Acquisition Target Screener

Comprehensive M&A acquisition target screening tool that runs 16 data sources in parallel -- SEC filings, insider trades, CFPB complaints, USPTO and EPO patents, EUIPO trademarks, job postings, tech stack analysis, GitHub repos, customer reviews, competitive intelligence, and SERP rankings -- to produce a 0-100 Acquisition Readiness Score across five weighted dimensions with deal breaker identification.

Features

• Runs 16 specialized sub-actors in parallel for maximum data coverage in a single run
• Produces a composite Acquisition Readiness Score (0-100) with letter grades from PRIME TARGET to NOT RECOMMENDED
• Scores five distinct dimensions: Financial Health, IP Portfolio, Workforce Stability, Technology Maturity, and Market Position
• Automatically identifies deal breakers such as massive insider selling, excessive consumer complaints, or zero IP protection
• Analyzes insider trading sentiment by comparing buy vs. sell transactions from SEC filings
• Detects tech debt signals and modern technology adoption in the target's stack

Use Cases

• M&A Analysts: Screen potential acquisition targets before committing to expensive due diligence engagements. Get a data-driven first pass on whether a company is worth pursuing.
• Private Equity Firms: Evaluate portfolio add-on candidates across financial health, IP strength, and market position in a single automated run.
• Corporate Development Teams: Compare multiple acquisition targets by running each through the screener and ranking by Acquisition Readiness Score.
• Investment Bankers: Generate preliminary target profiles for pitch books with real data on patents, hiring velocity, insider sentiment, and competitive positioning.
• Venture Capital Firms: Assess late-stage companies as potential acquisition exits by evaluating their technology maturity and market position scores.

How to Use

1. Click Try for free on this page
2. Enter the Company Name of the acquisition target (e.g., "Cloudflare")
3. Optionally add a Stock Ticker for more precise SEC filing lookups (e.g., "NET")
4. Click Start and wait for the run to finish
5. Download results from the Dataset tab in JSON, CSV, or Excel

Input Parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
companyName	string	Yes	Name of the company to screen (e.g., "Cloudflare", "Datadog")
ticker	string	No	Stock ticker symbol for precise SEC filing lookups (e.g., "NET", "DDOG")
industry	string	No	Industry classification for context (e.g., "SaaS", "Cybersecurity", "E-commerce")

Output Example

{
  "company": "Cloudflare",
  "ticker": "NET",
  "industry": "Cybersecurity",
  "screenedAt": "2026-03-13T14:30:00.000Z",
  "acquisitionReadinessScore": 72,
  "grade": "STRONG TARGET",
  "recommendation": "Strong acquisition target. Proceed to detailed due diligence and valuation.",
  "dealBreakers": [],
  "dimensions": {
    "financialHealth": { "score": 19, "max": 25, "findings": ["12 SEC filing(s) -- financial transparency available", "4 annual reports (10-K) -- multi-year financial history", "Insider sentiment POSITIVE: 8 buys vs 3 sells -- management believes in growth", "No CFPB complaints -- clean consumer track record"] },
    "ipPortfolio": { "score": 15, "max": 20, "findings": ["28 USPTO patents -- strong US IP portfolio", "6 EPO patents", "12 EUIPO trademarks -- strong brand portfolio", "IP coverage spans US and EU -- geographic diversity"] },
    "workforceStability": { "score": 16, "max": 20, "findings": ["42 active job postings -- aggressive growth hiring", "Hiring across 4 departments -- well-rounded organization"] },
    "technologyMaturity": { "score": 14, "max": 20, "findings": ["24 technologies detected -- mature tech stack", "18 public GitHub repos", "Modern tech stack: React, TypeScript, Kubernetes"] },
    "marketPosition": { "score": 8, "max": 15, "findings": ["Average review rating 4.2/5 across 156 reviews -- strong reputation", "Competitive intelligence data available for market positioning analysis"] }
  },
  "insiderSentiment": { "buys": 8, "sells": 3, "signal": "POSITIVE" },
  "reputation": { "totalReviews": 156, "averageRating": 4.2, "sentiment": "STRONG" },
  "dataSources": {
    "secFilings": 12,
    "insiderTrades": 11,
    "cfpbComplaints": 0,
    "usptoPatents": 28,
    "epoPatents": 6,
    "trademarks": 12,
    "jobPostings": 42,
    "techStackItems": 24,
    "githubRepos": 18,
    "reviews": 156,
    "competitiveIntel": 8,
    "serpRankings": 15
  }
}

Scoring Model

The Acquisition Readiness Score (0-100) is computed across five weighted dimensions:

Financial Health (0-25 points) -- Evaluates SEC filing history, annual report depth (10-K filings), insider trading sentiment (buy/sell ratio), and CFPB consumer complaint volume. Positive insider sentiment adds up to 6 points; clean complaint records add up to 5 points.

IP Portfolio Strength (0-20 points) -- Measures USPTO patent count, EPO patent count for international coverage, EUIPO trademark breadth, and geographic diversity of IP protection across US and EU jurisdictions.

Workforce Stability (0-20 points) -- Analyzes active job posting volume as a growth signal, role diversity across departments (engineering, sales, marketing, product, operations), and R&D hiring intensity as a proxy for innovation focus.

Technology Maturity (0-20 points) -- Assesses tech stack depth, GitHub open source presence, tech debt signals from outdated frameworks (jQuery, AngularJS, Flash), and adoption of modern technologies (React, TypeScript, Kubernetes, Terraform).

Market Position (0-15 points) -- Combines customer review ratings from Trustpilot and multi-review sources, competitive intelligence availability, company research data, Shopify e-commerce presence, and SERP visibility rankings.

Grades: PRIME TARGET (80+), STRONG TARGET (60-79), MODERATE TARGET (40-59), WEAK TARGET (20-39), NOT RECOMMENDED (0-19).

How Much Does It Cost?

Each run costs approximately $0.50-$1.50 in platform credits depending on data availability for the target company. The actor calls 16 sub-actors in parallel, so the cost scales with how many return results. On the Apify free tier, you can run approximately 3-5 full screenings per month.

Programmatic Access

Python

from apify_client import ApifyClient
client = ApifyClient("YOUR_API_TOKEN")
run = client.actor("ryanclinton/acquisition-target-screener").call(run_input={
    "companyName": "Cloudflare",
    "ticker": "NET",
    "industry": "Cybersecurity"
})
for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    print(f"Score: {item['acquisitionReadinessScore']}/100 — {item['grade']}")
    print(f"Deal Breakers: {item['dealBreakers']}")

JavaScript

import { ApifyClient } from "apify-client";
const client = new ApifyClient({ token: "YOUR_API_TOKEN" });
const run = await client.actor("ryanclinton/acquisition-target-screener").call({
    companyName: "Cloudflare",
    ticker: "NET",
    industry: "Cybersecurity"
});
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
console.log(items[0].acquisitionReadinessScore, items[0].grade);

FAQ

What types of companies can I screen? Both public and private companies. Public companies yield richer results due to SEC filing availability, but private companies are still scored across IP, workforce, technology, and market position dimensions.

How long does a run take? Typically 2-5 minutes. All 16 sub-actors run in parallel, so total time is determined by the slowest data source rather than the sum of all sources.

What are deal breakers? The actor identifies three automatic deal breakers: massive insider selling with zero buys (insiders fleeing), more than 200 CFPB complaints (severe consumer issues), and zero IP protection despite having technology assets. Any deal breaker triggers a caution warning in the recommendation.

Can I compare multiple targets? Yes. Run the actor once per target company, then compare the Acquisition Readiness Scores and dimension breakdowns side by side. The structured JSON output makes programmatic comparison straightforward.

Does the score replace professional due diligence? No. The Acquisition Readiness Score is a screening tool for initial target evaluation. It helps you prioritize which companies warrant full due diligence, not replace the due diligence process itself.

Integrations

Use this actor with:

• Zapier for automated workflows
• Make for complex automations
• Google Sheets for spreadsheet export
• The Apify API for programmatic access