Financial growth

Financial Growth#

Retrieve and analyze comprehensive year-over-year growth in key financial metrics for public companies using Octagon MCP.

Prerequisites#

Ensure Octagon MCP is configured in your AI agent (Cursor, Claude Desktop, Windsurf, etc.). See references/mcp-setup.md (opens in a new tab) for installation instructions.

Query Format#

Retrieve year-over-year growth in key financial metrics for <TICKER>, limited to <N> records and filtered by period <FY|Q>.

MCP Call:

{
  "server": "octagon-mcp",
  "toolName": "octagon-agent",
  "arguments": {
    "prompt": "Retrieve year-over-year growth in key financial metrics for AAPL, limited to 5 records and filtered by period FY"
  }
}

Output Format#

The agent returns a comprehensive table with YoY growth percentages:

Data Source: octagon-financials-agent

Key Insights Pattern#

After receiving data, generate insights:

1. Peak performance years: Identify years with highest growth across all metrics
2. Earnings vs cash flow divergence: Compare Net Income growth to FCF growth
3. Margin trends: Compare Gross Profit and Operating Income growth to Revenue
4. EPS enhancement: Note when EPS growth exceeds Net Income growth (buybacks)
5. Challenging periods: Flag years with broad-based declines

Metrics Reference#

Analysis Tips#

Exceptional Growth Years#

When all metrics show double-digit growth:

• Identify specific drivers (new products, markets, pricing)
• Assess sustainability of growth rate
• Compare to industry and competitors

Earnings Quality Check#

When Net Income Growth >> Free Cash Flow Growth:

• Potential working capital build
• Aggressive revenue recognition
• One-time items boosting earnings
• Investigate cash conversion

Share Buyback Impact#

When EPS Growth > Net Income Growth:

• Active share repurchase program
• Check shares outstanding trend
• Assess capital allocation priorities

Margin Expansion#

When Operating Income Growth > Revenue Growth:

• Operating leverage at work
• Cost discipline showing results
• Pricing power in action

Contraction Periods#

When multiple metrics decline:

• Identify root cause (demand, competition, costs)
• Check if industry-wide or company-specific
• Look for recovery signals in subsequent periods

Follow-up Queries#

Based on results, suggest deeper analysis:

• "What factors contributed to the significant [YEAR] growth spike?"
• "How did the [YEAR] downturn impact [COMPANY]'s long-term strategy?"
• "What explains the [YEAR] net income growth despite lower free cash flow?"
• "Compare [COMPANY]'s growth metrics to [PEER1] and [PEER2]"

Supporting file: marketplace.json#

{
  "name": "financial-growth",
  "description": "Retrieve comprehensive year-over-year growth in key financial metrics including Revenue, Gross Profit, Operating Income, Net Income, EPS, and Free Cash Flow for public companies.",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "author": "OctagonAI",
  "tags": ["octagon", "financial-growth", "yoy-growth", "revenue", "eps", "free-cash-flow", "financial-analysis", "mcp"],
  "repository": "https://github.com/OctagonAI/skills"
}

Supporting file: README.md#

Financial Growth Skill#

Retrieve comprehensive year-over-year growth in Revenue, Gross Profit, Operating Income, Net Income, EPS, and FCF for public companies using the Octagon MCP server.

Installation#

npx skills add OctagonAI/skills --skill financial-growth

bunx skills add OctagonAI/skills --skill financial-growth

pnpm dlx skills add OctagonAI/skills --skill financial-growth

What This Skill Does#

This skill retrieves comprehensive financial growth metrics:

• Revenue growth YoY
• Gross profit growth
• Operating income trends
• Net income growth
• EPS growth rates
• Free cash flow growth

Example Usage#

Retrieve comprehensive YoY growth metrics for CRM

Octagon MCP Setup#

This skill requires the Octagon MCP (opens in a new tab) server to be configured in your AI agent.

Get Your API Key#

1. Sign up at Octagon (opens in a new tab)
2. Navigate to API Keys from the left menu
3. Generate and save your API key

Configure Cursor#

1. Open Cursor Settings → Features > MCP Servers
2. Click + Add New MCP Server
3. Enter:
   • Name: octagon-mcp
   • Type: command
   • Command: env OCTAGON_API_KEY=<your-api-key> npx -y octagon-mcp

Windows: cmd /c "set OCTAGON_API_KEY=<your-api-key> && npx -y octagon-mcp"

Configure Claude Desktop#

Add to claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "octagon-mcp-server": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "octagon-mcp@latest"],
      "env": {
        "OCTAGON_API_KEY": "YOUR_API_KEY_HERE"
      }
    }
  }
}

Documentation#

• Octagon Docs (opens in a new tab)
• Octagon MCP GitHub (opens in a new tab)

Supporting file: references/interpreting-results.md#

Interpreting Financial Growth Results#

Reading the Output#

Positive values = Growth vs prior year Negative values = Decline vs prior year

Key Patterns#

All-Around Excellence#

When all six metrics show strong positive growth:

• Company firing on all cylinders
• Sustainable if driven by fundamentals
• Compare magnitude to historical averages

Profitability Acceleration#

When Net Income Growth > Operating Income Growth > Gross Profit Growth > Revenue Growth:

• Exceptional operating leverage
• Cost structure optimization
• May indicate maturing business model

Cash Flow Divergence#

When Free Cash Flow Growth differs significantly from Net Income Growth:

• Working capital changes
• Capex timing differences
• Check for red flags if persistent

EPS Outperformance#

When EPS Growth > Net Income Growth:

• Share buyback activity
• Fewer shares outstanding
• Capital return to shareholders

Year-Over-Year Analysis Framework#

Identify Exceptional Years#

Look for years with:

• Revenue growth >20%
• Operating income growth >30%
• All metrics positive

Flag Challenging Years#

Watch for:

• Revenue contraction
• Multiple negative metrics
• FCF decline with income growth

Trend Assessment#

Across multiple years:

• Is growth accelerating or decelerating?
• Are margins expanding or compressing?
• Is cash conversion improving?

Comparative Analysis#

Peer Benchmarking#

Compare metrics to:

• Direct competitors
• Industry averages
• Historical company performance

Quality Indicators#

Strong quality signals:

• FCF growth tracking income growth
• EPS growth near Net Income growth
• Consistent positive trends

Weak quality signals:

• Persistent FCF < Net Income
• High volatility year-to-year
• EPS growth solely from buybacks

Follow-up Queries#

Compare year-over-year growth for AAPL vs MSFT vs GOOGL for the last 5 fiscal years

What drove AAPL's exceptional 2021 growth across all financial metrics?

Analyze AAPL's capital allocation strategy and shareholder returns

Supporting file: references/mcp-setup.md#

Octagon MCP Setup#

Get Your Octagon API Key#

1. Sign up for a free account at Octagon (opens in a new tab)
2. After logging in, from left menu, navigate to API Keys
3. Generate a new API key
4. Save the key securely - you'll need it for configuration

Prerequisites#

Before installing or running Octagon MCP, you need to have npx (which comes with Node.js and npm) installed on your system.

Mac (macOS)#

1. Install Homebrew (if you don't have it):

   /bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"

2. Install Node.js (includes npm and npx):

   brew install node

3. Verify installation:

   node -v
   npm -v
   npx -v

Windows#

1. Download the Node.js installer:
   • Go to https://nodejs.org/ (opens in a new tab) and download the LTS version for Windows.
2. Run the installer and follow the prompts. This will install Node.js, npm, and npx.
3. Verify installation: Open Command Prompt and run:

   node -v
   npm -v
   npx -v

If you see version numbers for all three, you are ready to proceed.

Configure Cursor#

1. Open Cursor Settings
2. Go to Features > MCP Servers
3. Click + Add New MCP Server
4. Enter:
   • Name: octagon-mcp
   • Type: command
   • Command: env OCTAGON_API_KEY=<your-api-key> npx -y octagon-mcp

Replace <your-api-key> with your actual Octagon API key.

Windows users: Use this command format instead:

cmd /c "set OCTAGON_API_KEY=<your-api-key> && npx -y octagon-mcp"

After adding, refresh the MCP server list to see the new tools. The Composer Agent will automatically use Octagon MCP when appropriate. Access the Composer via Command+L (Mac), select "Agent" next to the submit button, and enter your query.

Configure Claude Desktop#

1. Open Claude Desktop
2. Go to Settings > Developer > Edit Config
3. Add the following to your claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "octagon-mcp-server": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "octagon-mcp@latest"],
      "env": {
        "OCTAGON_API_KEY": "YOUR_API_KEY_HERE"
      }
    }
  }
}

4. Restart Claude for the changes to take effect

Configure Windsurf#

Add this to your ./codeium/windsurf/model_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "octagon-mcp-server": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "octagon-mcp@latest"],
      "env": {
        "OCTAGON_API_KEY": "YOUR_API_KEY_HERE"
      }
    }
  }
}

Verify Setup#

1. Refresh the MCP server list
2. The octagon-agent tool should appear in available tools
3. Test with a simple query:

   Retrieve the current stock price for AAPL

Available Tools#

Troubleshooting#

API Key Issues: Verify the key is correctly set in the command string with no extra spaces.

Connection Issues: Ensure you have internet connectivity and the Octagon API is accessible.

Rate Limiting: Reduce query frequency if encountering rate limit errors.

Documentation#

Full documentation: https://docs.octagonagents.com (opens in a new tab)