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More Than 65% of S&P 500 Earnings Calls for Q2 Cited “AI”

Earnings

By John Butters  |  September 18, 2026

Artificial intelligence has been a focus topic for the market for the past few years. Given the heightened interest, did more S&P 500 companies than normal comment on “AI” during their earnings conference calls for the second quarter?

The answer is yes. FactSet searched for the term “AI” in the conference call transcripts of all the S&P 500 companies that conducted earnings conference calls from June 15 through September 14.

Overall, the term “AI” was cited on 331 earnings calls conducted by S&P 500 companies during this period. This number is well above the 5-year average of 178 and the 10-year average of 114. This number reflects 67% (331 out of 493) of the earnings calls conducted by S&P 500 companies during this period.

This marks the 3rd consecutive quarter that the term “AI” was cited on more than 65% of the earnings calls conducted by S&P 500 companies.

At the sector level, the Information Technology (72) and Financials (67) sectors have the highest number of earnings calls citing “AI” for Q2, while the Information Technology (97%), Financials (91%), and Communication Services (90%) sectors have the highest percentages of earnings calls citing “AI” for Q2.

S&P 500 companies that have cited “AI” on Q2 earnings calls have also seen a higher average price increase compared to S&P 500 companies that have not cited “AI” on Q2 earnings calls from December 31, 2025, through September 17, 2026 (15.7% vs. 8.1%) and from June 30, 2026, through September 17, 2026 (2.0% vs. -2.2%).

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This blog post is for informational purposes only. The information contained in this blog post is not legal, tax, or investment advice. FactSet does not endorse or recommend any investments and assumes no liability for any consequence relating directly or indirectly to any action or inaction taken based on the information contained in this article.

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John Butters

Vice President, Senior Earnings Analyst

Mr. John Butters is Vice President and Senior Earnings Analyst at FactSet. His weekly research report, “Earnings Insight,” provides analysis and commentary on trends in corporate earnings data for the S&P 500 including revisions to estimates, year-over-year growth, performance relative to expectations, and valuations. He is a widely used source for the media and has appeared on CNBC, Fox Business News, and the Business News Network. In addition, he has been cited by numerous print and online publications such as The Wall Street Journal, The Financial Times, The New York Times, MarketWatch, and Yahoo! Finance. Mr. Butters has over 15 years of experience in the financial services industry. Prior to FactSet in January 2011, he worked for more than 10 years at Thomson Reuters (Thomson Financial), most recently as Director of U.S. Earnings Research (2007-2010).

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The information contained in this article is not investment advice. FactSet does not endorse or recommend any investments and assumes no liability for any consequence relating directly or indirectly to any action or inaction taken based on the information contained in this article.