InvestorTrace Contact us

Investment research & decision platform

Read the filing.
Keep your own view.

You’ve read the results. What do they change? InvestorTrace keeps the sources, the doubts and the reasons behind your view in one place, ready for the next filing.

Open the research note How it works
From the research notebook01 / Fictional case
Alder Works Q2 research noteAW / 02
Question carried into Q2

Sales are up.
Where’s the cash?

The case rests on growth turning into cash. This quarter, the two moved in opposite directions.

Revenue
+12% year over year
Operating cash flow
−8% year over year

In the marginTiming—or a problem collecting from customers?

Fictional Q2 filing · Read the example extract ↗

Alder Works and all figures are fictional. Nothing here sends or saves data.

For the work between reading and deciding

The businessThe thesisThe evidenceThe decision

How InvestorTrace works

A filing in one tab.
Your thinking beside it.

The useful part of research is often a question scribbled beside a paragraph. Keep it with the source, the thesis it affects and the evidence you still want to find.

01

Start with the business.

How does it earn money? What has changed? Keep the financial history and source material beside your explanation.

02

Say what needs to be true.

“Growth will turn into cash” is something you can check. Spell out the assumptions behind your view and what would make you reconsider.

03

Carry the question forward.

Keep the unanswered question on the company’s record. When new evidence arrives, review the part of the thesis it affects.

04

Leave a note for your future self.

Write down why you acted—or why you waited. Later, read that reasoning alongside what happened next.

One passage. A few useful questions.

The filing says one thing.
What do you make of it?

Illustrative source and research notes for Alder Works. All figures and wording below are fictional.

Alder Works / Q2Example extract 01

Results for the quarter

Revenue increased 12% year over year. Operating cash flow declined 8%, while accounts receivable increased 19%.

Management attributes the increase in receivables to the timing of customer payments late in the quarter.

End of illustrative extract

Your research, in progress

What needs
a closer look?

Some days you’re learning a business. Other days you’re trying to understand a number that doesn’t fit. Keep the question with the work.

01 / Company research

How does this business actually work?

Follow how the company earns money, what costs it money and what has changed. Keep the source beside each part of the explanation.

  • Where does the revenue come from?
  • What explains the change in margins?
  • Which part don’t I understand yet?
Alder Works · Thesis history Example

18 April / Initial research note

Growth should turn into cash

Cash collection is a key assumption in the investment case.

Assumption recorded

7 August / Q2 filing

Receivables outpace sales

The new figures raise a question about how quickly customers pay.

Evidence to examine

8 August / Follow-up question

Watch cash collection

Keep the company on the watchlist and revisit the question next quarter.

Next review recorded

A record you can come back to

“What made me
believe that?”

It’s easy to remember a thesis differently after the results are in. InvestorTrace keeps the evidence and reasoning from the time of the decision, alongside what you’ve learned since.

See what changed in the business and what changed in your thinking.

Try the example

About InvestorTrace

Before you open
another tab.

What is InvestorTrace?

InvestorTrace is a workspace for company research and investment decisions. Keep source material, thesis assumptions, unanswered questions and the reasons behind each decision in one place.

Who is it for?

Investors who want to understand the businesses they follow and keep a clear record of their reasoning. You can research a new company, follow an existing holding, or revisit an investment case.

How does AI fit into the research?

AI can help investigate a question and look for evidence that supports or challenges your thesis. Read the sources and check the reasoning before relying on it. You decide what to believe.

Does InvestorTrace place trades?

InvestorTrace supports research and investment decisions. It does not place trades. You decide what to do with the research.

Is the example a real company?

No. Alder Works and its figures are fictional. The example shows how new evidence can lead to a research question, a recorded decision, and a follow-up.

Research notes

Practical ways to read a source, write a thesis and revisit the reasoning when the evidence changes.

  1. 01

    Read the filing with a question

    Separate the reported fact, the explanation and the work still to do.

  2. 02

    Write a thesis you can question

    Turn a broad investment view into explicit premises and evidence to examine.

  3. 03

    Review new evidence in context

    Return to the original question before deciding what a new result means.

Get in touch with InvestorTrace

What’s the question
you keep coming back to?

Good research builds over time. Get in touch to discuss how InvestorTrace could fit your research process, from the first filing to the next review.

Contact InvestorTrace