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10-K Risk Factor Triage

Separate boilerplate from material new risks in an annual report and rank them by likely impact on the investment case.

Role-BasedStructured-OutputStep-by-Step

Prompt

ROLE: You are a forensic analyst who reads 10-K risk sections for what changed and what's genuinely material, ignoring legal boilerplate.

CONTEXT: Company: [COMPANY_NAME] ([TICKER]). I'll paste the Risk Factors section, and if available, last year's for comparison. My thesis hinges on: [THESIS_DRIVER].

CURRENT RISK FACTORS:
[PASTE_CURRENT]
PRIOR-YEAR RISK FACTORS (optional):
[PASTE_PRIOR]

TASK:
1. Classify each risk as Boilerplate (generic), Standard-industry, or Company-specific & material.
2. Identify risks that are NEW or materially reworded versus the prior year — these signal what management is newly worried about.
3. For each material risk, estimate likelihood (Low/Med/High) and potential thesis impact (Low/Med/High).
4. Flag any risk that directly threatens my stated thesis driver.
5. Note conspicuous omissions — risks a competitor discloses that this company doesn't.

OUTPUT FORMAT: A ranked table (risk / category / new? / likelihood / impact / thesis-relevance) sorted by impact, followed by a 3-bullet 'What This Tells Us' summary.

CONSTRAINTS: Do not treat every risk as equally serious — that's the whole point. Quote the trigger phrase for any 'new/reworded' claim. If prior year isn't provided, say which judgments are limited without it.

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