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. 064How would you compare two companies in the same sector trading at very different multiples?ValuationIntermediatetechnicalCSCredit SuisseGeneralist · Sydney · 2020

   Say this

   Assume the market is right until proven otherwise, then find the justification. Multiple gaps almost always reflect differences in growth, returns on capital, or risk. The investment question is whether the gap is larger than those differences warrant.

   Then walk it

   1. First decompose the gap. Is it growth, margin, returns on capital, capital intensity, cyclicality, balance sheet, or governance? Usually two or three of these explain most of it.
   2. Check the denominators are comparable. Different accounting policies, different fiscal years, different definitions of adjusted earnings, and different treatment of leases or capitalised costs all create fake gaps.
   3. Then quantify. If one grows 5 points faster with 10 points higher return on capital, how much premium does that justify? A regression of sector multiples against growth and ROIC gives a defensible expected multiple for each.
   4. The residual, the difference between the actual multiple and the regression-implied one, is the potential mispricing. That is where the idea lives.
   5. Then look for the non-fundamental explanations: index membership, liquidity, free float, ownership structure, or a governance discount for a controlled company. These are real and persistent.
   6. The conclusion should be specific: the cheaper one is cheap for reasons X and Y, which I think are permanent, or which I think the market is over-extrapolating. Either is a view.

   Where candidates lose it

   Assuming the cheaper one is the better investment. The default position should be that the market has a reason, and your job is to find it and then decide whether it is overstated.

   Expect next

   • What non-fundamental reasons could explain it?
   • Would you pair-trade them?
   • What would close the gap?

   Reported by candidates at Credit Suisse (Generalist, Sydney, 2020). Source: Wall Street Oasis.

2. 074How would you analyse an IT services company?Sector: technologyIntermediatetechnicalCSCredit SuisseInvestment Banking · Mumbai · 2021

   Say this

   It is a people business, so the drivers are headcount, utilisation, billing rate and attrition. Revenue is headcount times utilisation times realisation, and margin is driven by the pyramid and the offshore mix.

   Then walk it

   1. Revenue build: billable headcount times utilisation times realised rate per hour. Constant-currency growth is the number the market watches, because reported growth is distorted by the dollar-rupee rate.
   2. Margin drivers: the employee pyramid, meaning the ratio of juniors to seniors, the onsite-offshore mix, utilisation, and wage inflation. A steeper pyramid and more offshore work both lift margin.
   3. Attrition is the key operational metric. High attrition means replacement hiring at higher wages, backfilling with less experienced staff, and delivery risk on fixed-price contracts.
   4. Demand indicators: total contract value of deals signed, the book-to-bill ratio, and the pipeline. Deal wins lead revenue by several quarters, so this is where the variant view usually sits.
   5. Client concentration and vertical mix matter: exposure to banking and financial services means the cycle in client budgets flows straight through.
   6. The structural question now is what AI does to the model. If delivery becomes less headcount-linked, the revenue build breaks and the pricing model shifts from effort to outcome. That is the live debate and having a view on it is what makes the answer current.

   Where candidates lose it

   Modelling it as a generic services business with a growth rate. The sector has a specific vocabulary, utilisation, pyramid, realisation, attrition, constant currency, and an interviewer covering it will expect all of them.

   Expect next

   • What does AI do to the headcount-linked revenue model?
   • Why does constant currency matter?
   • How does the rupee affect margins?

   Reported by candidates at Credit Suisse (Investment Banking, Mumbai, 2021). 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.