diversification, Rader adds that it's increasingly sought out by borrowers who “see the benefits of this bilateral relationship with a private credit lender — including speed, flexibility, and certainty of execution.”

“We still think there are big opportunities in private credit,” Rader concludes.

$1,000,000,000,000

The estimated capital expenditure by tech giants, other companies, and utilities in coming years on the artificial intelligence revolution. This $1 trillion spend includes significant investments in data centers, chips, other AI infrastructure, and the power grid. Is that too much spending for too little benefit? Read Goldman Sachs Research's Top of Mind report to find out.

Jennison Associates' Kathleen McCarragher and her team have been early investors in many of the largest stocks powering markets higher today. That success — investing in Nvidia in 2016, for example — stems from the depth of research and the long-standing experience of her investors, McCarragher says on Goldman Sachs Exchanges: Great Investors.  
  
A decades-long large-cap growth investor, McCarragher says she and her team have also prolonged their average investment periods in large-cap growth stocks, as these companies build up the sustainability of their business models, McCarragher says. “Some of these companies have scaled globally, and they have meaningful market opportunities. At some point, maturation or the law of large numbers will set in, and growth will slow. But right now, the competitive barriers and dominant industry positions allow them to continue to grow at really attractive rates.”  
  
And while artificial intelligence is clearly benefiting big tech companies, it will also enhance growth rates, productivity, and returns across other large-cap sectors, she says. “When you go beyond technology, we start to talk about productivity gains,” McCarragher says. “The way we believe we will see them first is skill sets that can be enhanced rather than headcount reductions. Over time, what we will find is that as these technologies move into other industries — whether it's healthcare, whether it's education, whether it's oil and gas — we expect to see real foundational capabilities emerge out of utilizing this technology.” 

• 65% of alumni report increases in revenues over the last 12 months (vs. 36% for US-based non-employer firms). 
• Nearly 50% report creating new jobs over the last 12 months (vs. 7% of other non-employer firms). 
• 62% have innovated a product or service in the past 12 months (vs. 24% of all micro companies).