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. 054What is the difference between EV/EBITDA and P/E, and when do you use each?ValuationCorephone / first roundWBWilliam BlairInvestment Banking · Chicago · 2026

   Say this

   EV/EBITDA values the whole enterprise before capital structure and depreciation policy, so it is for comparing operating businesses. P/E values the equity after everything, so it reflects leverage, tax and accounting choices.

   Then walk it

   1. Use EV/EBITDA when companies differ in leverage, tax position or depreciation policy, and in any M&A context, because a buyer takes the enterprise and refinances it.
   2. Use P/E when comparing similar companies in the same jurisdiction with similar capital structures, and when talking to equity investors who think in earnings per share.
   3. P/E's weaknesses: it is distorted by leverage, by one-offs, by tax rate changes and by share buybacks, and it is meaningless with negative earnings.
   4. EV/EBITDA's weakness: it ignores capital intensity entirely, so two companies with identical EBITDA but very different CapEx look identical when they are not.
   5. For financials you use neither in the usual form. Price to tangible book against ROTE, because enterprise value has no meaning for a bank.
   6. In practice a research note shows both plus a cash-flow-based measure like free cash flow yield, and the interesting analysis is usually where the two multiples disagree, because that gap is telling you something about leverage or capital intensity.

   Where candidates lose it

   Reciting definitions without saying when each breaks. And forgetting that for banks and insurers both are inappropriate, which is the follow-up that catches people.

   Expect next

   • Why can you not use EV/EBITDA for a bank?
   • What if the two multiples disagree?
   • What does free cash flow yield add?

   Reported by candidates at William Blair (Investment Banking, Chicago, 2026). Source: Wall Street Oasis.

2. 076How would you analyse an industrial or capital goods company?Sector: industrialsIntermediatetechnicalWBWilliam BlairInvestment Banking · Atlanta · 2026

   Say this

   Order book first. Orders lead revenue by quarters or years, so the book-to-bill ratio and backlog are the leading indicators. Then margin through the cycle, then the aftermarket.

   Then walk it

   1. Orders and backlog: book-to-bill above one means the backlog is growing and revenue will follow. This is the single most useful disclosure in the sector and the source of most variant views.
   2. Backlog quality matters as much as size: execution timeline, cancellation risk, and whether contracts are fixed price or cost plus. Fixed-price contracts in an inflationary period are where margins get destroyed.
   3. Margin: high operating leverage from a fixed manufacturing base, so incremental volume drops through heavily. Model incremental margins rather than absolute margins.
   4. The aftermarket is the quality of the business. Spare parts and service carry much higher margins than original equipment and are far less cyclical, so the installed base is an annuity. Companies with a high service mix deserve a materially higher multiple.
   5. Working capital and cash conversion: long production cycles tie up cash, and advance payments from customers can fund it. Watch the gap between reported profit and cash.
   6. And position it in the cycle: capital goods demand follows capacity utilisation and credit conditions in the customer industries, so the analysis is really about the customers' capital expenditure plans.

   Where candidates lose it

   Ignoring the aftermarket. The recurring service revenue is usually the majority of the profit and the entire reason some industrials trade at premium multiples. Missing it means missing the investment case.

   Expect next

   • What is book-to-bill telling you?
   • Why does the aftermarket deserve a higher multiple?
   • What is an incremental margin?

   Reported by candidates at William Blair (Investment Banking, Atlanta, 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.