AI Strategy Rollouts Impact S&P 500 Stock Performance

Companies that effectively communicate their artificial intelligence strategies experienced significantly better stock market returns than their peers, according to a new study by global communications firm Gregory. The report, released this week, assessed 449 companies between 2022 and 2025, evaluating their AI announcement quality across five key dimensions: CEO involvement, specific use case articulation, 90-day follow-through, board AI governance history, and tier-1 media pickup. These factors contributed to an AI Communications Quality Score (ACQS) ranging from 0 to 20.

Gregory categorized the top 100 scoring companies into three tiers. Tier 1 comprised companies with ACQS scores of 18–20, Tier 2 with scores of 15–17, and Tier 3 with scores of 12–16. Notably, only 13 companies, less than 3% of the total sample, achieved the highest Tier 1 score. The study found a substantial performance gap between these top communicators and others.

In the 90 days following their AI announcements, companies in Tier 1 demonstrated an average alpha improvement of 10.8% relative to their sector benchmarks. In stark contrast, companies in Tier 3 experienced an average alpha loss of 2.2% during the same period. This represents a 13-point difference in performance between the companies with the strongest and weakest AI communication strategies.

Companies in Tier 2 also saw positive alpha increases on average, though their performance did not match that of Tier 1. The study highlights that over 97% of companies are failing to effectively communicate their AI initiatives to consumers, suggesting a widespread missed opportunity for enhanced market valuation and investor confidence.