AI for Financial Analysis: Building a Market Research Agent with Claude

The Problem

Financial analysts spend 60-70% of their time on data gathering, leaving only 30-40% for actual analysis. An AI research agent inverts this: it handles data collection and initial synthesis, letting analysts focus on judgment and client relationships.

Tool Set

• get_stock_data: Current price, P/E ratio, market cap, 30-day price history via yfinance
• get_financials: Income statement and balance sheet
• search_news: Recent news via DuckDuckGo search

Agent Architecture

The research agent runs in a tool-use loop with Claude Opus. System prompt establishes the equity research analyst persona and instructs gathering data from tools before drawing conclusions. The agent makes 8-15 tool calls to assemble a comprehensive research note.

Output Structure

• Executive summary with overall assessment
• Financial performance analysis (revenue growth, margins, cash flow trends)
• Competitive position and market share commentary
• Recent news synthesis and management commentary
• Key risk factors with probability and impact estimates
• Peer group comparison on key metrics

Disclaimers

AI-generated financial research is informational only -- not investment advice. Verify all data with primary sources. Ensure compliance with SEC, FINRA, and applicable regulations before commercial deployment.