When you're evaluating a company, surface-level metrics aren’t enough. You need a clear, comprehensive view of its financial health, operational performance, and forward trajectory. That’s where our fundamental entity prompts come in. They’re designed to surface the signal, not the static, so you can better streamline your analysis.
From earnings call synthesis to peer benchmarking and forward guidance alignment, these prompts help you make smarter, faster calls on individual names. They’ll let you shift from data gathering to decision-making without missing a beat.
What is Fundamental Entity Analysis?
Fundamental entity analysis is the process of evaluating a single company’s performance and outlook, from financial indicators to strategic direction. It involves synthesizing earnings results, comparing peer metrics, assessing credit strength, and evaluating how management guidance aligns with expectations.
Whether you’re managing risk, building valuation models, or drafting research notes, this type of analysis provides a data-rich view of how a company is performing and where it might be headed. It’s a key tool for credit analysts, investors, portfolio managers, and anyone who needs to go beyond headlines.
Prompting for Analysis
Explore these tested and validated prompts — designed to deliver clarity, context, and confidence in just a few clicks.
Dissect the Earnings Call Without Lifting a Finger
Chat Workspace
Prompt: Tell me about NIKE, Inc.'s most recent earnings calls. First, provide a detailed synthesis of their financial performance as detailed during the earnings call. Then, detail their forward guidance. Lastly, compare their earnings performance to their upgrade and downgrade factors and compare their forward guidance to Moody's predictions for the entity.
Sources: Moody's & Earnings
Why it works: This prompt brings everything into one view — actuals, guidance, and Moody’s outlook — letting you validate management’s narrative against credit fundamentals. It helps surface potential divergences that matter for risk pricing and decision-making.
Integration into Workflow: Use it as pre- meeting prep, post-earnings to brief stakeholders, populate internal credit notes, or adjust exposure. It’s a fast path to clarity and context.
Know Who’s Winning (and Why)
Chat Workspace
Prompt: In a table, detail the strengths and weaknesses for Bank of America Corporation and their peers.
Sources: Moody's
Why This Insight is Useful: This prompt breaks down where your focus company stands — operationally, financially, and strategically — relative to its competitors. It highlights competitive edges and pain points across key metrics like stability, efficiency, and risk exposure.
Integration into Workflow: Drop the table into a pitch deck, use it for quick benchmarking, or build a case for allocation decisions. It’s an easy export to Excel and ready to roll.
Track Performance Over Time and Spot the Outliers
Advanced Query
Prompt: Detail the adjusted key indicators for @Costco Wholesale Corporation and their peers over the last 5 years. Include the YOY % difference.
Then...
Detail the most recent LTM adjusted key indicators for @Costco Wholesale Corporation compared to the sector medians.
Sources: Moody's
Why This Insight is Useful: This prompt gives you both the trendline and the snapshot — showing how a company’s fundamentals have evolved, and how they stack up right now. It helps you spot emerging strengths, uncover red flags, and see if market narratives match the data.
Integration into Workflow: Use it to enhance model inputs, spot credit trajectory shifts, or back up a sector view. Great for building investment theses or validating internal forecasts.
Tips for Prompting Entity Analysis with Moody’s Research Assistant
Getting the most from Moody’s Research Assistant starts with how you frame your question. These tips will help you get cleaner and sharper outputs, faster.
- Be Precise. Ask for what you need: “Summarize XYZ’s Q1 earnings and compare to downgrade factors” is more useful than “Tell me about XYZ.”
- Add Structure. Specify tables, bullets, or key sections. This makes it easier to pull insights directly into your workflow.
- Ask for Comparisons. Include peer or sector medians to put performance in context.
- Target Credit-Specific Metrics. Think leverage, EBITA margins, liquidity, guidance vs. Moody’s forecasts — not just raw revenue growth.
- Iterate if Needed. Follow up with: “Now break that down by segment,” or “Can you highlight drivers of margin change?”
- Think in Deliverables. Frame your prompt based on your use case — a one-pager, a watchlist addition, or a memo.
With a few targeted queries, you can build a more complete, credit-relevant view of any entity, and you can get there faster. Stay tuned next week for the next post in the series!
About the author:
Caroline Hedgcock is an Assistant Director of Customer Success at Moody’s, where she specializes in helping clients optimize their use of Moody’s Research Assistant. A leader in AI prompting strategies, Caroline works closely with financial institutions to streamline workflows, accelerate analysis, and unlock deeper insights leveraging Moody’s GenAI-powered Research Assistant.
With extensive expertise in applying advanced prompting techniques, Caroline ensures that clients harness the full capabilities of the Research Assistant to enhance decision-making and operational efficiency. Her approach bridges technical innovation with practical application, helping organizations unlock the benefits of embedding GenAI into their daily workflows.