Equity Research interview preparation

Questions

100

Traced to a firm

72

Firms

45

Updated

September 2026

Asked at

All firmsMorningstar12Man Group6Balyasny Asset Management5BLBlackRock5FTFranklin Templeton5MSCI5Jefferies4CSCredit Suisse3Fidelity Investments3Moody's3Perella Weinberg Partners3Point723S&P Global3The Vanguard Group3WMWellington Management3Advent International2Apollo Global Management2Bank of America2Carlyle Group2DED.E. Shaw2Houlihan Lokey2HSBC2Piper Sandler2Sequoia Capital2SSState Street2Viking Global Investors2WBWilliam Blair2ACAQR Capital Management1BGBaupost Group1BMBNY Mellon1Centerview Partners1Coatue Management1Goldman Sachs1GSGuggenheim Securities1HWHarris Williams1Insight Partners1Invesco1Mizuho1Moelis & Company1MSMorgan Stanley1PIMCO1SCSchroders1Scotiabank1T. Rowe Price1TSTruist Securities1

Topic

All topicsResearch process9Stock pitch6Company analysis8Investment philosophy5Valuation14Modelling2Portfolio and risk8Macro8Sector knowledge2Accounting8Career and fit12Industry knowledge6Quantitative research1Sector: technology3Sector: consumer1Sector: healthcare1Sector: energy1Sector: financials2Sector: industrials1Case and estimation2

Level

AnyCoreIntermediateHard

Type

AnyTechnicalCaseFitBrainteaserMarket view

1. 001How would you analyse a stock?Research processCorephone / first roundJefferiesEquity Research · New York · 2026

   Say this

   Business first, then numbers, then price. Understand how the company makes money and whether that is durable, build a model of what it earns, then decide whether the current price already reflects it.

   Then walk it

   1. Start with the business: what it sells, to whom, what share of revenue comes from where, and who it competes with. You cannot forecast what you cannot describe.
   2. Then the economics: unit economics, gross margin, operating leverage, return on invested capital, and where the cash actually goes.
   3. Then the durability question: what stops a competitor doing this? Switching costs, scale, network effects, regulation, brand. That determines whether today's margin survives.
   4. Then the model: forecast revenue by driver rather than by growth rate, build margin off the cost structure, and get to earnings and free cash flow.
   5. Then valuation and, critically, expectations. The key move in research is not 'what is it worth' but 'what is priced in'. I would reverse-engineer the current price into implied growth and margin, then ask whether I believe those numbers.
   6. The output is a rating, a target, and a variant view. Without a variant view there is no reason for anyone to read the note.

   Where candidates lose it

   Describing a valuation process rather than a research process. Anyone can build a DCF. The job is forming a differentiated view against consensus, so the expectations step has to appear in your answer.

   Expect next

   • What moves a stock?
   • What is your variant view on that name?
   • How do you know what is priced in?

   Reported by candidates at Jefferies (Equity Research, New York, 2026). Source: Wall Street Oasis.

2. 002What moves a stock?Research processIntermediatetechnicalBalyasny Asset ManagementEquity Hedge · Chicago · 2021

   Say this

   Changes in expectations, not the level of results. A stock moves when the market revises its forecast of future earnings, or revises the multiple it will pay for them. Everything else is noise around those two.

   Then walk it

   1. Price equals earnings times multiple. So there are exactly two levers, and every catalyst works through one of them.
   2. Earnings revisions are the bigger driver over any meaningful horizon. That is why the sell-side obsesses over guidance and why a beat with a cut to guidance sells off.
   3. Multiple changes come from the rate environment, from perceived risk, and from a change in the durability of growth. A company that convinces the market its growth is recurring rather than cyclical gets re-rated without changing a single forecast.
   4. In the short run, positioning and flows matter enormously. A crowded long with everyone already in it can fall on good news because there is nobody left to buy.
   5. So the practical question for a research analyst is never 'are results good' but 'are results better than what is discounted'. That is why the expectations framework is the job.

   Where candidates lose it

   Answering 'earnings' and stopping. That misses the multiple entirely, and it misses the central insight that it is the delta versus expectations that matters, not the absolute result.

   Expect next

   • How do you think about valuation drivers?
   • Why would a stock fall on a beat?
   • How do you measure what is priced in?

   Reported by candidates at Balyasny Asset Management (Equity Hedge, Chicago, 2021). Source: Wall Street Oasis.

3. 003Analyse whether Boeing is a good stock to invest in. Give me a two-line thesis on the spot.Stock pitchHardsuperdaySCSchrodersEquity Research · New York · 2025

   Say this

   Two lines means one claim and one reason. Something like: Boeing is a duopoly with a decade-long order backlog, so the question is not demand but whether it can execute delivery and repair its balance sheet; I would own it only if you believe free cash flow inflects within two years.

   Then walk it

   1. Line one is the structural fact that makes it investable: a global duopoly with Airbus, enormous switching costs for airlines, and a multi-year backlog that effectively pre-sells the output.
   2. Line two is the controversy, which is where the money is made or lost: production quality, regulatory constraint on output rates, and a balance sheet carrying heavy debt from the crisis years.
   3. So the thesis reduces to a single variable: deliveries per month. Revenue, cash flow and deleveraging all follow from that one number, which is unusual and worth saying because it makes the stock tractable.
   4. Then take a side. If you believe the rate ramps, free cash flow inflects sharply and the equity re-rates off depressed earnings. If you do not, the debt is a problem and you stay away.
   5. Then name the falsifier: monthly delivery data and the regulator's production cap are published, so the thesis is testable in near real time. That is what makes it a good pitch rather than an opinion.

   Where candidates lose it

   Reciting everything you know about Boeing. Two lines means two lines. The skill being tested is compression: finding the one variable the investment turns on and committing to a view on it.

   Expect next

   • What would change your mind?
   • How would you track the thesis?
   • Would you rather own Boeing or Airbus?

   Reported by candidates at Schroders (Equity Research, New York, 2025). Source: Wall Street Oasis.

4. 004Pitch me a stock.Stock pitchIntermediateevery roundMan GroupEquity Hedge · London · 2016MSMorgan StanleySales and Trading · Tokyo · 2025Balyasny Asset ManagementGeneralist · New York · 2020

   Say this

   Recommendation and target first, business in two sentences, then the variant view, the catalyst, the risk, and what would make you wrong. Ninety seconds, and the variant view is the only part that counts.

   Then walk it

   1. Open with the trade: 'Long X at 40, target 55, about 35 percent upside over 12 to 18 months.' Never build up to the recommendation.
   2. Two sentences on what the business actually does, so the interviewer knows you are not pitching a ticker.
   3. The variant view: what do you believe that consensus does not, and why are you right? 'The street models 8 percent growth; I think it is 14 because the new contract has not been added to numbers yet.' Quantify the gap.
   4. The catalyst and timing: what makes the market agree with you, and roughly when. A view with no catalyst is a value trap.
   5. Valuation: what multiple you are paying, what the peers trade at, what the reverse DCF implies.
   6. Risks and the falsifier: the two things that break the thesis, and the specific data point you would watch. Ending on what would make you wrong is what makes an analyst sound honest rather than promotional.

   Where candidates lose it

   Pitching a household mega-cap with a thesis lifted from the financial press. If the reason is in the newspaper, it is in the price. Pick something slightly off the beaten path and know its numbers cold.

   Expect next

   • Are you sure that thesis can be backed up? What if their costs do not fall?
   • What is the bear case?
   • How would you hedge it?

   Reported by candidates at Man Group (Equity Hedge, London, 2016); Morgan Stanley (Sales and Trading, Tokyo, 2025); Balyasny Asset Management (Generalist, New York, 2020). Source: Wall Street Oasis.

5. 005Are you sure your thesis can be backed up? What if their costs do not fall?Stock pitchHardsuperdayApollo Global ManagementInvestments · Remote · 2021FTFranklin TempletonOil and Gas · San Mateo · 2024

   Say this

   Answer the substance, do not defend the position. Say what evidence supports the cost assumption, quantify what happens if you are wrong, and state at what point you would exit.

   Then walk it

   1. First, give the evidence behind the assumption, specifically. 'Management guided to it' is weak. 'The input contract repriced in Q2 and the run-rate is already visible in the last two quarters of gross margin' is strong.
   2. Then quantify the downside. 'If costs stay flat, EPS is 15 percent below my number and the stock is worth 38 rather than 55, so I lose about 5 percent from here.' That shows you have modelled the bear case, not just the bull.
   3. Then the asymmetry: if the downside is 5 percent and the upside is 35, the position still makes sense even at a 50 percent probability. That is the real defence.
   4. Then the monitoring point: which disclosure tells you early that you are wrong, and by when you would expect to see it.
   5. And be willing to concede. 'You are right that this is the weakest part of the thesis, which is why I would size it at half a normal position' is a far better answer than digging in. Interviewers push to see whether you update on evidence.

   Where candidates lose it

   Defending the pitch emotionally. This is a pressure test of intellectual honesty, not of conviction. The winning response quantifies the downside and names the exit; stubbornness reads as someone who will lose the fund money.

   Expect next

   • At what price would you stop out?
   • How would you size the position?
   • What is the single data point you would watch?

   Reported by candidates at Apollo Global Management (Investments, Remote, 2021); Franklin Templeton (Oil and Gas, San Mateo, 2024). Source: Wall Street Oasis.

6. 006What areas of competitive advantage does this company have? Does it have barriers to entry, and can it sustain its revenue growth?Company analysisIntermediatecase studyMorningstarEquity Research · Chicago · 2023

   Say this

   Test the moat against the numbers rather than asserting it. A real competitive advantage shows up as returns on invested capital above the cost of capital, sustained for years, with stable or rising market share.

   Then walk it

   1. Name the source, and be specific. Intangibles like brand and patents, switching costs, network effects, cost advantage from scale or process, and efficient scale in a market too small for two players. Those five cover almost everything.
   2. Then prove it with evidence: ROIC consistently above WACC, gross margin stable through a downturn, pricing taken above inflation without volume loss, and customer retention.
   3. Then test durability directly. Ask what a well-funded competitor would have to do to take a customer, and how long it would take. If the answer is 'offer a lower price', there is no moat.
   4. On sustaining growth, separate the sources: price, volume, mix, new products, new geographies, and acquisitions. Growth from price and mix is high quality; growth from acquisitions is bought and should be valued differently.
   5. Then the honest test for a research note: is the moat widening, stable or narrowing? Morningstar's own framework is built on exactly that trend judgement, and it drives the fair value estimate far more than this year's earnings.

   Where candidates lose it

   Listing Porter's five forces as a memorised frame with no company-specific evidence. The grader wants the link from the qualitative claim to a number in the financials. No ROIC, no moat.

   Expect next

   • Is the moat widening or narrowing?
   • What return on capital does it earn against its cost of capital?
   • Would you rather own a low quality business at a great price or a high quality one at an okay price?

   Reported by candidates at Morningstar (Equity Research, Chicago, 2023). Source: Wall Street Oasis.

7. 007Would you rather buy a low quality business at a great price, or a high quality business at an okay price?Investment philosophyHardsuperdayCoatue ManagementTechnology, Media and Telecom · New York · 2023

   Say this

   High quality at an okay price, and the reason is compounding. A great business reinvests at high returns, so time works for you. In a cheap bad business, time works against you and you need the re-rating to happen quickly.

   Then walk it

   1. The mathematical case: if a business earns 25 percent on incremental capital and can reinvest, your return converges on that reinvestment rate over a long hold, almost regardless of a sensible entry multiple.
   2. In a low-return business, the opposite happens. Every year you hold it, the intrinsic value is eroding, so the return depends entirely on the gap closing fast. You are renting a re-rating, not owning a compounder.
   3. So the horizon determines the answer, and I would say that explicitly. For a five-year hold, quality wins. For a six-month event-driven trade with a catalyst, the cheap asset can be the better risk-reward.
   4. The honest counterargument: 'high quality' is often just a description of a stock that has already worked, and paying any price for quality is how people lost money in 2021. Quality at an okay price is fine; quality at any price is not.
   5. My answer would be: quality, with a valuation discipline, because the error that permanently destroys capital is owning a declining business, while the error of overpaying for a good one is usually recoverable with time.

   Where candidates lose it

   Giving a textbook Buffett answer with no acknowledgement of the horizon or the risk of overpaying for quality. The question is testing whether you have an actual philosophy you can defend, including its weakness.

   Expect next

   • What is your investment philosophy and what formed it?
   • When does the cheap asset win?
   • How do you avoid a value trap?

   Reported by candidates at Coatue Management (Technology, Media and Telecom, New York, 2023). Source: Wall Street Oasis.

8. 008What is your investment philosophy, and what experiences led you to it?Investment philosophyIntermediatesuperdayFTFranklin TempletonEquity Research · San Mateo · 2024MorningstarEquity Research · Chicago · 2023

   Say this

   State a philosophy narrow enough to be falsifiable, then tie it to a specific experience, ideally one where you lost money and learned something. Vague philosophies signal you have not actually invested.

   Then walk it

   1. Pick a lane and say it plainly. Quality compounders at reasonable prices. Cyclicals at the point of maximum pessimism. Special situations. Underfollowed small caps. Any of these is fine; 'I look for undervalued companies with good management' is not, because nobody looks for the opposite.
   2. Then the formative experience, and make it concrete. A position you held, what you believed, what happened, what you changed.
   3. The losses teach better than the wins. Something like: I bought a cheap retailer on a low multiple and learned that a declining business gets cheaper faster than you can be right. That is why I now insist on returns on capital above the cost of capital.
   4. Then connect it to the seat. If they run concentrated long-only research, a philosophy built on fundamental durability fits. If it is a multi-manager platform, a philosophy about catalysts and risk control fits better.
   5. Keep the personal investing detail specific but modest. Interviewers want evidence you have skin in the game and a process, not a performance claim.

   Where candidates lose it

   A philosophy so broad it excludes nothing. Also, claiming a style that contradicts the firm you are sitting in. Read what they actually run before you answer.

   Expect next

   • What got you interested in investing, and what has changed since then?
   • What would you have done differently if you could go back to when you started?
   • Tell me about a position you lost money on.

   Reported by candidates at Franklin Templeton (Equity Research, San Mateo, 2024); Morningstar (Equity Research, Chicago, 2023). Source: Wall Street Oasis.

9. 009Why did you take a variant view on the multiple you applied to that company, relative to street expectations?ValuationHardsuperdayFTFranklin TempletonOil and Gas · San Mateo · 2024

   Say this

   Because the multiple should reflect the durability and the capital intensity of the earnings, and I think the market is applying a mid-cycle multiple to earnings that are not mid-cycle. Say what the street assumes, then why that assumption is wrong.

   Then walk it

   1. First, state the street's implied assumption in numbers. 'Consensus applies 6 times to a refiner on peak crack spreads, which implies they believe those spreads persist.'
   2. Then your disagreement and its basis. 'I apply 4.5 times because I think those spreads normalise within 18 months as capacity comes back, so I am valuing normalised rather than trailing earnings.'
   3. For a cyclical this is the whole game: the multiple and the earnings must be consistent. A low multiple on peak earnings is a value trap; a high multiple on trough earnings is often the correct entry.
   4. Support it with something observable: capacity additions, inventory levels, forward curve, historical spread ranges. The evidence has to be external to your own model.
   5. Then the discipline point: I would show the valuation across the cycle rather than a point estimate, and say what spread assumption is embedded in today's price. Reverse-engineering the market's assumption is the most persuasive thing in a research note.

   Where candidates lose it

   Justifying a multiple by peer comparison alone. That is circular. The multiple has to be defended by the economics, and for cyclicals specifically by where in the cycle the earnings sit.

   Expect next

   • What earnings are you applying that multiple to?
   • How do you normalise a cyclical?
   • What is priced in today?

   Reported by candidates at Franklin Templeton (Oil and Gas, San Mateo, 2024). Source: Wall Street Oasis.

10. 010How do you build a model that is detailed enough to be useful but simple enough that you can cover a lot of companies?ModellingHardtechnicalBalyasny Asset ManagementEquity Research · New York · 2026

    Say this

    Model deeply only where the variance is. For most companies two or three line items drive the outcome, so those get detailed driver builds and everything else gets a margin assumption or a percentage of sales.

    Then walk it

    1. Identify the swing factors first. For a retailer it is same-store sales and gross margin. For a bank it is net interest margin and provisions. For a software company it is net retention and sales efficiency. Model those properly.
    2. Everything else goes to ratios: other opex as a percent of revenue, working capital as days, tax at the guided rate. Precision there adds nothing and costs you maintenance time.
    3. Standardise the template across the coverage universe so the same row does the same thing in every file. That is what actually makes 15 names maintainable, because updating a quarter becomes mechanical.
    4. Build it around the disclosure you will actually receive. If the company only reports two segments, a five-segment model will be broken every quarter.
    5. And keep a one-page output: the drivers, the earnings bridge versus consensus, and the valuation. If the summary tab tells the story, the depth underneath can stay limited.
    6. The test I would apply: can I update this model in 20 minutes on results day? If not, it is too complex to cover 15 names with.

    Where candidates lose it

    Saying you would build the most detailed model possible. On the buy side, model complexity is a liability. The insight being tested is that modelling effort should be allocated to variance, not spread evenly.

    Expect next

    • How many names can one analyst realistically cover?
    • What goes on your summary tab?
    • How do you update on results day?

    Reported by candidates at Balyasny Asset Management (Equity Research, New York, 2026). Source: Wall Street Oasis.

Firm tags come from public, anonymous candidate reports on Wall Street Oasis: strong signal, not sworn testimony. Firms are named as the places a question was reported, not as partners of Fin Maverick. Answers are written for this page to show how to think out loud; they are not scripts to recite.