Wall Street is a noisy place. You have thousands of analysts shouting about the "next big thing," but only a few actually move the needle when they speak. Eric Sheridan, a Managing Director at Goldman Sachs, is one of those people. If you've ever tracked a sudden swing in Alphabet or Amazon stock after a research note drops, there’s a high probability his name was at the top of the report.
He isn't just another guy in a suit. Sheridan heads up the U.S. Internet sector research at Goldman Sachs, a role that puts him at the epicenter of the AI revolution and the shifting sands of digital advertising.
Who Is Eric Sheridan and Why Does He Matter?
Sheridan didn't just appear at Goldman yesterday. He joined the firm in 2021, bringing over 15 years of deep-market experience from places like UBS and Citadel. His background is a bit of a mix—he holds a J.D. from St. John’s University Law School and a B.A. in History from Franklin & Marshall College. It’s that combination of legal precision and historical context that makes his analysis feel different. He isn't just looking at the next quarter; he’s looking at how these companies fit into the broader arc of the internet's evolution.
When you look at his coverage, it's massive. We’re talking about over 50 companies.
- Mega-caps: Google (Alphabet), Amazon, Meta.
- The "Gig" Economy: Uber, Lyft, DoorDash.
- Specialized Platforms: Airbnb, Netflix, Spotify, and even Roblox.
His influence comes from his ability to "separate the signal from the noise," as he often says in his Talks at GS appearances. While everyone was panicking about a "tech bubble" in 2025, Sheridan was busy explaining why the high capital expenditure (CapEx) from big tech was actually a necessary foundation for the next decade of growth.
The Goldman Sachs Stance on the AI Trade
One of the most frequent questions investors ask is: "Are we in an AI bubble?" Sheridan’s take is nuanced. He’s noted that while certain valuations feel a bit stretched—rhyming with the dot-com era—the actual capital market activity is nowhere near those 1999 peaks.
Basically, he thinks AI is becoming "deeply embedded" in every consumer product.
Think about Google Maps. You don’t think of it as "AI" when it suggests a faster route due to a crash ahead, but it is. Sheridan argues that in the next 12 to 18 months, your interaction with the internet will shift from just "reading and clicking" to a constant conversational dialogue. He’s a big believer that "scale matters" here. He doesn't expect a single winner to take all, but rather a handful of giants—Amazon, Alphabet, and Microsoft (via Azure)—to dominate the infrastructure because the cost of entry is simply too high for everyone else.
Recent Calls and Stock Movements
Sheridan is active. Just this month, in January 2026, he’s been adjusting price targets across the board. It’s not always "buy, buy, buy." He recently lowered price targets on several names like Pinterest and Snap, showing a realistic view of the advertising headwinds.
- Alphabet (GOOGL): Remained a core "Buy" with a price target around $375.
- AppLovin (APP): He's been incredibly accurate here, recently boosting price targets as the company outperformed.
- Opera (OPRA): He maintains a "Buy" rating, citing strong momentum in search and their new AI-integrated browser features.
- Roblox (RBLX): He recently upgraded this to a "Buy," seeing the long-term value in the "metaverse" (even if that word is currently out of fashion).
He’s not perfect. No one is. His "worst" call historically involved Snap back in 2022, but his "best" call—a massive ROI on Groupon in 2020—bought him a lot of credibility with the institutional crowd.
The "Efficiency" Shift
There’s a narrative shift happening that Sheridan has been vocal about. For a long time, the mantra in tech was "growth at all costs." Then, in 2023 and 2024, it became "efficiency at all costs."
Sheridan thinks we’ve moved past that.
He recently mentioned at the Goldman Sachs Communicopia conference that companies aren't just cutting for the sake of cutting anymore. They are reinvesting. But they’re doing it "responsibly." This is a key distinction. If you’re an investor, Sheridan’s research suggests you shouldn't just look for the company with the lowest expenses, but the one that is successfully pivoting those savings into AI-driven growth.
Actionable Insights for Investors
If you're following the Eric Sheridan Goldman Sachs playbook, here’s how you should actually apply his logic to your own portfolio:
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- Watch the CapEx: Don't be scared when Amazon or Google spends billions on data centers. According to Sheridan, this is the "capacity constraint" phase of the AI cycle. If they don't spend now, they lose later.
- Don't Ignore the "Old" Tech: He often highlights that the infrastructure for the "new" internet is being built by the "old" internet giants. The "handful of players" rule usually applies.
- Look for Utility: AI isn't just about chatbots. It's about "lower friction." Invest in companies that use AI to make a task (like ordering food or finding a hotel) faster.
- Ignore the "Bubble" Talk (Mostly): Focus on valuations relative to historical peaks. If the P/E ratios are high but the cash flow is real, Sheridan’s research generally remains bullish.
The tech landscape changes every week. One day it's "AI is dead," the next it's "AI is the only thing that matters." Having a steady hand like Sheridan at Goldman Sachs helps filter out the hysteria. He provides the "historical rhyme" that helps make sense of a very chaotic market.
To stay ahead, keep an eye on the Goldman Sachs "Conviction List." When Sheridan adds a tech name to that list, it's usually backed by hundreds of pages of proprietary data and a very specific thesis on why that company is about to win the next leg of the digital race.
To replicate his strategy, focus on the "platform economics" of the companies you own. If a company doesn't have the scale to compete on computing costs, they might just be a feature, not a platform. And in Sheridan's world, the platforms are where the real money is made.