# Earnings Call Analyzer > Analyze an earnings call transcript or shareholder letter — extract KPIs vs guidance, guidance changes, management tone & candor, segment performance, and Q&A red flags. Outputs a structured briefing with watch-items. Use to digest an earnings call, prep for a position, or screen management credibility. - Skill: `viprasol-tech/earnings-call-analyzer` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 6 files) - Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add viprasol-tech/earnings-call-analyzer` - Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/viprasol-tech/earnings-call-analyzer/raw - Safety review: pending - Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex - Category: Coding & Dev Tools - Author: Viprasol-Tech (https://skillmd.com/u/viprasol-tech) - Updated: 2026-09-17 - Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/viprasol-tech/earnings-call-analyzer --- # Earnings Call Analyzer A structured methodology for reading an **earnings call transcript**, a **shareholder letter**, or an **MD&A** section the way a buy-side analyst does: pull the KPIs and compare them to guidance and consensus, classify the guidance change, read management's **tone and candor**, dissect the **Q&A** for dodged questions, run a **red-flag scan**, and produce a structured briefing with a **tone score** and **watch-items** for next quarter — grounded in the actual words and numbers in the document. > **Not investment advice.** This is an educational analytical framework. It > reads what management *said* and how they said it; it cannot verify the > figures, model the business, or account for your risk tolerance. Always verify > every number against the primary filing (8-K/10-Q/10-K) and consult a licensed > professional before acting. --- ## When to Activate Activate this skill when the user: - Shares an **earnings call transcript** (prepared remarks + Q&A), a **shareholder/CEO letter**, or a **10-K / 10-Q MD&A** section and asks what to make of it. - Asks to "analyze this earnings call", "summarize the quarter", "did they beat or miss?", "what changed in guidance?", "how candid was management?", or "what are the red flags here?". - Wants to **prep for a position** ahead of or after a print, or to **screen management credibility** across quarters. - Pastes prepared remarks and an analyst Q&A and asks which questions were answered straight and which were dodged. If only a headline is given (e.g. just "they beat EPS"), ask for the transcript or the relevant section before scoring tone or guidance. Do not invent quotes, figures, or guidance — work only from the supplied text, and mark anything you infer as `(inferred)`. --- ## Step 1: Scope & Context Before reading for signal, establish and restate the context so the briefing is anchored: | Field | Why it matters | |---|---| | **Company / ticker** | Identifies the entity and the peer set. | | **Period / quarter** | Which fiscal quarter or year (e.g. FY24 Q3); calendar vs fiscal. | | **Document type** | Transcript (remarks + Q&A), shareholder letter, or MD&A — Q&A only exists for a live call. | | **vs prior period** | QoQ and YoY comparisons reveal acceleration/deceleration, not just level. | | **vs consensus** | A "beat" only means something against the Street estimate — note it **only if the user provided it**; never fabricate consensus. | | **Speakers** | CEO / CFO / IR / which sell-side analysts asked questions — tone differs by speaker. | | **One-offs in the period** | M&A, divestiture, restructuring, FX, a recent IPO/SPAC, a guidance reset — these distort the read. | State each explicitly in the briefing header. If the period, document type, or comparison basis is unclear, ask — a "beat" or a "cut" is meaningless without the baseline. --- ## Step 2: KPI & Results Extraction Pull the hard numbers management reported, and line them up against guidance and (if supplied) consensus. Flag anything missing, derived, or non-GAAP. **Headline financials:** - **Revenue** (total and growth % YoY/QoQ). - **EPS — GAAP and non-GAAP/adjusted**, stated separately. Never merge the two. - **Margins** — gross, operating, and net; GAAP and adjusted where both are given. - **Segment / product-line revenue** and growth, plus segment operating income if disclosed. - **Key operating metrics** — the ones that actually drive the business and that management leads with or that analysts press on, e.g.: - SaaS: ARR/NRR (net revenue retention), customer count, RPO/billings, churn. - Retail/consumer: comparable-store ("comps") sales, traffic vs ticket, inventory, gross margin rate. - Ads/internet: DAU/MAU, ARPU, ad load, take rate. - Hardware/industrial: units, ASP, backlog, book-to-bill. For each metric, capture **actual vs guidance vs consensus** where available, and the surprise (beat / in-line / miss) with magnitude. Rules: - **State GAAP and non-GAAP side by side.** If management leads with adjusted figures, surface the GAAP number next to it. - **Flag the "adjusted-vs-GAAP wedge."** If **non-GAAP is emphasized while GAAP is deteriorating** — adjusted EPS up but GAAP EPS down, or a widening list of add-backs (stock-based comp, "one-time" restructuring, amortization of intangibles) — call it out explicitly. A growing wedge is an earnings-quality warning. - **Mark estimates.** If a figure is derived or inferred from text rather than stated, mark it `(inferred)`. - **Watch units and basis.** Reported vs constant-currency, organic vs total, before/after a divestiture — restate the basis with every number. --- ## Step 3: Guidance Analysis Guidance moves the stock more than the printed quarter. Extract it and classify the change precisely. **Extract:** - **Next-period guidance** (revenue, EPS, key metric) — range and midpoint. - **Full-year guidance** — new range and midpoint, and whether it was reaffirmed or revised. - Any **segment-level** or **metric-level** guidance (e.g. margin target, capex, NRR, comps). **Classify the change** vs the prior outlook into exactly one of: | Class | Meaning | |---|---| | **Raised** | New range/midpoint above the prior outlook. | | **Maintained** | Reaffirmed; range essentially unchanged. | | **Cut / Lowered** | New range/midpoint below the prior outlook. | | **Withdrawn** | Guidance pulled / suspended (often a serious signal). | | **Initiated** | First-time guidance (no prior baseline). | **Read the framing, not just the number:** - Note when a **cut is buried** — disclosed late in prepared remarks, only in the appendix, or surfaced only under analyst questioning rather than stated up front. - Flag **euphemistic framing** of a cut: "recalibrating", "prudent", "de-risking the outlook", "reflecting a more conservative posture", "updated to reflect the current macro" — name the euphemism and translate it to plain English (this is a guidance cut). - Distinguish a **lowered top line with a held bottom line** (cost-cutting to protect EPS) from a clean reaffirm. --- ## Step 4: Tone & Candor Assessment How management talks is signal. Read the **prepared remarks** and especially the **Q&A** for confidence, directness, and candor. ### 4a. Language: confident/direct vs hedged/evasive Characterize the prepared remarks on a spectrum from **direct** ("revenue grew 22%, ahead of our guidance, driven by enterprise") to **hedged/evasive** ("we're navigating a dynamic environment and remain focused on execution"). **Count and characterize hedge words / deflection phrases**, and note where they cluster (a spike around a specific topic — e.g. a weak segment — is more telling than the overall count): - Macro deflection: "macro headwinds", "challenging environment", "choppy", "uncertain", "elongated sales cycles", "budget scrutiny". - Minimizers: "transitory", "temporary", "timing", "one-off", "noise", "modest". - Reassurance-without-substance: "prudent", "disciplined", "focused on execution", "well-positioned", "confident in the long term". - Vagueness: "a number of factors", "certain headwinds", "some softness". ### 4b. Q&A dissection The Q&A is where candor is tested — analysts push on the weak spots. For each notable exchange, classify the answer: - **Answered directly** — gave the number/the reason the analyst asked for. - **Partially answered** — addressed it but withheld the specific metric. - **Dodged / non-answer** — pivoted to a different topic, gave a "we don't break that out", repeated talking points, or deflected to "macro". Track **which topics get dodged** — a repeatedly side-stepped metric (e.g. NRR, churn, comps by month, a segment's profitability) is itself a red flag. Note any **over-promising** ("we expect to reaccelerate next quarter", "back-half weighted", "second-half recovery") and whether it's substantiated or just asserted — and whether prior such promises were kept. ### 4c. Candor score Synthesize Step 4 into one rating: | Score | Signature | |---|---| | **Candid** | Names problems plainly, gives specifics even when bad, answers Q&A directly, GAAP-forward. | | **Measured** | Mostly straight but selectively vague on the weak spots; some hedging; a few dodged questions. | | **Evasive** | Heavy hedge-word/macro deflection, buried or euphemistic bad news, multiple non-answers, GAAP obscured by adjusted figures. | Always cite **evidence quotes** (verbatim short excerpts) supporting the score. --- ## Step 5: Red-Flags Quick Scan Scan for these signals. Each is a prompt to dig deeper, not an automatic condemnation: - **Guidance cut buried late** — the lowered outlook appears at the end of remarks or only in Q&A, not up front. - **Repeated macro deflection** — "macro/headwinds" invoked to explain company-specific underperformance, especially when peers aren't blaming macro. - **Heavy non-GAAP emphasis hiding GAAP** — adjusted figures lead while GAAP deteriorates; growing add-back list; "one-time" charges that recur every quarter. - **Evasive / non-answer Q&A** — analysts repeatedly pressing the same point; "we don't disclose that"; pivot-and-deflect on a key metric. - **Blaming externalities** — weather, FX, "the consumer", a single large customer, the calendar — as the whole story rather than part of it. - **CFO / senior-exec departure** — a CFO, CEO, or chief accounting officer exit mentioned (especially abrupt, "to pursue other interests", or right before/with a guidance reset). - **Channel stuffing / pull-forward hints** — "pulled forward demand", "pre-buy", "sell-in vs sell-through" gap, rising receivables/DSO referenced, distributor inventory build. - **Going-concern / covenant / liquidity mentions** — "going concern", "covenant", "waiver", "amendment to our credit facility", "refinancing", "liquidity" framed defensively. - **Buyback/dividend as distraction** — a fresh buyback announced alongside a miss or cut, used to steer the narrative. - **NRR / churn / comps deceleration disclosed quietly** — a key health metric decelerating but mentioned only in passing or under questioning. --- ## Step 6: Output Format Produce the briefing in this order: ### 1. Header Company · ticker · period/quarter · document type · comparison basis (vs prior period; vs consensus only if provided) · notable one-offs in the period. ### 2. TL;DR (3–5 bullets) The punchline first: beat/miss, guidance direction, tone, and the single most important takeaway or red flag. ### 3. KPI table One row per key metric: | Metric | Actual | Guide / Consensus | Δ | Beat/Miss | |---|---|---|---|---| | Revenue | $1.42B (+22% YoY) | $1.38B guide | +$40M | Beat | | Non-GAAP EPS | $0.71 | $0.66 cons. | +$0.05 | Beat | | GAAP EPS | $0.12 | — | — | — | | Operating margin | 18% | — | — | — | | Net revenue retention | 109% | ~114% prior qtr | −5 pts | Miss/decel | (Use "—" where no guide/consensus was supplied; never fabricate one.) ### 4. Guidance-change summary Next-period and full-year guidance, the classification (**Raised / Maintained / Cut / Withdrawn / Initiated**), and a note on framing (was a cut buried or euphemized?). ### 5. Tone & candor score **Candid / Measured / Evasive**, with **2–4 evidence quotes** (verbatim short excerpts) and the hedge-word/deflection read, plus the Q&A dodge list. ### 6. Top takeaways The 3–6 things that actually matter from the quarter — what's working, what's breaking, what management is steering toward. ### 7. Red flags Prioritized, most material first, each with the supporting evidence (the quote or the number behind it). ### 8. Watch-items / catalysts for next quarter The specific things to verify or watch into the next print: a decelerating metric to track, an over-promised reacceleration to hold management to, a guidance midpoint they'll be measured against, a departing exec's replacement, a covenant test date. --- ## Disclaimer This skill provides **educational analysis of management communication, not investment, legal, or accounting advice.** It reads the words and the self-reported numbers in a transcript or letter — it does **not** audit the figures, model the business, or capture everything that moves a stock. Tone and candor scores are subjective heuristics; "beats", "misses", and guidance changes depend entirely on the baseline you feed in. Always verify every figure and every guidance change against the **primary filing** (the 8-K earnings release, 10-Q/10-K, and the company's own investor materials), consider the qualitative and forward-looking context the transcript can't settle, and consult a licensed financial professional before making any investment decision. This skill is **not affiliated with or endorsed by Anthropic** or any data provider. --- ## Related Viprasol Skills - **[financial-statement-analysis](https://github.com/Viprasol-Tech/financial-statement-analysis)** — once you've read the call, run the actual financials: liquidity, solvency, profitability and efficiency ratios, DuPont, Altman Z-score, Beneish M-score, and an earnings-quality check. The two pair naturally: this skill reads what management *says*, that one checks whether the *numbers* back it up.