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. 070How would you build a portfolio for clients with different needs and requirements?Portfolio and riskIntermediatetechnicalThe Vanguard GroupInvestment Research · Malvern · 2024ScotiabankSales and Trading · Toronto · 2025

   Say this

   Start from the liability, not the assets. What is the money for, when is it needed, and what loss can the client tolerate without abandoning the plan? Then build the allocation to match, and only then pick instruments.

   Then walk it

   1. Establish the objective and the horizon. A retirement pot 30 years out and a house deposit in two years require opposite portfolios regardless of the client's stated risk appetite.
   2. Separate risk capacity from risk tolerance. Capacity is what their circumstances can absorb; tolerance is what they can emotionally sustain. Build to the lower of the two, because a portfolio abandoned in a drawdown fails whatever its expected return.
   3. Set the strategic asset allocation across equities, fixed income, and any alternatives or real assets. This is the decision that matters most.
   4. Then the constraints: tax status and the right account wrappers, liquidity needs, existing concentrated positions, currency exposure, and any ethical restrictions.
   5. Then instrument selection, favouring low-cost broad exposure as the core, with active or satellite positions only where there is a reason to expect an edge.
   6. Then the governance: a rebalancing rule, a review schedule, and a written plan for what happens in a drawdown. Agreeing the behaviour in advance is the single highest-value thing an adviser does.

   Where candidates lose it

   Starting from products and risk questionnaires. The professional sequence is objective, then capacity and tolerance, then allocation, then instruments. Also failing to distinguish capacity from tolerance, which is the distinction that actually protects clients.

   Expect next

   • How would that differ for a 25-year-old and a 65-year-old?
   • How do you handle a client with a concentrated stock position?
   • What do you do when a client wants to sell in a crash?

   Reported by candidates at The Vanguard Group (Investment Research, Malvern, 2024); Scotiabank (Sales and Trading, Toronto, 2025). Source: Wall Street Oasis.

2. 071What effect do interest rates, GDP and inflation have on stock prices?MacroIntermediatetechnicalMSCIReal Estate · Mumbai · 2015

   Say this

   Work through the two terms of the valuation: expected cash flows and the discount rate. GDP drives the cash flows, rates drive the discount rate, and inflation affects both, which is why its net effect is the least predictable.

   Then walk it

   1. Rates: higher rates raise the discount rate and lower present value, hitting long-duration equities hardest. They also raise the cost of debt and the attractiveness of the risk-free alternative.
   2. GDP: stronger growth lifts revenue and, because of operating leverage, lifts earnings by more than revenue. Cyclicals benefit most.
   3. Inflation is the ambiguous one. Moderate inflation with pricing power lifts nominal revenue and earnings. High or volatile inflation compresses multiples because it raises uncertainty and usually brings tighter policy.
   4. The pass-through question decides the winners: companies with pricing power and short input cycles pass inflation on; those with fixed-price contracts and volatile inputs get squeezed.
   5. The interaction matters more than any single variable. Rates rising because growth is strong is generally fine for equities; rates rising because inflation is out of control is not. The same move in the same variable has opposite implications.
   6. For India specifically, add the currency and the foreign flow channel: higher global rates tend to strengthen the dollar, pressure the rupee and pull foreign portfolio flows out, which hits index levels independently of domestic fundamentals.

   Where candidates lose it

   Giving three separate one-line answers. The interviewer wants the mechanism through the valuation equation and the recognition that the cause of a rate move changes its implication. For an India-based interview, the flow channel should appear.

   Expect next

   • Which is worse for equities, high inflation or high rates?
   • How do foreign flows affect the Indian market?
   • Which sectors have pricing power?

   Reported by candidates at MSCI (Real Estate, Mumbai, 2015). Source: Wall Street Oasis.

3. 072What is your view of the market right now?MacroIntermediateevery roundMSCIReal Estate · Mumbai · 2015MizuhoSales and Trading · New York · 2026InvescoAsset Management · Atlanta · 2023

   Say this

   Give a position, a reason, and an acknowledgement of what would prove you wrong. Structure it as valuation, earnings, policy and positioning, then land on one view rather than surveying both sides.

   Then walk it

   1. Valuation: where the index multiple sits against its own history and against bond yields. One number, stated precisely.
   2. Earnings: what growth is embedded in consensus for the next year, and whether revisions are rising or falling. Revisions direction matters more than the level.
   3. Policy: what the central bank is expected to do and what is already priced.
   4. Positioning and sentiment: are investors crowded into the same trade? Extremes in positioning are contrarian signals.
   5. Then commit: 'so I would be cautious on the index but I think the dispersion beneath it is unusually wide, which favours stock selection over direction.' A view with nuance beats a survey.
   6. Then the falsifier: what would change your mind, and what you are watching. Interviewers distrust conviction without error bars as much as they distrust having no view at all.

   Where candidates lose it

   Giving a balanced 'on one hand, on the other' answer with no conclusion. That is the safest-sounding response and the worst-scoring one. Having a view you can defend and revise is the job.

   Expect next

   • What would change your mind?
   • Where would you be putting money?
   • What is the biggest risk nobody is talking about?

   Reported by candidates at MSCI (Real Estate, Mumbai, 2015); Mizuho (Sales and Trading, New York, 2026); Invesco (Asset Management, Atlanta, 2023). Source: Wall Street Oasis.

4. 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.

5. 075How does the rupee affect an Indian exporter's earnings?MacroIntermediatetechnicalIndian research desks

   Say this

   Depreciation lifts reported revenue and margin for a dollar earner with rupee costs, roughly one for one on the translated revenue. But hedging, competitive pass-through and input costs mean the realised benefit is usually much smaller.

   Then walk it

   1. The mechanical effect: revenue earned in dollars converts into more rupees, while wages and local costs stay in rupees, so the margin expands. For IT services a one percent depreciation is often quoted as roughly 15 to 20 basis points of EBIT margin.
   2. Hedging delays it. Most large exporters hedge 6 to 12 months of receivables forward, so the benefit arrives with a lag and at the hedged rate, not the spot rate.
   3. Competitive pass-through erodes it. If all competitors in a country enjoy the same depreciation, clients eventually demand price concessions, so part of the gain is given back in rate negotiations.
   4. Imported inputs offset it. A manufacturer importing components or crude-linked raw materials sees costs rise in rupees at the same time, so the net effect can be neutral or negative.
   5. Balance sheet effects matter too: foreign currency borrowings become more expensive to service and translate, which can swamp the operating benefit for a leveraged company.
   6. So the analysis is net exposure, not gross: dollar revenue less dollar costs less dollar debt service, adjusted for the hedge book. That net number is what a currency move actually acts on.

   Where candidates lose it

   Assuming a weaker rupee is straightforwardly good. The hedge book, pass-through and imported input costs routinely halve or reverse the effect. Net exposure is the concept being tested.

   Expect next

   • How would you find the hedge position?
   • Which Indian sectors lose from depreciation?
   • What happens to a company with dollar debt?
6. 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.

7. 077A company's revenue is growing but its cash flow is not. What is happening?AccountingIntermediatetechnicalCredit research

   Say this

   Almost always working capital or revenue recognition. Either the company is selling to customers who are not paying, building inventory it has not sold, or recognising revenue ahead of the cash.

   Then walk it

   1. Check receivable days first. Rising days sales outstanding means sales are being made on easier terms, or to weaker customers, or channel-stuffed into distributors.
   2. Then inventory days. Building inventory ahead of demand consumes cash and usually precedes a markdown.
   3. Then payables. If days payable outstanding is falling, suppliers have tightened terms, which is often a sign they are worried about the company.
   4. Then revenue recognition policy. Percentage-of-completion accounting, long-term contracts and bill-and-hold arrangements all allow revenue well before cash.
   5. Then capitalisation: if development costs or contract acquisition costs are being capitalised, profit is protected while cash is spent.
   6. Growth itself explains some of it legitimately: a fast-growing business funds working capital, so cash lags revenue by construction. The diagnostic question is whether the working capital intensity, measured as a percentage of revenue, is stable or deteriorating. Stable is growth; deteriorating is a problem.

   Where candidates lose it

   Concluding fraud immediately. Fast growth legitimately consumes cash. The discriminating test is whether working capital as a percentage of sales is stable or worsening, and saying that distinguishes analysis from alarm.

   Expect next

   • How would you tell growth from deterioration?
   • What is channel stuffing and how would you spot it?
   • What would you ask management?
8. 080How do you treat one-off items when building your earnings base?AccountingIntermediatetechnicalAsset management

   Say this

   Exclude genuinely non-recurring items, but be sceptical about what qualifies. The test is whether a similar item has appeared in previous years. Recurring one-offs are operating costs with a flattering label.

   Then walk it

   1. Genuinely one-off: a legal settlement, a disposal gain, a natural disaster loss, a one-time tax item. These should come out of the earnings base you value.
   2. Suspect: restructuring charges. If a company has taken restructuring charges in seven of the last eight years, restructuring is what the company does, and the charge belongs in earnings.
   3. Also suspect: impairments, which people exclude as non-cash. An impairment is an admission that capital previously deployed was wasted, so excluding it from history while keeping the acquired revenue flatters the return on capital.
   4. The method: build a five-year table of every adjustment the company made, and see which categories repeat. That table is often the most revealing exhibit in a research note.
   5. Be symmetric. Analysts reliably exclude one-off costs and quietly keep one-off gains. Applying the same standard in both directions is the discipline.
   6. And decide once, then apply consistently across the whole comparable set, or your multiples are not comparable.

   Where candidates lose it

   Accepting the company's adjusted number. The whole point of independent research is to make your own judgement about what is recurring, and the five-year adjustment table is the evidence for it.

   Expect next

   • How do you treat impairments?
   • What if the company adjusts for stock-based compensation?
   • How would that change the multiple you apply?
9. 081How would you initiate coverage on a new company?Research processIntermediatetechnicalSell-side research

   Say this

   Read the last three years of filings and transcripts, build the model from drivers, map the competitive landscape, talk to the company and the channel, then decide what your differentiated view is before writing a word.

   Then walk it

   1. Primary documents first: three years of annual filings, the last eight quarterly transcripts, the investor day materials and the proxy for incentives. The transcripts tell you what management has promised and how the questions have changed.
   2. Build the model from drivers and reconcile it to reported history. If you cannot rebuild the last two years from your drivers, your model is wrong.
   3. Map the industry: who competes, what share each has, how the value chain splits economics, what the customers care about. Read the competitors' filings, because they describe your company from the outside.
   4. Channel work: customers, distributors, former employees, industry consultants. This is where a differentiated view most often comes from.
   5. Then form the thesis. An initiation with no variant view is a description, and nobody reads it. Decide what you believe that consensus does not, and structure the note around defending it.
   6. Then the deliverable: rating, target, earnings forecasts that differ from consensus in a specific place, the key debates set out fairly, and the risks. And a clear statement of what would change your mind.

   Where candidates lose it

   Describing a document-gathering exercise with no thesis. An initiation is judged on whether it says something. Leading with the variant view rather than the process is the answer that sounds like an analyst.

   Expect next

   • How long would that take you?
   • Where does the differentiated view usually come from?
   • How would you handle initiating with a sell rating?
10. 084What is minority interest and why does it appear in enterprise value?ValuationIntermediatetechnicalBulge bracket IB

    Say this

    It is the portion of a consolidated subsidiary the parent does not own. You add it to enterprise value because the consolidated EBITDA includes 100 percent of that subsidiary, so the numerator must reflect 100 percent too.

    Then walk it

    1. Accounting: if a parent owns more than 50 percent it consolidates the whole subsidiary, taking all of its revenue and EBITDA, then deducts the minority's share of profit below the line.
    2. So consolidated EBITDA overstates what belongs to the parent's shareholders.
    3. To keep the multiple consistent, you add minority interest to enterprise value. Both numerator and denominator then represent the whole enterprise, including the part owned by others.
    4. Use the market value of the minority if the subsidiary is listed. Book value is the fallback and is usually a poor estimate.
    5. The alternative approach is to deconsolidate: strip the subsidiary's EBITDA out and value the parent's stake separately. Cleaner conceptually, more work, and it is what you do when the subsidiary is very different from the core business.
    6. The error to avoid is forgetting it entirely. If you ignore minority interest, a company that consolidates a large partly-owned subsidiary will look artificially cheap on EV/EBITDA, and that appears constantly in emerging market comp sets.

    Where candidates lose it

    Knowing the rule but not the reason. The reason is consistency between numerator and denominator, and being able to state that is what shows you understand enterprise value rather than having memorised the bridge.

    Expect next

    • Should you use book or market value for it?
    • When would you deconsolidate instead?
    • How does this distort a comp set?

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.