Earnings and Presentation Transcript Analysis
Last updated: 22 September 2025
Objective:
This prompt provides analysis of earnings or other presentation transcripts to extract all key information from management and Q&A, isolate guidance and forward looking statements and compare how they change over time including performing sentiment and term frequency analysis.
Explanation:
An investor’s time is best spent on signals that separate insight from noise. Reading long transcripts, let along multiple of them to understand how the story of a company is evolving is very time consuming and necessarily covers a lot of information that is only marginally relevant and possibly distracting. This prompt equips investors to extract and focus on the signal by structuring a transcript-only analysis of a company’s last earnings calls.
It extracts the hard numbers, revenue, margins, free cash flow, EPS, and growth rates, while also tracing how management’s guidance and long-term goals shift from quarter to quarter. Beyond the figures, it scores sentiment in both prepared remarks and Q&A, surfacing whether management’s tone grows more confident or cautious. Finally, it distills recurring themes such as growth drivers, risks, product and strategy, so an investor can see how the story evolves across periods. The result is a compact, comparable view of performance, outlook, sentiment, and risk that helps investors judge whether management’s narrative is strengthening, weakening, or diverging from the numbers.
As always, be aware that models can make mistakes. At each step, examine the response and challenge information or conclusions that appear erroneous before proceeding to any subsequent steps. If in doubt use a second model with the same prompt to verify the information and generate challenge questions and answers (CoVe process) to correct interpretations of data.
Link to blog post explanation:
Preferred Model(s):
ChatGPT-5+ or Gemini 2.5 FLASH (Note that Gemini PRO often crashes when analyzing 3 transcripts. The lower parameter Flash model handles the request and produces good quality results)
Important Execution Notes:
Insert ticker, exchange and company name where indicated under inputs.
Attached last X transcripts (default is three).
Tip: When you attach the transcripts, name each file with the period (e.g., Company_Q1FY25_transcript.pdf), so the tables can reference them cleanly.The default is set to the last 3 transcripts (this provides information on the evolution of sentiment and guidance). However, the user can vary this as desired.
Sample Output:
Copy/Paste Prompt Set:
Important note: Subscribers can use this prompt set for their own analysis. However, the prompt is copyrighted by The Inferential Investor, paywalled, and must not be shared without permission.
0) Role & Mission
You are a senior equity analyst. Using only the attached earnings call transcripts, produce a rigorous, source-anchored analysis of growth, guidance, sentiment, and Q&A themes, with clear tables that let an investor see how the story is evolving across calls.
1) Inputs (fill these before running)
• Company: <TICKER, EXCHANGE, COMPANY NAME> (e.g., “AAPL, NASDAQ, Apple Inc.”)
• Transcripts attached: <LAST 3> (default 3, user may change to N)
2) Source Handling Rules
• Analyze only the attached transcripts (prepared remarks + Q&A). If something is missing, mark “Not disclosed”—do not infer from memory or external sources.
• When quoting or extracting numbers, include a source anchor per item: Transcript label (e.g., “Q2’25”), section (Prepared/Q&A), and a page or timestamp/line range if available (e.g., “p. 7” or “00:12:04–00:12:40”).
• If multiple currencies/units appear, normalize to the company reporting currency and state the conversion if done (and the basis/date).
• Q&A Identification Rule: Treat as Q&A any part of the transcript that follows phrases like:
– “We’ll now turn to a few questions from…”
– “Our first question is from…”
– “We’ll now open up for questions”
– “Operator, please open the line”
– or when names of analysts or participants not listed as executives appear.
Everything prior is Prepared Remarks. Everything after is Q&A.
3) Tasks & Methods
A) Results & Growth Table (YoY focus)
1. For each transcript/period, extract key result measures, prioritizing:
o Revenue (total; and segments if discussed)
o EPS (GAAP and/or non-GAAP; clearly label which)
o Any other metrics management emphasizes (e.g., gross margin, operating margin, free cash flow, billings, RPO, ARR, active users, unit shipments, utilization).
2. Compute YoY growth rates for each metric using the values cited in that transcript (if both current and prior-year comps are stated). If only QoQ or sequential is given, report it but label clearly.
3. Where management gives TTM or YTD figures, compute YoY for those too if both periods are available.
4. Show a stacked table across transcripts to reveal the trend in growth rates.
Output Table 1 — Results & YoY Growth (one row per transcript)
Period (Transcript) Revenue Revenue YoY EPS (GAAP) EPS (GAAP) YoY EPS (Non-GAAP) EPS (Non-GAAP) YoY Other Key Metrics (w/ YoY) Notes (Normalization/One-offs) Source
Qx’YY … … … … … … metric: value (YoY%) e.g., “FX headwind -200 bps; SBC excluded in non-GAAP” (Transcript label; page/time)
Rules:
• If a value is not disclosed for that transcript, enter “ND”.
• If management restates or redefines a metric, flag in Notes and keep metrics comparable across columns where possible.
B) Guidance & Long-Term Goals Evolution
1. Extract all forward-looking statements and explicit guidance (revenue, margin, EPS, growth rates, capex, FCF, bookings, RPO/ARR, mix, unit outlook, utilization, headcount, buybacks).
2. Separate near-term (next quarter/next FY) from longer-term goals (multi-year targets, model frameworks).
3. For each item, quantify the guide (ranges, midpoints, qualitative to quantified where the transcript provides numbers) and state assumptions management mentions (FX, pricing, mix, macro, supply, regulatory).
4. Build an evolution view across transcripts; highlight raises/cuts/maintains and changes in language or confidence.
Output Table 2 — Guidance & Goals Evolution
Item Qx’YY Guide (Midpoint) Qx’YY+1 Guide (Midpoint) Qx’YY+2 Guide (Midpoint) Direction (↑/↓/=) Key Assumptions/Qualifiers Long-Term Goal (verbatim/concise) Gap vs Current (quantify) Source(s)
Revenue growth … … … ↑ e.g., price increases, backlog conversion “~20% CAGR 3-5 yrs” e.g., “Needs +8–10 pts to hit LT goal” …
Gap vs Current: Compare stated long-term goals to the latest actuals from Table
1. Quantify shortfall/excess and note time horizon.
C) Sentiment Scoring (0–20 scale)
Compute sentiment separately for:
• Prepared remarks (exclude Q&A) → one score per transcript.
• Q&A: Analyst questions → one score per transcript.
• Q&A: Management answers → one score per transcript.
Method (make it reproducible):
• Use a lexicon + context approach with finance-specific cues (e.g., “robust demand,” “execution risk,” “macro headwinds,” “inventory digestion,” “supply constraints resolving”).
• Weight modifiers (e.g., “significantly,” “slightly”), uncertainty/hedging (“may,” “could,” “visibility limited”), and directionality around key drivers (pricing, mix, volume, costs, margins, pipeline, win-rates, churn).
• Penalize guidance downticks, miss/guide-down language, regulatory/legal overhangs; reward guide-ups, share gains, pipeline strength with credible datapoints.
• Normalize each transcript’s raw sentiment to a 0–20 scale, where:
o 0–5 = negative, 6–10 = cautious/neutral, 11–15 = constructive, 16–20 = strongly positive.
• Keep a one-line rationale for each score.
Output Table 3 — Sentiment (0–20)
Period Prepared Remarks Q&A — Analyst Questions Q&A — Mgmt Answers Score Rationale (1-line each) Source
Qx’YY … … … “Raised FY rev guide; cost relief; demand broadening” (Transcript label; page/time)
D) Management’s Key Themes (Prepared Remarks)
• Summarize growth drivers (price, volume, mix, geography, segments), challenges (macro, supply, competition), margin movements (gross/opex, mix, productivity, FX), capital structure (leverage, buybacks/dividends, capex), strategy (product road map, TAM, go-to-market), product & customer trends (churn, cohort behavior, attach rates), and risk factors.
• For each theme, add evidence bullets with micro-citations (page/time).
Output Section — Thematic Summary (Prepared)
• Growth drivers: … [evidence + source]
• Challenges: … [evidence + source]
• Margins: … [evidence + source]
• Capital structure: … [evidence + source]
• Strategy & product trends: … [evidence + source]
• Risks/uncertainties: … [evidence + source]
E) Analyst Q&A Themes & Evolution
• Extract recurring Q&A themes (demand, pricing, competitive intensity, supply chain, AI/data, regulation, regional trends, pipeline quality, large deals).
• For each theme, summarize analysts’ questions and management’s answers in crisp bullets.
• Show how the focus of Q&A shifts across transcripts (e.g., more on pricing vs pipeline, new regulatory topic, margin bridge clarity improving).
Output Table 4 — Q&A Themes by Transcript
Theme Qx’YY — Analyst Q Qx’YY — Mgmt A Qx’YY+1 — Analyst Q Qx’YY+1 — Mgmt A Qx’YY+2 — Analyst Q Qx’YY+2 — Mgmt A Notable Evolution Source(s)
Pricing & Mix … … … … … … e.g., “From cautious to confident as elasticities improved” …
F) Term Frequency Tracking
• Analyze term frequency in each of the transcripts. Identify the 5 most positive and 5 most negative terms used in the most recent transcript and using Advanced Data Analysis, tabulate and chart the frequency of those same terms across each of the transcripts ordered by period so the analyst can see the evolution over time.
• Use TF/IDF to identify the most important 5 terms in each transcript showing how these themes have changed over time. Provide a narrative summary of what this indicates about the company's progress.
G) Red Flags Extraction
• Identify in the most recent transcript, information consistent with rising risks, red flags, missing disclosures that have been provided in past transcripts, inconsistencies or any metric redefinitions.
4) Deliverables (in this order)
1. Executive Summary (≤10 bullets): The state of growth, guidance trajectory, sentiment trend, and what changed vs prior calls.
2. Table 1 — Results & YoY Growth (stacked by transcript).
3. Table 2 — Guidance & Long-Term Goals Evolution (with direction arrows and gap vs current).
4. Table 3 — Sentiment (0–20) for Prepared, Q&A-Analyst, Q&A-Mgmt with one-line rationales.
5. Thematic Summary (Prepared Remarks) with evidence bullets and sources.
6. Table 4 — Q&A Themes & Evolution.
7. Term Frequency table
8. TF/IDF table
7. Red Flags & Open Questions: Missing disclosures, inconsistencies, metric redefinitions, or items to verify in filings.
5) Formatting & Quality Rules
• Clarity: Use concise prose, avoid jargon unless the transcript uses it (define on first use).
• Comparability: Keep metric definitions consistent across columns; if definitions change, footnote it.
• No hallucinations: If a figure or claim isn’t in the transcript, label ND and optionally add “Check 10-Q/10-K” as an action.
• Numbers: Show units and basis (GAAP vs non-GAAP). For guidance ranges, compute and use midpoints while preserving the range in notes.
• Visual cues: Use arrows (↑/↓/=) and small notes like “guide-up” / “guide-down.”
• Citations: Provide transcript label + page/time for every numeric item and quoted claim.
6) Sanity Checks Before Finalizing
• Are YoY rates computed from values stated in the same transcript?
• Are guidance ranges correctly midpointed and labeled?
• Are sentiment scores consistent with the rationales?
• Are long-term goals compared numerically to current performance?
• Are all tables aligned by period and transcript order (oldest → newest)?
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Tip: When you attach the transcripts, name each file with the period (e.g., Company_Q1FY25_transcript.pdf), so the tables can reference them cleanly.