The one Claude prompt that replaces a full research stack

I often use more different prompts to research a company…

One for the business model. One for financials. One for competitors. One for risks. One for valuation.

That works. But it takes time. And sometimes (always)..

..life kicks with too many priorities and there is not much time for the detailed research I would love to do.

Then I use more comprehensive prompt that fastly screens target company.

One input. One structured output. A complete top-to-bottom company analysis that reads like it came from an institutional research desk.

Let’s get into that prompt

Why one big prompt saves you the most time

A full company research cycle normally takes hours.

You read the 10-K. You pull the earnings transcript. You check competitor filings. You build a view on valuation. By the time you connect all of it into something useful, half a day is gone.

This prompt compresses that into one session.

Paste your source material, run the prompt and you get a structured output that covers every major research area in one pass. Business model, competitive position, financial quality, capital allocation, risks, valuation and a thesis summary.

You still need to think. You still need to verify. But the scaffolding is already built.

That is where the time goes in most research workflows. Not the thinking. The assembly.

This prompt handles the assembly.

The prompt

Act as a senior equity analyst at a top-tier investment firm preparing a
comprehensive research report for an investment committee.
Your job is to produce a rigorous, structured, top-to-bottom analysis of
the company below. Use only information grounded in the source material
I provide. Do not fabricate data or cite statistics you cannot verify
from the input.
Company: [COMPANY NAME]
Ticker: [TICKER]
Source material: [PASTE 10-K SECTIONS, EARNINGS TRANSCRIPTS,
INVESTOR PRESENTATIONS BELOW]
Structure the report as follows:
1. Business model summary
Explain in plain language how this company makes money. Describe the
revenue model, key customer segments, geographic exposure and the core
economic engine of the business. Flag anything unusual or worth
understanding deeply before moving on.
2. Competitive position
Identify the company's main competitors. Assess whether the company has
a durable competitive advantage and, if so, what type: switching costs,
network effects, cost structure, brand, regulatory protection or
intellectual property. Rate the moat as strong, moderate or weak and
explain why.
3. Financial quality assessment
Analyse the financial track record over the past three to five years.
Focus on:
- Revenue growth consistency
- Gross and operating margin trends
- Free cash flow conversion relative to net income
- Return on invested capital
- Debt levels and interest coverage
Flag any divergences between reported earnings and cash generation.
Note any accounting changes or unusual items.
4. Capital allocation track record
How has management deployed capital over the past five years?
Assess acquisitions, organic reinvestment, buybacks and dividends.
Were the decisions value-creating or value-destroying?
Score overall capital allocation quality as strong, mixed or poor.
5. Growth outlook
What are the realistic growth drivers over the next three to five years?
Distinguish between growth that is visible and contracted versus growth
that depends on market share gains or new markets. Be honest about
what is speculative.
6. Key risks
List the five most material risks to the investment thesis.
For each one, explain the mechanism of harm and how quickly it could
affect the business. Prioritise company-specific risks over
generic macro risks.
7. Valuation context
Without building a full DCF, assess whether the current valuation looks
demanding, fair or cheap relative to:
- Historical trading ranges
- Comparable peers
- The quality and durability of the business model
Note what growth and margin assumptions appear to be embedded in the
current price.
8. Investment thesis summary
Summarise the core bull case in three sentences. Summarise the core
bear case in three sentences. Then state what you believe is the single
most important variable that will determine which case plays out.
9. Questions for management
List five specific questions a rigorous investor should ask on the next
earnings call. Make them targeted and analytical, not general.

How to use it

Paste the full prompt into Claude and add your source material directly below it.

The more you give it, the better it performs. A 10-K management discussion section, the most recent earnings call transcript and an investor day presentation is enough to get a genuinely useful output.

Push back if any section feels thin. Ask Claude to go deeper on the specific area you care most about. The second pass almost always surfaces something the first one missed.

Run this before you look at the stock chart. Before you check the price target. Understanding the business first changes how you interpret every number that follows.

One prompt. One coherent report. Everything you need to decide if a company is worth going deeper on.

Try it this week on a company already on your watchlist.

Want more research frameworks like this? The full Claude Investing Prompt Library has 10 additional prompts covering everything from earnings call analysis to sector disruption scanning.