QVeris

AI Stock Research Agent: Architecture, Data Schema & Workflow

Build a research agent that joins prices, fundamentals, and corporate actions without mixing identities, periods, currencies, or observation times—and returns a memo every claim can trace to evidence.

Identityissuer, listing, security
Timeperiod and observed-at
Valuescurrency, units, adjustments
Evidencesource and validation
AI stock research agent architecture joining prices, fundamentals, corporate actions, provenance, and validation

How should an AI stock research agent join financial data?

An AI stock research agent should never join fundamentals, prices, and corporate actions on ticker alone. Resolve a stable issuer and security identity first; keep market observations separate from fiscal-period facts; apply splits only where appropriate; and preserve source, publication time, retrieval time, currency, unit scale, and validation status on every record.

Resolve identity

Map issuer, security, listing, exchange, ticker, CIK, LEI, and ISIN where available. Store ticker history instead of treating a symbol as permanent.

Separate time axes

Keep trading timestamp, fiscal period end, filing date, publication time, and retrieval time as distinct fields. They answer different questions.

Preserve provenance

Attach provider, source URL, raw field, transformation, unit, and validation result so every memo claim can be reconstructed.

Architecture for an evidence-first AI stock research agent

Use five layers: capability discovery, raw evidence capture, canonical normalization, validation, and memo generation. Keep raw responses immutable; derive normalized facts separately; and let the language model read only records that carry provenance and validation state.

1. Source adapters

Discover and call quote, filing, fundamentals, corporate-action, transcript, and news capabilities. Record the request, response hash, and retrieval time before transformation.

2. Canonical evidence store

Normalize identity, time, currency, unit scale, fact type, and source while retaining the provider's original field and value.

3. Validation and answer layer

Reject incompatible joins, label warnings, compute derived metrics only from accepted inputs, and cite evidence in the final memo.

Use SEC EDGAR and the SEC EDGAR API documentation as primary references for US filing identity and timestamps.

Example data schema for prices, fundamentals, and corporate actions

Consider a user asking, “Explain why this stock moved after earnings.” The agent must join a security, a market observation, fiscal-period facts, and any split or dividend that changes comparability. The following sequence prevents a plausible-looking but invalid merge.

Step 01Resolve security identity

Map the user ticker to issuer, security, exchange, listing currency, and stable identifiers. Confirm that each provider refers to the same listing.

Step 02Capture raw evidence

Store quote, filing, statement, corporate-action, estimates, transcript, and news responses with retrieval time and content hash.

Step 03Normalize contracts

Represent market timestamps and fiscal periods separately; standardize currency, unit scale, statement type, and adjustment status.

Step 04Validate the join

Join only compatible identities and periods. Apply splits to per-share and price series according to source methodology, not to reported revenue or cash.

Step 05Derive and answer

Calculate ratios from accepted facts, keep formulas and citations, label uncertainty, and send conflicts or missing primary evidence to human review.

Canonical research bundle
{
  "security": {"issuer_id": "...", "security_id": "...", "ticker": "...", "exchange": "...", "currency": "USD"},
  "market_observation": {"observed_at": "...", "session": "after_hours", "close": 0, "adjustment": "split_adjusted"},
  "fundamental_fact": {"concept": "revenue", "fiscal_period": "FY2026 Q2", "value": 0, "unit": "USD", "scale": 1000000},
  "corporate_actions": [{"type": "split", "ex_date": "...", "ratio": "2:1"}],
  "provenance": {"provider": "...", "source_url": "...", "published_at": "...", "retrieved_at": "...", "raw_hash": "..."},
  "validation": {"status": "accepted", "checks": ["identity_match", "period_match", "currency_match"]},
  "derived_claims": [{"claim": "...", "formula": "...", "evidence_ids": ["..."]}]
}
Join rule

A ticker is a lookup input, not the database key. Use stable issuer and security identifiers, then require compatible periods, currency, unit scale, and observation time. If any join key is unresolved, return a warning instead of manufacturing a complete bundle.

Minimum schema an AI stock research agent should preserve

The exact provider fields can vary, but the canonical layer should preserve enough context to reproduce every join and calculation.

EntityRequired fieldsValidation rule
Security identityissuer_id, security_id, exchange, ticker history, CIK/LEI/ISIN when availableDo not join records only because the current ticker matches.
Market observationobserved_at, session, currency, price field, adjustment status, sourceNever mix delayed, live, regular-session, and after-hours values silently.
Fundamental factconcept, fiscal period, filing date, value, unit, scale, statement type, sourceReject incompatible periods and distinguish reported, estimated, and calculated values.
Corporate actiontype, announcement date, ex-date, effective date, ratio or amount, sourceApply adjustments only to affected series and retain the unadjusted value.
Evidence recordsource URL, provider, published_at, retrieved_at, raw hash, validation statusNo material claim reaches the memo without at least one evidence ID.

Validation checklist and common failure modes

Judge the agent on evidence quality and workflow discipline, not on whether a later price move happens to agree with its narrative. Test identity collisions, period mismatches, double-adjusted prices, stale quotes, missing evidence, and look-ahead leakage before production use.

Freshness and point-in-time integrity

Record when every quote, estimate, filing, and news item was observed. Never evaluate an old decision with information that became available later.

Source provenance

Keep provider, source URL, document date, retrieval time, and execution ID. A polished paragraph without provenance is not a research artifact.

Period and unit consistency

Verify fiscal period, currency, split adjustments, per-share definitions, and whether values are reported, estimated, or calculated.

Coverage and missing data

Report which requested evidence was unavailable. Missing consensus or transcript data should remain missing—not silently become zero or “neutral.”

Claim support

Require at least one cited fact for material claims and label interpretation separately. Unsupported causal language should fail review.

Human decision boundary

Use the agent to organize evidence and surface exceptions. Portfolio actions, suitability, and high-impact conclusions remain human responsibilities.

Pass condition: every material number has a period, unit, source, and observation timestamp.
Fail condition: the memo mixes delayed and live data, hides disagreement, or presents interpretation as a verified fact.
Regression test: rerun historical cases with frozen evidence and confirm the output schema and calculations remain stable.
Escalation rule: route conflicting values, missing primary documents, and low-confidence explanations to a reviewer.

AI stock research agent schema FAQ

What is the minimum data schema for an AI stock research agent?

Separate security identity, market observations, fundamental facts, corporate actions, provenance, and validation. Every material value needs a period or timestamp, currency, unit scale, source, and retrieval time.

Can I join stock prices and fundamentals by ticker?

No. Tickers can change, be reused, or refer to different listings. Resolve a stable issuer and security identity, retain exchange and ticker history, and validate period, currency, unit scale, and adjustment status.

How should an agent handle stock splits and corporate actions?

Store each action separately with announcement, ex-date, effective date, ratio or amount, and source. Adjust only affected price or per-share series and retain the original value and methodology.

How do I prevent look-ahead bias in an AI research agent?

Preserve publication and retrieval timestamps, freeze the evidence available at the decision time, and never use filings, estimates, or news published later to evaluate a historical output.

Where does QVeris fit in the architecture?

QVeris can provide discovery, inspection, and calling across financial and document capabilities. Your application should still own the canonical schema, validation rules, evidence store, licensing checks, and human review boundary.

Build a research agent with evidence, not guesses

Use QVeris to discover, inspect, and call financial capabilities before your model writes.

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