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Kerns produces verifiable research across public filings and your private corpus — refinable line by line. Every number cites its source. Every reasoning step is on the page.

SEC FORM 10-KFY2024
Walmart Inc.
Annual Report · 281 pages
5Y ROIC13.7%
KERNS · ANSWER
Walmart FY24 ROIC was 13.7% 10-K §4.1 →, up from 12.9% a year prior.
12.9
FY23
13.7
FY24
14.6
FY25
TRACE · 5 STEPS
FIG. 01From filing to defensible answer.
Backed by
South Park CommonsReach Capital

Click any number. See the filing.

Open a Kerns answer. Click a number. The PDF opens to the exact source row, highlighted. There is no “where did this come from” moment, because the answer is always one click away.

TYPICAL AI ANSWEREXHIBIT A
What is Walmart's 5-year ROIC trend?
Walmart's return on invested capital has hovered around approximated 13–15% over the past five years, generally improving thanks to e-commerce leverage and supply-chain investments unsourced. Free cash flow conversion has been steady unsourced, and the latest fiscal year saw ROIC climb above the pre-pandemic baseline outdated?.
NO CITATIONS · NO SHOW-YOUR-WORK↯ UNTRACEABLE
KERNS ANSWEREXHIBIT B
What is Walmart's 5-year ROIC trend?
Walmart's ROIC rose from 12.9% (FY23) 10-K §4.1 → to 13.7% (FY24) 10-K §4.1 → to 14.6% (FY25) 10-K §4.1 →, driven by NOPAT growth (+22.4% over the period) outpacing invested-capital expansion (+8.2%).
WMT 10-K · FY2024 · p. 41↳ HIGHLIGHTED IN SOURCE
… Net sales for fiscal 2024 were $648.1B, up 6.0% from prior year. Operating income increased 8.5% to $29.3B, reflecting margin expansion across the Walmart U.S. and Walmart International segments. Return on invested capital improved to 13.7% from 12.9% …
EVERY NUMBER LINKS BACK TO ITS FILING✓ TRACEABLE
FIG. 02Two answers to the same question. One is defensible.
WALMART INC. · WMT
5-Year ROIC Trajectory
FY23–FY25 · USD BN
MetricFY23FY24FY25
Revenue611.3 10-K p.38648.1 10-K p.41681.0 10-K p.42
EBIT27.0 10-K p.3829.3 10-K p.4132.4 10-K p.42
NOPAT20.5 calc22.6 calc25.1 calc
Invested Capital159.0 10-K p.52165.0 10-K p.55172.0 10-K p.57
ROIC %12.9% 10-K §4.1 →13.7% 10-K §4.1 →14.6% 10-K §4.1 →
FIG. 03Every cell carries the page it came from.
DRAFT MEMO · WMT Q4 REVIEWPG. 2 OF 4
Operating income increased 8.5% YoY to $29.3B, the strongest expansion since FY21. The improvement reconciles directly to the filed 10-K p.41 →, p. 41 — see segment margin commentary.
YOUR DRAFT · UNCOMMITTED↳ CLICK ANY CHIP
WMT 10-K · FY2024p. 41 / 281
Item 7 · MD&A · Segment Results
… Net sales for fiscal 2024 were $648.1B, up 6.0% from prior year. Operating income increased 8.5% to $29.3B, reflecting margin expansion across the Walmart U.S. and Walmart International segments. Return on invested capital improved to 13.7%
Source · highlighted in placeMATCH · $29.3B
FIG. 04Click the chip. The PDF opens to that row.
01
First-class citations. Every cell carries a chip linked to the page and section it came from.
02
Derived values are traceable too. NOPAT shows its calc; the calc shows its inputs; the inputs show their filings.
03
Citations survive export. Paste into a memo, drop into Excel — the chip travels with the number.

Your Excel model is a source we can cite.

Drop in your existing model. Kerns reads sheets and cells, writes back when you let it, and cites the cell it used the same way it cites a 10-K page. A memo footnote can point at Model · Q3 Numbers!C5 — click the chip and the workbook opens to that cell, highlighted.

ACME_MODEL.xlsx · Q3 NUMBERSREAD-ONLY VIEW
C5
=C4/B4-1
ABC
1RevenueFY24FY25
2Segment A412.0438.6
3Segment B196.1209.4
4Total608.1648.0
5YoY %6.6%
Cell selected · agent read thisC5 = 6.6%
DRAFT MEMO · Q3 REVIEWPG. 1 OF 4
Acme grew consolidated revenue 6.6% YoY in FY25 Model · Q3 Numbers!C5 →, with Segment A contributing $438.6B Model · Q3 Numbers!C2 →. Reconciles to filed 10-K segment data 10-K p.42 →.
MODEL & FILING CITATIONS COEXIST↳ CLICK TO OPEN
FIG. 05Cell C5 is a citation. Like any other.
01
.xlsx is a source type. The agent runs sheet, cell, and range reads the same way it reads a 10-K. Your model becomes part of the corpus.
02
The agent edits cells. Update, insert, delete — every write broadcasts to all open tabs in real time. Your spreadsheet stays in sync with the conversation.
03
Cell-level citation chips. Click any cell-reference chip in a memo and the workbook opens to that cell. Export preserves the chip.

One framework. Twenty companies. Zero copy-paste.

A Kerns framework is a reusable analytical recipe — the rubric an analyst already runs, written down once and applied across the coverage list. The outputs are individually defensible; the framework is centrally maintained.

FRAMEWORKS7 RUBRICS
  • ROIC quality & durability.md
  • FCF conversion review.md
  • Capital allocation grade.md
  • Insider transaction lens.md
  • Segment margin drift.md
  • Working capital efficiency.md
  • Acquisition-history audit.md
OUTPUTS7 CITED FILES
  • WMT — ROIC quality.md
  • COST — ROIC quality.md
  • TGT — ROIC quality.md
  • KR — ROIC quality.md
  • ACI — ROIC quality.md
  • DG — ROIC quality.md
  • DLTR — ROIC quality.md
FIG. 06One framework, applied across coverage.
01
Write the rubric once. Codify how your shop scores companies — ROIC, FCF, capital allocation, governance.
02
Run it across coverage. Apply the same lens to every name. Each output is independently sourced.
03
Versioned, sharable. Your team's frameworks become the standard; updates flow to every output.

The model knows which line you changed.

Most AI tools restart the conversation when you push back. Kerns reads your edits in-place. Redline a paragraph, attach a counter-document, ask for a re-pull — Kerns understands which sentence you mean and which line in the draft you're refining.

DRAFT MEMO · WMT CAPITAL ALLOCATIONREV. 03
Walmart's capital allocation has prioritized share repurchases over organic re-investment since FY23, with $20B returned to shareholders against $16B of incremental capex. The shift is consistent with management's stated 8–10% ROIC threshold FY24 Q4 transcript →.
YOU →
re: the highlighted sentence — the ROIC threshold was raised on the FY25 Q1 call. pull the updated language and reconcile.
WMT_FY25Q1_transcript.pdf
FIG. 07Redline a sentence. The agent re-runs from there.
01
Edits are a query. Highlight a sentence, ask a question — Kerns reads what you redlined.
02
Bring counter-evidence. Attach a new filing or transcript; the draft updates in place, not from scratch.
03
No lost work. Earlier revisions stay in the trace; every version is auditable.

Your coverage list, watched while you sleep.

Pick a coverage list and a framework. Always-On runs it on a cadence — when a new 10-Q drops, when an earnings call lands, when a thesis-relevant news item hits — and emails you the deltas. Every flagged item is a real Kerns answer: cited, traceable, ready to drop into a memo.

FromKerns Watch <watch@kerns.ai>
Toyou@yourfund.com
DateFri, 15 May 2026 · 06:00 ET
Subj.Weekly digest · Consumer staples coverage · 3 deltas
3 MATERIAL UPDATES
Three things changed since your last memo.
  1. WMT
    FY25 Q3 10-Q filed — ROIC ticked to 14.6%.
    Up from 13.7% (FY24). Reconciles to your ROIC framework's threshold check.
    DELTA →
  2. COST
    Earnings call — capex guide raised.
    Management said 8–10% range becomes 10–12%. Flagged because your memo cited the prior range.
    TRANSCRIPT →
  3. KR
    Insider transaction — CFO sold $2.1M.
    Form 4 filed; first sale in 18 months. No new disclosure language.
    FORM 4 →
3 of 12 items this week · promote to memo →Cadence · Weekly
FIG. 08A weekly digest. Three deltas worth waking up to.
01
Per-space agents. One watch per coverage list or thesis. Queries, sources, exclude terms — all configurable.
02
Configurable cadence. Realtime, daily, or weekly digests. Off when you're heads-down. AI-suggested queries when you're setting up.
03
Suggestions become source. A flagged discovery isn't a notification — it's content the agent can immediately reason over with full citation rigor. One click promotes it into a memo.

Audit the AI the way you'd audit a junior.

Every Kerns answer ships with a full reasoning trace — the documents read, the calculations run, the assumptions made — whether you triggered the run yourself or Always-On did it overnight. You can read it the way you'd read a junior analyst's bench notes, and you can challenge any step.

REASONING TRACE
WMT — ROIC quality & durability assessment
5 STEPS · 7 CITATIONS
  1. 01
    Retrieved 3 filings. WMT 10-K FY23, FY24, FY25.
    EXPAND →
  2. 02
    Extracted 4 line items per filing. Revenue, EBIT, tax rate, invested capital.
    EXPAND →
  3. 03
    Computed NOPAT and ROIC. NOPAT = EBIT × (1 − effective tax rate).
    EXPAND →
  4. 04
    Cross-referenced FY24 Q4 transcript. Management commentary on capital threshold and reinvestment.
    EXPAND →
  5. 05
    Composed answer with citations. 3 numeric claims · 7 citations · 1 derived calculation shown.
    EXPAND →
FIG. 09Every step, on the page. Every step, challengeable.
01
Every step is on the page. No hidden retrieval, no black-box reasoning — the full call stack is yours to read.
02
Challenge any step. Disagree with an assumption? Re-run from that step with your override.
03
Replay on demand. Compliance can replay any claim end-to-end, weeks or months after the fact.
Kerns · Report No. 001
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