QuantumStreet AI reports broad outperformance for its strategies in Q1 2026 amid a higher-volatility market environment
NEW YORK, May 7, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — QuantumStreet AI (“QuantumStreet”), an IBM Partner specializing in AI-enhanced investment solutions, today announced the launch of its Thematic Rotation Index, a long-only strategy giving institutional investors systematic exposure to the themes reshaping U.S. equity markets. The launch follows a strong first quarter across QuantumStreet’s deployed strategies, which collectively underpin $8 billion in assets globally.
Standard sector classifications fail to give investors effective exposure to the themes that routinely cut across sector lines such as AI infrastructure, digital services and advanced manufacturing. The result is allocators are trapped in static sector funds with no means to identify and switch to themes that are gaining momentum or to exit the ones that have peaked.
“Sector ETFs give you a label but not always the optimal exposure. What drove equity returns over the past three years wasn’t AI technology as a whole; it was three or four specific themes inside AI gaining critical mass at the same time. Our system identifies those themes before they reach consensus and rotates out when the signal fades. That level of systematic insight and timing is where the return advantage comes from,” said Art Amador, Co-founder and President at QuantumStreet AI.
The strategy invests within the S&P 500 universe, rebalancing monthly. QuantumStreet’s AI platform reads companies’ 10-K filings, extracting about 10,000 granular themes that are clustered into broader investable categories and mapped. The top five themes by aggregate trading dollar volume are selected each month, equally weighted, with underlying companies weighted by market capitalization.
In backtesting from Feb. 1, 2008 through Dec. 31, 2025, the strategy produced a lifetime annualized return of 14.73%, compared with 9.28% for the S&P 500. Over the trailing three years, annualized returns were 37.51% versus 21.44%. At peak drawdown, the strategy recovered in nearly half the time: 652 calendar days, versus 1,277 days for the benchmark.
AI-driven Strategies Perform Strongly During Volatile First Quarter
The launch follows a strong first quarter in 2026 for QuantumStreet’s range of AI-Enhanced strategies. Highlights include QuantumStreet’s Multi-Asset Long-Short Index, which returned 5.05%, outperforming its benchmark by 5.54%. The Long-Short Sector Rotation and Long-Short Leverage Sector Rotation outperformed the S&P 500 by 3.19% and 4.32%, respectively. The results extend a pattern of outperformance that demonstrates QuantumStreet models’ ability to adapt systematically to shifting market regimes and transform the information advantage into returns.
“The first quarter threw a significant amount of noise at investors such as macro uncertainty, geopolitical disruption and violent sector rotation. Our platform outperformed across strategies because the AI is built to cut through that noise and identify durable signals rather than react to short-term dislocations. That consistency in difficult conditions is what investors find most encouraging about the strategies,” said Chris Natividad, co-founder and CIO at QuantumStreet.
The Thematic Rotation Index is available to institutional allocators globally, including pensions, endowments, foundations, insurers and asset managers.
About QuantumStreet AI
Founded in Silicon Valley as an IBM Partner, QuantumStreet AI is a global leader in AI-powered investment solutions, and its technology underpins over $8 billion in globally deployed strategies. Its investment solutions leverage advanced deep learning, explainable models and large-scale data analytics to build transparent, rules-based portfolios across major asset classes. These are used by banks, asset managers, insurers, pension plans and institutional investors seeking data-driven, enhanced outcomes. For more information, visit: quantumstreetai.com
Note: Performance figures cited are based on backtested, hypothetical results unless otherwise stated. Past or simulated performance is not a reliable indicator of future returns. Backtested results have inherent limitations and do not reflect actual trading, advisory fees or other costs. Alternative modeling techniques or assumptions might produce significantly different results.
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SOURCE QuantumStreet AI
