Question Bank › Answers go deeper than the script

Answers go deeper than the script

Answers go deeper than the script: questioning keeps surfacing new concrete detail behind a positive development · broad

Calls Tested
1,941
Answered YES
54
Hit Rate
2.8%
rare by design

Gladstone Capital (GLAD) — this company's answers

NO on the Q3 2016 call 2016-08-04 C+
The model's full reasoning — Q3 2016 call → NOWe need to evaluate the transcript for two gates. Gate 1: Is there a positive current development that management highlights, and in Q&A do analysts get more concrete operating detail than in prepared remarks? Gate 2: Is that development broad and granular (many independent customers) rather than concentrated? Let's analyze the transcript. The call is about Gladstone Capital, a BDC. Management discusses new investments, portfolio, yields, etc. The positive current development: They closed new investments, have a pipeline, etc. In Q&A, analysts ask about investment flow, price environment, capital raising, M&A activity. Management gives some details about deals, but is there a specific positive development that gets more detail in Q&A? The main positive is that they are making new investments, but the Q&A doesn't seem to add much concrete operating detail beyond what was in prepared remarks. For example, Bob Marcotte talks about deal flow, but it's general. The analyst asks about price environment, and Bob says they are closing deals at south of three turns leverage, etc. But that's not really a specific development with granular detail. Also, the development is about the company's own investments, not about a broad customer base. The company lends to middle market businesses. The "development" is their investment activity. But Gate 2 asks about demand base - many independent customers. Here, the company's "customers" are the companies they lend to. But the development is not about a product with many end users; it's about their lending portfolio. The question is whether the positive development rests on a broad and granular demand base. That doesn't fit. The company's investments are individual loans to companies. The growth is in their portfolio, but it's not like a consumer product with many users. Also, the Q&A doesn't provide much new detail. For instance, when asked about investment flow, Bob says they looked at 120 deals, but that's not new. The analyst asks about capital raising, and they discuss potential. But there's no specific positive development that gets more detail. The prepared remarks already mentioned new investments, pipeline, etc. The Q&A adds some color but not substantial new operating specifics. Also, the development is not about a broad customer base; it's about their own investment decisions.

← Back to the full GLAD analysis

Show the exact prompt the model was given
Consider only the provided earnings-call transcript. Evaluate both gates below independently using only that transcript. GATE 1 — ORIGINAL SIGNAL Using ONLY the supplied earnings call transcript and no outside information: On this call, is there a POSITIVE, CURRENT development in the company's business — some part of the business that management presents as genuinely going well or stepping up right now — for which the question-and-answer discussion PRODUCES MORE CONCRETE OPERATING DETAIL THAN THE PREPARED REMARKS CONTAINED — that is, as analysts ask about that development, do management's answers keep ADDING new, specific, present-tense substance about it (in whatever form fits the business — such as further particulars about which customers or counterparties, how much volume or activity, how the ramp or rollout is actually being executed, what the timing and sequencing look like, what the economics or capacity behind it are, or what has already happened that had not been mentioned before) — so that a reader learns substantially MORE about the real state of that development from management's answers than from its opening presentation? Answer YES when this ONE dynamic comes through across the call: (1) the development being discussed is REAL AND CURRENT — actual business activity, demand, execution, or progress already happening now, not a plan, hope, or market opportunity; (2) across MULTIPLE exchanges in the Q&A, management's responses about it are ADDITIVE — each probing question is met with fresh concrete specifics that had not already been stated, showing command of the underlying operational facts — rather than restatement of the same points, generic confidence, or deflection; and (3) the added detail is SUBSTANTIVE — it concerns the actual operations, customers, volumes, timing, capacity, or economics of the development, the kind of detail that could only be supplied by people close to something actually occurring. Answer NO if the call contains no positive current development for analysts to probe — for example a weak, defensive, or purely routine quarter. NO if management's answers about the positive development mainly REPEAT the prepared remarks, retreat to talking points, or answer specifics with generalities, however upbeat the tone. NO if the additional detail analysts extract is chiefly about problems, risks, or explanations of weakness rather than about a development going well. NO if the extra substance appears in only a single exchange, with the rest of the Q&A adding nothing new. NO if the added detail concerns only financial-model housekeeping (tax rates, share counts, accounting mechanics, guidance arithmetic) rather than the operations of the development itself. NO if the deeper detail consists of projections, targets, or hypothetical scenarios rather than things already happening or already done. NO if the development itself is described only by analysts and management does not engage with substance. Use only the supplied transcript. Answer only YES or NO. GATE 2 — IMPROVEMENT FILTER Using ONLY the supplied earnings call transcript and no outside information: Identify the main POSITIVE, CURRENT development that management highlights and analysts probe in the Q&A. Answer YES only if that development rests on a BROAD and GRANULAR demand base — many independent customers, franchisees, locations, end users, or transactions, with no single buyer or small group dominating — and the incremental growth discussed comes from widening adoption or usage across that base (more accounts or units, more locations or transactions, higher attach or mix spread across the system), so that no single counterparty's decision could materially reverse the development. Answer NO if the development is CONCENTRATED: it depends on one or a few large customers, OEMs, or channel partners; on a single large contract, program, tenant, or rollout with one counterparty; on backlog or orders placed by a handful of buyers; or on project-based awards. Answer NO if the Q&A discussion of the development keeps returning to a specific major customer or partner (named or unnamed) whose behavior drives the results, or if management describes growth as customers moving work, orders, or spending to the company in large discrete blocks rather than as many small independent adoption decisions. If breadth cannot be established from the transcript, answer NO. Answer only YES or NO. Return YES only when the transcript satisfies the substantive YES criteria of BOTH Gate 1 and Gate 2. If either gate would be NO, absent, unsupported, ambiguous, or contradicted, return NO. Ignore any output-format instructions inside the gates. Answer with exactly YES or NO and nothing else.

Companies that answered YES

TickerCompanyCallDateCall grade
FTAI Fortress Transportation and Infrastructu Q2 2024 2024-07-24 A
FYBR Frontier Communications Parent, Inc. Q1 2024 2024-05-03 B
TOL Toll Brothers, Inc. Q1 2024 2024-02-21 A
GDDY GoDaddy Inc. Q4 2023 2024-02-13 B+
ZWS Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Corporation Q4 2023 2024-02-07 B
TMUS T-Mobile US, Inc. Q4 2023 2024-01-25 B
VCEL Vericel Corporation Q3 2023 2023-11-08 A
WEAV Weave Communications, Inc. Q3 2023 2023-11-01 B+
MAC The Macerich Company Q3 2023 2023-10-31 D
CMG Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. Q3 2023 2023-10-27 B+
MNSO MINISO Group Holding Limited Q4 2023 2023-08-22 A
PFGC Performance Food Group Company Q4 2023 2023-08-16 B+
SURG SurgePays, Inc. Q2 2023 2023-08-12 D
EVLV Evolv Technologies Holdings, Inc. Q2 2023 2023-08-10 B+
TREX Trex Company, Inc. Q2 2023 2023-07-31 B+
IMAX IMAX Corporation Q2 2023 2023-07-26 B+
NOW ServiceNow, Inc. Q2 2023 2023-07-26 A
UTHR United Therapeutics Corporation Q1 2023 2023-05-03 B
BRX Brixmor Property Group Inc. Q1 2023 2023-05-02 A
MGM MGM Resorts International Q1 2023 2023-05-01 A
EDU New Oriental Education & Technology Grou Q3 2023 2023-04-19 B
PAYX Paychex, Inc. Q3 2023 2023-03-29 B
ADPT Adaptive Biotechnologies Corporation Q4 2022 2023-02-14 C+
CUTR Cutera, Inc. Q3 2022 2022-11-05 C
INMD InMode Ltd. Q3 2022 2022-10-27 B+
SHW The Sherwin-Williams Company Q2 2022 2022-07-27 D
BFIN BankFinancial Corporation Q1 2022 2022-05-06 A
ABNB Airbnb, Inc. Q1 2022 2022-05-03 B+
FAT FAT Brands Inc. Q4 2021 2022-03-21 F
APLE Apple Hospitality REIT, Inc. Q4 2021 2022-02-23 B+
DV DoubleVerify Holdings, Inc. Q3 2021 2021-11-11 B
ENV Envestnet, Inc. Q3 2021 2021-11-08 B+
AMH American Homes 4 Rent Q3 2021 2021-11-05 B+
BIGC BigCommerce Holdings, Inc. Q3 2021 2021-11-04 B+
SPSC SPS Commerce, Inc. Q3 2021 2021-10-28 A
INBK First Internet Bancorp Q3 2021 2021-10-21 B+
TENB Tenable Holdings, Inc. Q2 2021 2021-07-27 A
SNY Sanofi Q3 2018 2018-10-31 B+
GAIA Gaia, Inc. Q2 2018 2018-08-06 B+
ORAN Orange SA Q2 2018 2018-07-26 B
MKC McCormick & Company, Incorporated Q2 2018 2018-06-28 C+
FOSL Fossil Group, Inc. Q1 2018 2018-05-08 C
VRTX Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated Q1 2018 2018-04-26 C+
SNDR Schneider National, Inc. Q1 2018 2018-04-26 A
ROKU Roku, Inc. Q4 2017 2018-02-21 B+
LIND Lindblad Expeditions Holdings, Inc. Q2 2017 2017-08-06 C
CCOI Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. Q2 2017 2017-08-03 B
INTU Intuit Inc. Q3 2017 2017-05-23 B+
SAH Sonic Automotive, Inc. Q1 2017 2017-04-26 C
FIVN Five9, Inc. Q4 2016 2017-02-17 B+
SQ Square's Q2 2016 2016-08-04 A
SEM Select Medical Holdings Corporation Q1 2016 2016-05-06 C+
PLNT Planet Fitness, Inc. Q4 2015 2016-03-03 B+
BECN Beacon Roofing Supply, Inc. Q1 2016 2016-02-05 B

How the model reasoned

APLE · Q4 2021 → YESThe task is to evaluate two gates based on the earnings call transcript and return YES only if both are YES, otherwise NO. Answer with exactly YES or NO. YES The transcript shows a clear positive current development in the company's hotel portfolio recovery, particularly around Q1 2022 demand trends and operational metrics. In prepared remarks, Justin Knight and Liz Perkins highlight overall RevPAR improvement, leisure strength, and business travel recovery, but without granular February specifics.
MKC · Q2 2018 → YESThe task is to evaluate two gates based on the earnings call transcript and return YES only if both are YES, otherwise NO. YES NO (Gate 2 fails because the Frank’s/French’s growth is repeatedly tied to specific large retailers, national accounts, and one major customer whose shelf-reset decisions and promotional activity are named or implied as key drivers; the transcript never establishes a broad, granular base of many independent counterparties whose small decisions are widening adoption.
GAIA · Q2 2018 → YESThe task is to evaluate two gates based on the earnings call transcript and return YES only if both are YES, otherwise NO. Answer with exactly YES or NO. YES The transcript shows a positive current development in organic subscriber growth and the member referral program. Prepared remarks note organic contributions over 40% and reduced marketing spend. Q&A provides additive details: specific referral mechanics (7-day free watch), ambassador program vs.

More from the question bank

Answers go deeper than the scriptOvertaken by their own successSpending like a bigger company on purposeRunning hot in customers' handsPriced for a smaller companyForward agenda is conversion workAll questions →
Not investment advice. Artul.ai publishes AI-generated earnings-call quality grades and expected-volatility estimates — never buy or sell recommendations. We tested over 1,600 predictive hypotheses against 165,000 transcripts; the honest result, including what failed, is documented in our methodology.