research4–6 hoursIntermediate

Write an Investment Memo on a Real Company

Maps to: Investment Banker · Equity Research · Management Consultant · Strategy · Founder · Venture Capital

You're going to pick a real public company, read its latest 10-K, and write a buy, hold, or sell memo with a bull case, a bear case, and a recommendation you can defend. The skill is the analytical judgment under finance: reading a company closely enough to form a view, then holding it up against the strongest argument that you're wrong. That underlies equity research, strategy, and finance broadly, and doing one tells you fast whether forming and defending a call is your kind of work.

How this shows up on a resume or college app

I wrote a buy/hold/sell memo on [company] after reading their 10-K, verifying every claim against the source and defending my call against the bear case. I learned that the gap between reading a 10-K and understanding it is wider than expected, and that AI doesn't close it for you.

When you finish, BuildMe drafts your Common App activity description from what you actually built.

Start this project

The plan

1
Step 1
Pick a company + get the 10-K
Pick a real public company you use or have an opinion about, and download its latest 10-K from SEC EDGAR (free). Start with a company you care about, since you'll read 200 pages more carefully.
2
Step 2
AI summarizes the 10-K + you verify every claim
Use AI to summarize the 10-K, extract the key risks, identify the business model, and find the key numbers, then verify EVERY claim against the source. The 10-K is 200 pages of dense disclosure; read like an analyst (risks, MD&A, the numbers, skip the boilerplate).
3
Step 3
Pull historical financials + spot trends
Pull several years of financials and identify the trends: is revenue growing, are margins expanding or shrinking, is debt rising? The trends are the story the single-year 10-K doesn't tell.
4
Steps 4–6
Write the memo: make the call + defend it against the bear case
Write the memo (Business Overview, Bull Case, Bear Case, Valuation, Recommendation) and the judgment is the call: buy, hold, or sell, defended against the strongest bear case. There's no right answer here; smart investors disagree. Publish it and send it to one adult who works in finance.