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. 024What is an interesting company you have looked at recently?Stock pitchIntermediatefirst roundWMWellington ManagementPortfolio Management · Boston · 2019Carlyle GroupGeneralist · New York · 2015

   Say this

   Treat it as a compressed pitch. Name the company, why it is interesting rather than just good, what the debate is, and where you come out. 'Interesting' means there is genuine disagreement about it.

   Then walk it

   1. Pick something with a controversy. A company everyone agrees is excellent is not interesting; it is consensus. The interesting ones have a real bear case.
   2. Frame it as the debate: 'the bulls say the new segment re-rates the whole company, the bears say it is a low-margin distraction, and the disclosure does not settle it.'
   3. Then your position and the evidence that moved you.
   4. Then be explicit about what you do not know. 'I have not been able to verify the segment margin, which is why I have not sized it.' Admitting the gap is credibility, not weakness.
   5. Have two ready: one long, one short or avoid. Being able to argue a negative case shows you are not just pattern-matching to good news.

   Where candidates lose it

   Naming a mega-cap with no controversy, or a company you cannot describe financially. Expect immediate follow-ups on multiple, growth and margin, and have those numbers at hand.

   Expect next

   • What does it trade at?
   • What is the bear case?
   • Would you buy it here?

   Reported by candidates at Wellington Management (Portfolio Management, Boston, 2019); Carlyle Group (Generalist, New York, 2015). Source: Wall Street Oasis.

2. 098What is an area of coverage you would want, and why that one?Career and fitIntermediatefirst roundMorningstarEquity Research · Chicago · 2023Carlyle GroupGeneralist · New York · 2015

   Say this

   Name a sector, give a reason rooted in the analytical work rather than in interest, and show you know what covering it actually involves. Then say you would take whatever coverage they need.

   Then walk it

   1. Pick something specific: not 'technology' but 'enterprise software' or 'semiconductor capital equipment'. Specificity signals you know the sector has sub-structures.
   2. Give an analytical reason: 'the disclosure is rich enough to build a real variant view, because net retention and cohort data are published' or 'the cycle is long enough that patient work pays off'.
   3. Show you know the work: what data you would track, who the players are, what the key debate in the sector is right now.
   4. Connect it to something you have done. Coverage preferences are more credible when backed by a model you have built or a company you have followed for a while.
   5. Then be flexible, explicitly. Juniors rarely choose, and a candidate who will only do one sector is harder to place. 'That is my preference, but the sector matters less to me than the team and the process' is the right close.
   6. If you know which sectors they are hiring for, weight your answer toward those without pretending it was always your passion.

   Where candidates lose it

   Naming a sector because it sounds exciting, then being unable to name its key metrics or current debate. The follow-up is immediate. Pick the one you have actually done work on.

   Expect next

   • What is the key debate in that sector right now?
   • What metric would you track weekly?
   • What if we put you in a sector you did not choose?

   Reported by candidates at Morningstar (Equity Research, Chicago, 2023); Carlyle Group (Generalist, New York, 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.