A repeatable equity research process for understanding a company before making an investment decision. Use the checklist on its own, or apply every step with our guided AI stock research platform.
Good research is not a prediction generated from one ratio or an AI summary. It is a connected review of the business, financial statements, earnings expectations, valuation, risks, and evidence that could change your conclusion. This workflow keeps those pieces in a consistent order.
Start with what the company sells, who pays for it, and which products or segments generate the most revenue. Identify the industry, competitors, customer concentration, and the factors that make the business difficult—or easy—to copy.
Can you explain how the company makes money in two sentences?Review revenue and earnings growth alongside margins, free cash flow, cash, and debt. Look at several periods instead of relying on one quarter, and separate genuine operating improvement from temporary changes or accounting effects.
Are growth, profitability, and cash generation moving in the same direction?Compare reported results with market expectations, then read management commentary and guidance. Focus on why results changed, what the market expected, and which operating indicators investors will watch next quarter.
Did the underlying business improve, or did the headline simply beat a low estimate?Compare the current valuation with the company’s own history, relevant peers, growth, margins, and risk. A low multiple is not automatically cheap, and a high multiple may reflect expectations that leave little room for disappointment.
What performance is already reflected in the current price?Write down the evidence that could strengthen or weaken the investment case. Include competitive threats, cyclicality, regulation, financing needs, execution risks, product launches, earnings dates, and other measurable catalysts.
What evidence would prove your current view wrong?Summarize the opportunity, valuation, main risks, and the facts you intend to monitor. Revisit that record after earnings so that new information changes the thesis instead of being forced into the original conclusion.
What must happen for this investment thesis to remain valid?SW Stock Intelligence brings company fundamentals, product and segment information, earnings, valuation, news, risks, and thesis tracking into one guided research report. Sources, timestamps, and missing data remain visible so you can judge the evidence yourself.
Open a guided company report, then move from the business model through financial quality, earnings, valuation, risks, and your thesis.
Consumer technology, services growth, and valuation expectations
Open company research →MSFTMicrosoftCloud growth, margins, AI investment, and competitive position
Open company research →NVDANvidiaAI demand, data-center growth, earnings expectations, and valuation
Open company research →TSLATeslaAutomotive margins, growth assumptions, competition, and execution risk
Open company research →Search a ticker, work through each section, and keep the evidence behind your conclusion.
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