Given concerns in the market about tariffs, did more S&P 500 companies comment on tariffs during their earnings conference calls for the third quarter compared to the second quarter?
The answer is no. FactSet Document Search (which allows users to search for key words or phrases across multiple document types) was used to answer this question. Through Document Search, FactSet searched for the term “tariff” or “tariffs” in the conference call transcripts of all the S&P 500 companies that conducted earnings conference calls from September 15 through November 14.
Overall, the term “tariff” or “tariffs” was cited on 238 earnings calls conducted by S&P 500 companies during this period. This number reflects a quarter-over-quarter decline of 33% compared to Q2 2025, when the term “tariff” or “tariffs” was cited on 357 earnings calls (from June 15 through September 14). This is also the second straight quarter where the number of earnings calls citing the term “tariff” or “tariffs” has decreased.
However, it is important to note that this number still reflects the fourth-highest number of S&P 500 earnings calls where the term “tariff” or “tariffs” was cited over the past 10 years (using current index constituents going back in time). The current record for the highest number of earnings calls where the term “tariff” or “tariffs” was cited during this period is 452 in Q1 2025.
At the sector level, the Industrials (51) sector has the highest number of earnings calls where the term “tariff” or “tariffs” was cited, while the Consumer Staples (79%) and Industrials (70%) sectors have the highest percentages of earning calls where the term “tariff” or “tariffs” was cited.
On a quarter-over-quarter basis, all 11 sectors have recorded a decline in the number of earnings calls where the term “tariff” or “tariffs” was cited, led by the Information Technology (-24) and Financials (-19) sectors.
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