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The checklist tells you what to check. This is where you write down what you found — and come back later to see if you were right. Everything saves in your browser, organized by ticker.
Phase 1
Before any numbers, know what the company actually does and how it makes money.
What does this company actually do, in your own words? FW 01
What are the 1-3 things that actually drive revenue? FW 01
Who are the real competitors — the ones fighting for the same customer, not the ones in headlines?
Phase 2
Decide if the company's advantage is durable or just a good year.
Bull case — the strongest argument this moat holds FW 02
Bear case — the strongest argument it doesn't FW 02
Named competitors this moat is being scored against FW 11
What would have to happen for the moat to erode in 3 years?
Phase 3
Reported profit and cash profit aren't always the same number. Check before you value anything.
Net income vs. free cash flow, last 3 years — do they track together? FW 04
Any one-time items propping up recent quarters? FW 04
Revenue quality — recurring vs. one-time, organic vs. acquired FW 14
Phase 4
One number is never enough. Bull, base, and bear should all be on the table.
How does the current price compare to your base case — not the bull case?
Your margin of safety, in plain terms — how wrong can you be and still be fine?
Phase 5
Good businesses get run into the ground by bad capital allocators. Check the people, not just the numbers.
Management's track record — capital allocation, guidance accuracy FW 12
Recent insider buying and selling — routine or a signal? FW 08
Upcoming catalysts that could move the stock either way FW 09
Phase 6
A great company can still be a bad addition to your specific portfolio.
Correlation with what you already hold FW 06
Invalidation thesis — what would prove you wrong? FW 05
Summary
If you can't compress everything above into a few sentences, the thesis probably isn't clear yet.
Later
Come back in 3, 6, or 12 months. This is the step almost nobody does, and it's the one that actually makes you a better investor.
Was your thesis right? What actually happened, and did your invalidators trigger?
What would you do differently next time?
Every prompt above is a framework in AlphaLens. Run them on a real ticker to fill this in with live data instead of guesswork — or run all 15 in one pass on Pro.
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