Most research services try to tell you what to buy. A few good ones just tell you where to look.

Idea generation is a bigger bottleneck than modeling for many investors.

I recently spent some time going through Snowball Research, an idea-generation service focused on U.S. companies under ~$5bn market cap, and thought it was worth sharing.

Instead of broad coverage or buy/sell calls, they concentrate on situations where something is changing:

• Strategic shifts, restructurings and divestments

• New CEOs/CFOs and short-tenure executive turnover

• Activist campaigns and unusual 13D / 13F activity

• Restatements, NT filings, debt amendments, and “odd” 8-Ks

Crucially, it’s not just event-driven noise. They consistently look for businesses with:

• Competitive advantages / moats

• Differentiated or niche market positions

• Business models where a catalyst (new management, activism, capital allocation change) can realistically unlock value

Their output is structured as:

• Stock reports on interesting special situations

• Risk alerts when filings send up red flags

• A weekly situational summary that curates relevant 13Ds, asset sales, and “strategic alternatives”

They explicitly don’t cover the S&P 500, don’t issue stock recommendations, and don’t take money from companies they write about. The whole point is to serve as a high-quality filter for research-first investors who already know how to do deep work, but have limited time to sift through filings.

A resource I found useful and thought might be interesting for other analysts and PMs who live in the small/mid-cap and special situations world.

If you work in equity research, special situations, or concentrated public markets investing, it’s probably worth a look.