comps-analysis

# Comparable Company Analysis

## Overview
This skill teaches Claude to build institutional-grade comparable company analyses that combine operating metrics, valuation multiples, and statistical benchmarking. The output is a structured Excel/spreadsheet that enables informed investment decisions through peer comparison.

**ALWAYS ask yourself first:**
1. **"Do you have a preferred format or should I adapt the template style?"**
2. **"Who is the audience?"** (Investment committee, board presentation, quick reference, detailed memo)
3. **"What's the key question?"** (Valuation, growth analysis, competitive positioning, efficiency)
4. **"What's the context?"** (M&A evaluation, investment decision, sector benchmarking, performance review)

**Adapt based on specifics:**
- **Industry context**: Big tech mega-caps need different metrics than emerging SaaS startups
- **Sector-specific needs**: Add relevant metrics early (e.g., cloud ARR, enterprise customers, developer ecosystem for tech)
- **Company familiarity**: Well-known companies may need less background, more focus on delta analysis
- **Decision type**: M&A requires different emphasis than ongoing portfolio monitoring

**Core principle:** Use template principles (clear structure, statistical rigor, transparent formulas) but vary execution based on context. The goal is institutional-quality analysis, not institutional-looking templates.

User-provided examples and explicit preferences always take precedence over defaults.

## Core Philosophy
**"Build the right structure first, then let the data tell the story."**

Start with headers that force strategic thinking about what matters, input clean data, build transparent formulas, and let statistics emerge automatically. A good comp should be immediately readable by someone who didn't build it.

---

## Section 1: Document Structure & Setup

### Header Block (Rows 1-3)
```
Row 1: [ANALYSIS TITLE] - COMPARABLE COMPANY ANALYSIS
Row 2: [List of Companies with Tickers] • [Company 1 (TICK1)] • [Company 2 (TICK2)] • [Company 3 (TICK3)]
Row 3: As of [Period] | All figures in [USD Millions/Billions] except per-share amounts and ratios
```

**Why this matters:** Establishes context immediately. Anyone opening this file knows what they're looking at, when it was created, and how to interpret the numbers.

### Visual Convention Standards

> For all Excel formatting, number formats, and color standards, follow the guidelines in `.agents/skills/xlsx/SKILL.md`.
> After generating Excel, run recalculation: `python .agents/skills/xlsx/scripts/recalc.py model.xlsx 30`

User-provided templates and explicit formatting preferences always override defaults.

---

## Section 2: Operating Statistics & Financial Metrics

### Core Columns (Start with these)
1. **Company** - Names with consistent formatting
2. **Revenue** - Size metric (can be LTM, quarterly, or annual depending on context)
3. **Revenue Growth** - Year-over-year percentage change
4. **Gross Profit** - Revenue minus cost of goods sold
5. **Gross Margin** - GP/Revenue (fundamental profitability)
6. **EBITDA** - Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, amortization
7. **EBITDA Margin** - EBITDA/Revenue (operating efficiency)

### Optional Additions (Choose based on industry/purpose)
- **Quarterly vs LTM** - Include both if seasonality matters
- **Free Cash Flow** - For capital-intensive or SaaS businesses
- **FCF Margin** - FCF/Revenue (cash generation efficiency)
- **Net Income** - For mature, profitable companies
- **Operating Income** - For businesses with varying D&A
- **CapEx metrics** - For asset-heavy industries
- **Rule of 40** - Specifically for SaaS (Growth % + Margin %)
- **FCF Conversion** - For quality of earnings analysis (advanced)

### Formula Examples (Using Row 7 as example)
```excel
// Core ratios - these are always calculated
Gross Margin (F7): =E7/C7
EBITDA Margin (H7): =G7/C7

// Optional ratios - include if relevant
FCF Margin: =[FCF]/[Revenue]
Net Margin: =[Net Income]/[Revenue]
Rule of 40: =[Growth %]+[FCF Margin %]
```

**Golden Rule:** Every ratio should be [Something] / [Revenue] or [Something] / [Something from this sheet]. Keep it simple.

### Statistics Block (After company data)

**CRITICAL: Add statistics formulas for all comparable metrics (ratios, margins, growth rates, multiples).**

```
[Leave one blank row for visual separation]
- Maximum: =MAX(B7:B9)
- 75th Percentile: =QUARTILE(B7:B9,3)
- Median: =MEDIAN(B7:B9)
- 25th Percentile: =QUARTILE(B7:B9,1)
- Minimum: =MIN(B7:B9)
```

**Columns that NEED statistics (comparable metrics):**
- Revenue Growth %, Gross Margin %, EBITDA Margin %, EPS
- EV/Revenue, EV/EBITDA, P/E, Dividend Yield %, Beta

**Columns that DON'T need statistics (size metrics):**
- Revenue, EBITDA, Net Income (absolute size varies by company scale)
- Market Cap, Enterprise Value (not comparable across different-sized companies)

**Note:** Add one blank row between company data and statistics rows for visual separation. Do NOT add a "SECTOR STATISTICS" or "VALUATION STATISTICS" header row.

**Why quartiles matter:** They show distribution, not just average. A 75th percentile multiple tells you what "premium" companies trade at.

---

## Section 3: Valuation Multiples & Investment Metrics

### Core Valuation Columns (Start with these)
1. **Company** - Same order as operating section
2. **Market Cap** - Current market valuation
3. **Enterprise Value** - Market Cap ± Net Debt/Cash
4. **EV/Revenue** - How much market pays per dollar of sales
5. **EV/EBITDA** - How much market pays per dollar of earnings
6. **P/E Ratio** - Price relative to net earnings

### Optional Valuation Metrics (Choose based on context)
- **FCF Yield** - FCF/Market Cap (for cash-focused analysis)
- **PEG Ratio** - P/E/Growth Rate (for growth companies)
- **Price/Book** - Market value vs. book value (for asset-heavy businesses)
- **ROE/ROA** - Return metrics (for profitability comparison)
- **Revenue/EBITDA CAGR** - Historical grow