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. 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.

2. 062How do rising interest rates affect different sectors?MacroIntermediatetechnicalApollo Global ManagementManagement Consulting · London · 2026MSCIReal Estate · Mumbai · 2015

   Say this

   Through three channels: the discount rate, which hurts long-duration assets most; the cost of debt, which hurts leveraged companies; and demand, which hurts anything financed by credit. Banks are the main beneficiary.

   Then walk it

   1. Discount rate: growth companies whose cash flows sit far in the future lose the most value, because more of their valuation is discounted over longer horizons. This is why high-multiple technology de-rates hardest.
   2. Cost of debt: highly leveraged businesses, especially with floating-rate debt or near-term maturities, see interest expense rise directly. Utilities, real estate and leveraged buyout-owned companies are exposed.
   3. Demand channel: anything bought on credit. Housing, autos, capital goods and consumer durables all soften as financing costs rise.
   4. Beneficiaries: banks, as net interest margin expands when they reprice assets faster than deposits, and insurers, who reinvest their float at higher yields. Cash-rich companies earn more on their balances.
   5. Real estate is the clearest loser because it is both leveraged and valued on a cap rate that moves with yields. Rising rates hit the income and the valuation at once.
   6. The refinement worth adding: what matters is the move relative to expectations and why rates are rising. Rates rising on strong growth is very different for equities from rates rising on an inflation shock.

   Where candidates lose it

   Giving a simple 'rates up, stocks down' answer. The examinable content is duration, and the distinction between rates rising for growth reasons versus inflation reasons. Both should appear.

   Expect next

   • Why do growth stocks fall more?
   • Which equities have duration?
   • How does that change if rates rise because growth is strong?

   Reported by candidates at Apollo Global Management (Management Consulting, London, 2026); MSCI (Real Estate, Mumbai, 2015). 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.