Earnings Season with AI Insight: Turning Reports Into Strategy

This Week’s Focus: How AI Transforms Earnings Strategy

U.S. Q3 earnings season is off to a strong start. So far, over 80% of reporting S&P 500 companies surpassed EPS expectations, and even topped revenue projections. Companies are beating EPS estimates by an average of 5.9%, with blended revenue climbing 6.6% compared to the same period last year.

Globally, leading semiconductor companies such as TSMC and ASML suggest improving order momentum as inventories clear, which is a positive signal for exporters. In short, every management comment from leading companies is now a potential leading indicator. Pricing mix, working capital discipline or shifts in capital spending hint at where market leadership may turn next.

Quick Guide: Foundations of AI Prompting for Investment Research

New to using AI for earnings analysis? Start with our 10-minute walkthrough video::

It introduces the Four Pillars of Effective Prompting and shows how these principles make AI behave more like a financial analyst instead of a chatbot. 

AI in Action: Structured Prompt Examples for Earnings Season

The following prompts demonstrate the Four Pillars in our video in practice. Each defines a clear role, provides context, applies constraints and requests measurable outcomes.

📌 Prompt 1: Rapid Earnings Breakdown

Purpose: Classify performance quality and highlight what shifted from the previous quarter. This prompt works because it gives the AI a defined role as an equity analyst and sets clear expectations for structure and scope.

Act as an equity research analyst. Using [Company]’s most recent quarterly earnings release and investor materials, create a concise summary table with the following columns:

- Metric

- Current Quarter Result

- Change vs. Prior Year / Quarter

- Comment.

Include at least these metrics: Revenue growth (%), Operating margin change (bps), EPS, Free cash flow, Leverage (e.g., net debt/EBITDA) and Updated guidance (if any).

After the table, provide:

- Quarter Classification: label as Clean Beat, Inline, or Miss based on performance vs. consensus expectations.

- Three key changes since the previous quarter, focusing on trends in demand, margins, costs, or guidance.

Keep the tone objective and data-driven, avoid speculation and limit commentary to what is stated or clearly implied by company disclosures.

📌 Prompt 2: Transcript Intelligence

Purpose: Capture what management is actually emphasizing. This prompt relies on clarity and outcomes. It directs the AI to focus on evidence rather than tone. Please note that you may need to attach the transcripts or provide the applicable URL where the LLM can easily access the transcript.  

Act as an equity research analyst reviewing [Company’s] most recent earnings call transcript. From the attached excerpt, extract and summarize the key insights under these headings:

- Demand Trends: Note direction (improving, stable, weakening) and any specific product or regional comments.

- Cost Pressures: Identify mentions of input costs, wages, logistics or efficiency initiatives.

- Capacity / CapEx Updates: Summarize any new capacity, utilization or capital expenditure plans or revisions.

- Competitive / Regulatory Comments: Capture references to competition, pricing environment or regulatory changes.

- Management Tone on Outlook: Briefly characterize tone as positive, neutral or cautious, with a short rationale.

Return concise, factual bullet points (max 3 per section). Focus on substance over wording, avoiding generic filler language.

📌 Prompt 3: Guidance and Scenario Mapping

Purpose: Turn guidance into structured portfolio scenarios. This prompt combines context and constraints, forcing the AI to structure the analysis within a defined framework. 

Act as an equity research analyst. Using [Company]’s most recent earnings release and guidance, along with the current macroeconomic backdrop, construct three forward scenarios for next fiscal year: Base Case, Bull Case and Bear Case.

For each scenario, provide:

- Revenue: expected value or % change vs. prior year

- Operating Margin: expected percentage or​ basis point change

- Free Cash Flow: approximate figure or directional change (↑/↓)

- Key Drivers: list 3–5 factors (e.g., pricing, volume, mix, currency, investment spending, macro trends)

- Probability: assign an approximate likelihood (%)

- Portfolio Implication: one concise sentence describing investor positioning or impact (e.g., “Favors value over growth exposure”).

Present your answer in a clean, structured table with three columns (Base, Bull, Bear).

Base your assumptions on factual company guidance and current macroeconomic context; avoid speculation beyond disclosed ranges.

📌 Prompt 4: Language Shift Detector

Purpose: Identify early changes in management messaging.
This prompt blends context and clarity to uncover qualitative shifts before they appear in forecasts.

Act as a buy-side equity analyst tracking [Company]. Using the most recent earnings call transcript, CEO letter or quarterly commentary, compare it with the prior quarter’s version. Identify: 
(1) new themes, terms or priorities introduced this quarter (for example, ‘operational efficiency,’ ‘market-share gains’ or ‘cost reset’),
(2) themes that were emphasized last quarter but are now absent or downplayed, and
(3) any notable change in management tone, whether more cautious, more confident, or more defensive.

Then develop three concise, evidence-based hypotheses on what these language shifts imply for next quarter’s revenue trajectory, margin direction, or guidance tone. Format the response as: Theme Analysis (bullet points) followed by Three Forward Hypotheses (numbered).

How We Can Support Your Business 

We're a small team of investment professionals behind this newsletter focused on research, analysis and AI tools for finance. Drawing from decades of experience at funds, corporates and investment writing agencies in the U.S., U.K. and continental Europe, here's how we can support your business further:

• AI Prompting Training for Investment Professionals: We offer live, in-person or online, global learning & development sessions on AI prompting for investment research, analysis and writing.

• Investment Writing Services: Need high-quality content? We create fund commentary, investor letters, white papers and more, tailored to your voice and audience.

• Feature Your Business: Showcase your company, products or services to our audience of investment professionals and retail investors.

• LLM Training: Training the next-generation LLMs? We currently provide subject-matter consulting services to California-based LLMs (under NDA).

& Ways You Can Support Independent Research

• Click Our Sponsor Links: Each click from our sponsors helps fund our research. (Yes, even one click matters.)

• Support Our Work: Value our insights? You can contribute and support us with a coffee here: https://ko-fi.com/investingprompts  

• For collaborations, training or writing services: [email protected] 

Procter & Gamble (PG) Earnings Preview: 24 October 

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) reports fiscal Q1 2026 results on October 24 with modest momentum. In fiscal 2025 the company delivered about 2% organic sales growth and roughly 4% core EPS growth. Guidance for fiscal 2026 targets organic sales growth between zero and 4% and core EPS growth in the same range.

Key questions:

• Is volume recovery underway, or is pricing still doing the heavy lifting?

• Can productivity savings offset cost and currency headwinds?

• Will the upcoming CEO transition affect execution?

P&G remains a high-quality compounder, but with shares trading near 22× forward earnings and offering a 2.8% dividend yield, expectations are already elevated. Investors will focus on margin progression and category-level market share trends, as any weakness in volume or profitability could test confidence. Still, strong free-cash-flow productivity and a 69-year streak of dividend increases provide a solid foundation of stability for long-term holders.

Prompt for Your AI Toolbox

Act as a buy-side equity analyst covering [Company]. Compare the most recent earnings call transcript, CEO letter or quarterly commentary with the prior quarter’s version to detect meaningful changes in management messaging.

Your tasks:

- Identify new themes or phrases introduced this quarter (e.g., “operational efficiency,” “pricing discipline,” “AI-driven productivity”).

- Highlight themes or terms that were emphasized previously but are now downplayed or absent.

- Describe any notable change in tone — whether management appears more confident, cautious, or defensive — and include a short example phrase or quote fragment that supports your assessment.

Then:
-Develop three concise, evidence-based hypotheses on what these linguistic and tonal shifts imply for next quarter’s revenue trajectory, margin direction, or guidance tone.

Each hypothesis should link a specific language change to a financial implication (e.g., “greater emphasis on cost control implies improving margins”).

Formatting Requirements:

- Use section headers:

## Theme Analysis:
New / Emerging Themes
Faded or Downplayed Themes
Tone Shift

## Three Forward Hypotheses.

- Keep all points factual, concise and written in professional analyst language.

- Avoid generic statements like “management was optimistic.” Instead, focus on evidence and directionality.

Closing Insight

Earnings season rewards structure over volume. A well-designed prompt that sets context, defines role, applies constraints and specifies outcomes can turn a full day of transcript reading into a single hour of actionable research. That clarity becomes your competitive edge. 

Thank you for reading AI in Investment Research & Finance. Here’s to spotting tomorrow’s market stories today.

Until next time