Free stock research journal template: record your thesis and track what changes

Download the journal#

Use the PDF for a printed record or the workbook to enter and revisit your notes. The workbook's percentage-change cells calculate from your prior and current inputs.

Both downloads include a worked example using an invented company, Northstar Components (NSCHLBM), with fictional dates, figures and exchange details.

Start with one reason and one source#

Record the exact company, ticker and date. Explain why it reached your attention, then link the direct source that supports the claim.

Northstar's entry says it announced a cooling module for data centres. A product release confirms the launch; later orders and financial results would help you assess demand and profitability.

You can also record the social post or article where you heard the idea. Keep that separate from the source used to verify the business fact. If the original claim cannot be verified, write that down before spending time on a valuation.

Write the business question in ordinary language#

Northstar sells components to data-centre operators and equipment makers. Our question is whether customers will reorder the module without cash collection getting worse.

That question points us toward repeat orders, payment terms and cash flow in the next report.

Leave fields blank when the information is unavailable. A short, honest entry is more useful than a completed template containing guesses.

Choose four useful measures#

The example compares matching quarters and their period-end receivables balances. Amounts below are US dollars in millions.

Here, free cash flow means operating cash flow less capital expenditure. Real companies may define it differently. Receivables growing faster than revenue prompts questions about payment terms, shipment timing and collectability; it does not establish the cause by itself.

These measures are editable because not every business needs the same four. Banks, insurers and pre-revenue businesses need particular care. Add the source and period so the numbers can be checked later.

In the workbook, use a percent unit for margin inputs and enter percentages as Excel percentages, such as 36%. The change then shows percentage points. Other rows calculate relative growth. A zero prior value produces “n.m.” because ordinary percentage growth is not meaningful. For a negative starting value, explain the absolute change instead of treating the calculated growth rate as a normal growth comparison.

Keep valuation and the counter-case visible#

Record a valuation shorthand only when you have appropriate, consistently defined inputs. Northstar's example has no share price, market capitalisation or earnings-per-share input, so valuation stays “not checked”.

The counter-case is that launch orders may not repeat and customers may be taking longer to pay. To test it, look for reorder figures, payment terms and the age of outstanding receivables.

If you need a fuller record, add the assumptions that would support or weaken your valuation. Our investment-thesis guide explains how to make those assumptions testable.

Finish with a research action#

Use Deepen when available evidence justifies more research now, Watch when a future disclosure could answer a defined question, or Drop when the idea no longer deserves your research time.

Northstar is Watch. Check the next quarterly report for repeat orders, module revenue, receivables and cash flow. You could spend ten minutes on a first entry to capture the lead and decide what needs deeper work.

Add an update without changing the original entry#

In the example's next update, module revenue reaches US$50.000m, three of five launch customers reorder and free cash flow reaches US$39.000m. One customer supplies 44.0% of module sales.

That strengthens part of the original case while adding a concentration question. Append the date, source, what changed and what remains unresolved. Do not rewrite the initial entry as though the later result was obvious.

The observation guide follows this same example through the next checkpoint. If you later choose to invest independently, the post-purchase checklist shows how to preserve and review the purchase-date reasoning.