good morning. CEOs and CFOs are clearly focused on AI. AI is the most commonly used term in this year’s S&P 500 earnings calls.
FactSet examined the conference call records of all S&P 500 companies that held earnings calls from September 15th to December 4th and found that the term “AI” was cited in 306 of the calls. This is the most S&P 500 earnings calls in which “AI” has been cited in the past decade. The previous record was 292 in the second quarter of 2025, said John Butters, vice president and senior revenue analyst at FactSet. Additionally, this number of 306 is significantly higher than the five-year average of 136 and the 10-year average of 86.
At the sector level, the Information Technology (95%) and Communications Services (95%) sectors were the most likely to mention “AI” in their Q3 earnings reports.
Furthermore, S&P 500 companies that cited “AI” in their Q3 earnings calls had a higher average stock price increase than those that did not after December 31, 2024 (13.9% vs. 5.7%), June 30, 2025 (8.1% vs. 3.9%), and September 30, 2025 (1.0% vs. 0.3%).
overcome uncertainty
Besides AI, another term that interested me was “uncertainty,” so I asked Butters for his take. He analyzed quarterly S&P 500 earnings reports dating back to 2020 in which the term “uncertainty” was cited at least once. He found that references to “uncertainty” spiked in the first quarter of 2025, but declined significantly in the following two quarters, similar to the pattern seen in “tariff” citations. There were 415 mentions of “uncertainty” in Q1 2025, compared to 282 in Q2 and 201 in Q3.
After President Donald Trump’s “Emancipation Day” earlier this year, significant uncertainty has emerged over the new administration’s economic and geopolitical agenda, McKinsey CFO Yuval Atzmon told me recently. Atzmon explained that when uncertainty peaked, his focus as CFO was to identify actions that would be helpful in any scenario. “The worst thing you can do is do nothing,” he added. Acting on what you can control makes you more resilient, he said.
Operating under uncertainty seems to be the norm, which may help explain why the term is less often mentioned explicitly in earnings calls. While uncertainty often prompts defensive moves, Atzmon emphasized the importance of rethinking long-standing strategies and seizing competitive opportunities.
Global AI spending is expected to increase in 2026, and “AI” is likely to continue to be the top term on Q4 earnings calls in January as companies discuss investments, margins, capital expenditures, and productivity.
Cheryl Estrada
sheryl.estrada@fortune.com
leader board
Neil Berkley has been promoted to CFO of Alector, Inc. (Nasdaq: ALEC), a clinical-stage biotechnology company. Mr. Barclay has served as Alector’s Chief Business Officer (CBO) since March 2024, and as CBO and Interim CFO since June 2025. He is a biotechnology company executive with more than 20 years of experience leading corporate strategy, finance, business development, and operations in both early-stage and late-stage companies.
Caleb Noel has been promoted to vice president and CFO of NFP, a company of Aon, a property and casualty insurance broker and benefits consultant. Noel has held a variety of corporate finance and operations roles during his 23-year career with NFP. Most recently, he served as Senior Vice President of Finance and Operations. Previously, he was vice president of finance at Scottish Holdings, a division of Scottish Re, and an investment banking analyst at Prudential Securities (now Wells Fargo & Company).
big deal
Research from RGP, a global professional services firm, shows that CFOs have a long-term focus on AI. This report, “AI Infrastructure Disaggregation: From Ambition to Preparation,” describes a financial landscape that is rapidly moving towards an AI-powered future, but is constrained by issues such as weak data infrastructure.
66% of CFOs surveyed expect significant ROI from AI within two years, but only 14% report meaningful value today. However, the optimism persists despite major obstacles to AI ROI, including deep structural barriers such as data trust issues (only 10% can fully trust corporate data), technical debt (86% say legacy systems limit AI readiness), and skills shortages that can slow adoption.
The findings are based on insights from 200 U.S. CFOs at companies with more than $10 billion in annual revenue. Sectors include technology, healthcare, financial services, and CPG/retail.
even deeper
” new episodethis week’s businessWharton’s podcast focuses on AI and technological evolution. Lin Wu, associate professor of operations, information, and decision making at Wharton, covers the rise of transformative technologies and cycles of technology bubbles throughout history. Wu discusses where AI fits into these cycles, explaining that AI is a necessary stage in technological evolution that lays the foundation for transformative advances across industries.
overheard
“If courts and enforcement officers act on the evidence, consumers will ultimately win.”
—Satya Mallar, a researcher at George Mason University’s Mercatus Center, writes in a Fortune magazine op-ed titled “Netflix, Warner, Paramount and Antitrust: The outcome of the entertainment mega-deal should follow evidence, not politics or fear of consolidation.” Marar specializes in competition, innovation, and governance and is an AI and antitrust fellow at the Innovators Network.
