How to Research Stocks and Companies with Perplexity Finance

The short version

Perplexity is a quick research assistant for investors, not a stock picker. It can summarize an earnings report, explain a company’s business, gather the bull and bear arguments and link the filings. Perplexity also points users to Perplexity Finance, its finance section, for more in-depth financial analysis.

Step by step

1. Start with the business. “What does [company] sell, who are its customers and how does it make money?”
2. Get the latest results. Ask for the most recent quarterly results compared with the year before, with a link to the company’s report.
3. Read the risks. Ask for the risks the company itself lists in its annual report.
4. Hear both sides. Ask for the strongest bull and bear cases, each with sources.
5. Compare peers in a table: revenue growth, margins, debt.
6. Open Perplexity Finance at perplexity.ai/finance to look up market information.
7. Set alerts. In your account settings, under Notifications, add a Price Alert for a target price, or a scheduled search for a weekly news summary.

Prompts to copy

Understand a company:

Explain [company] to a beginner investor: what it sells, how it makes money,
its biggest competitors, and the 3 biggest risks it lists in its latest annual report. Link the report.

Summarize earnings:

Summarize [company]'s latest quarterly results versus the same quarter last year:
revenue, profit, guidance and what management said. Use the company's release and link it.

Bull vs bear:

Give me the strongest bull case and bear case for [company] from credible sources.
Where do analysts disagree, and what would prove each side right?

Compare:

Compare [company A], [company B] and [company C] in a table: revenue growth, operating margin,
debt and dividend. Cite each figure and give its date.

Example

You ask: “Summarize the latest quarter for a regional grocery chain and explain why the stock fell afterward.”

A good result: key numbers with a link to the company’s earnings release, management’s comments on margins, and citations to two news reports explaining the reaction. You open the release to confirm the figures before drawing conclusions.

Mistakes to avoid

• Acting on a number you haven’t checked. Confirm it in the filing or release.
• Mixing up periods. Quarterly vs annual, fiscal vs calendar year. Ask for dates on every figure.
• Asking “should I buy?” You’ll get a summary of opinions, not a decision that fits your finances.
• Ignoring the date of news. Old analysis can look current.

When not to use it

Don’t base investment decisions on any AI summary alone. Use Perplexity to prepare, then check primary sources and talk to a licensed professional. Perplexity lists investment research as a use for Model Council (Max plans), which compares several AI models, but that’s a cross-check, not advice.

Related: use Deep Research and check Perplexity’s sources.