[Case Study]

DataRobot AI Tool Case Study: Predicting Apple Stock Prices
By Krizma Nagi
LinkedIn Profile

Introduction

DataRobot is an automated machine learning platform designed to democratize data science by enabling users without deep technical expertise to build and deploy predictive models. This case study, initiated by an engineer at Think Technologies, demonstrates how DataRobot was used to analyze Apple (AAPL) stock data and predict closing prices, showcasing the platform's ability to quickly deliver sophisticated predictive analytics with minimal manual intervention.

Problem Statement

Financial analysts and investors typically spend significant time building predictive models for stock price movements. This process traditionally requires:

  • Extensive data science expertise

  • Manual feature engineering

  • Time-consuming algorithm selection and tuning

  • Validation and testing across multiple models

These requirements create barriers for many organizations, resulting in either underutilization of available data or dependence on expensive specialized talent. For this case study, we aimed to predict Apple's stock closing prices using historical data, a task that would traditionally require significant time and specialized knowledge.

Implementation

Data Overview

We used historical AAPL stock data containing the following features:

  • Date

  • Opening price

  • High price

  • Low price

  • Closing price (target variable)

  • Volume

  • Additional technical indicators (50-day moving average, 200-day moving average, RSI, MACD)

Setup Process

Data Preparation

  • Collected 5 years of historical AAPL stock data (2019-2024)

  • Performed initial data cleaning to handle missing values

  • Created a training dataset (80% of data) and a validation dataset (20%)

DataRobot Platform Configuration

  • Uploaded the prepared dataset to DataRobot

  • Specified "Closing Price" as the target variable

  • Selected time-series forecasting as the modeling approach

  • Set forecast window to 5 trading days

Model Training

DataRobot automatically

  • Parsed the time-series data and identified the date column

  • Created derived features (lags, rolling statistics)

  • Tested hundreds of algorithm combinations

  • Ranked models based on predictive accuracy

Key Parameters Used

  • Optimization metric: RMSE (Root Mean Square Error)

  • Feature engineering depth: Medium

  • Max training time: 2 hours

  • Backtesting: 5 folds

Results & Benefits

Performance Metrics

Key Findings

  • Efficiency Gains: DataRobot reduced model development time from approximately 4 hours using traditional methods to just under 15 minutes total (including data upload and automated model generation).

  • Performance Improvement: The best model (XGBoost) outperformed the manually built model by 21% in RMSE.

  • Feature Importance: DataRobot identified unexpected influential features:

    • Volume-weighted average price was the most important predictor

    • The previous day's trading range showed stronger correlation than expected

    • The 14-day RSI provided significant predictive power

  • Exploratory Analysis Insights:

    • Identified seasonal patterns in AAPL price movements around quarterly earnings

    • Discovered that AAPL price volatility increases significantly following product announcements

    • Detected strong correlation between market sentiment indicators and short-term price movements

Visualization Highlights

  • Prediction vs. Actual chart showing the model's 5-day forecasts against actual closing prices

  • Feature importance graph highlighting the top 10 predictors

  • Partial dependence plots showing how specific features influence the predictions

  • Time-series decomposition revealing trend, seasonal, and residual components

Conclusion & Next Steps

Summary

DataRobot successfully automated the process of building predictive models for AAPL stock prices, delivering superior performance compared to traditional methods while dramatically reducing the time and expertise required. The platform's ability to automatically test hundreds of algorithms and feature combinations revealed insights that might have been overlooked in a manual approach.

Business Value

  • Time Savings: 95% reduction in model development time

  • Resource Efficiency: Enabled analysis without requiring specialized data science talent

  • Improved Accuracy: 21% improvement in predictive accuracy over manual methods

  • Actionable Insights: Discovery of previously unknown patterns and relationships in the data

Next Steps

  • Expand the Model: Incorporate additional external data sources like market sentiment, macroeconomic indicators, and industry-specific news.

  • Deployment: Implement the model in a production environment to generate daily forecasts.

  • Portfolio Expansion: Apply the same approach to other stocks to create a comprehensive market analysis tool.

  • Monitoring: Set up automated model monitoring to detect drift and trigger retraining when necessary.

Potential Applications

  • Portfolio optimization for investment strategies

  • Risk assessment for trading operations

  • Automated trading signals based on predicted price movements

  • Scenario analysis for different market conditions

This case study, initiated by an engineer at Think Technologies, demonstrates how DataRobot enables organizations to leverage advanced predictive analytics without extensive data science resources, delivering both time savings and performance improvements.