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. 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.

2. 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?
3. 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?
4. 085How would you analyse a company with related-party transactions or a controlling shareholder?Company analysisHardtechnicalIndian research desksEmerging market research

   Say this

   Treat governance as a valuation input rather than a footnote. Map every related-party flow, ask whether value is leaking out of the listed entity, and apply a discount if minority shareholders are not being treated equally.

   Then walk it

   1. Read the related-party transactions note in full and map the flows: who sells what to whom, at what price, and is there an independent benchmark for that price.
   2. The question is always whether the listed entity is transacting at arm's length. Buying raw materials from a promoter-owned entity above market, or selling output below it, transfers value out of the listed company.
   3. Watch for the classic structures: royalty or brand fees paid to the parent, shared services agreements, loans and guarantees to group companies, and asset purchases from related entities.
   4. Check pledged promoter shares. A promoter who has pledged a large proportion of their holding has an incentive problem and a forced-selling risk that can hit the stock independently of fundamentals.
   5. Look at the board: how many genuinely independent directors, who the auditor is, and whether auditors have resigned. An auditor resignation is one of the strongest negative signals available.
   6. Then price it. A governance discount is real and persistent, so the honest output is a lower multiple rather than a refusal to cover. But if you cannot verify that the cash belongs to minority shareholders, the correct answer is to avoid it, and saying that is a legitimate conclusion.

   Where candidates lose it

   Treating governance as a qualitative aside. In emerging markets it is frequently the dominant driver of returns. Naming pledged shares and auditor resignations shows real familiarity with how these situations actually unfold.

   Expect next

   • What is a promoter pledge and why does it matter?
   • How would you size a governance discount?
   • Would you ever refuse to cover a company?
5. 086Give me a two-line thesis on a company you would short.Stock pitchHardsuperdayBalyasny Asset ManagementGeneralist · New York · 2020

   Say this

   One line on the structural problem, one line on the catalyst that forces the market to see it. Something like: the company's growth is funded by discounting that is destroying its unit economics, and the covenant test at the next refinancing will expose it.

   Then walk it

   1. Line one has to be a mechanism, not a valuation. 'Expensive' is not a thesis. 'Gross margin has fallen 600 basis points over six quarters while revenue growth held up, because they are buying volume' is a mechanism.
   2. Line two is the clock: the specific event that makes the market agree. A refinancing, a covenant test, a contract renewal, a patent expiry, a competitor launch, a change in the disclosure that removes the cover.
   3. Then the numbers that support it, in one breath: the trend in the metric, and the gap between what management guides and what the trend implies.
   4. Then the risk: what would squeeze you. A cheap balance sheet, a possible takeover, heavy existing short interest, or a founder who could take it private.
   5. And the practicalities: borrow cost and days to cover, because a 20 percent borrow makes a slow thesis unprofitable even if you are right.
   6. Prepare a real one before you walk in. Being unable to construct a short is a common failure in buy-side interviews, and it reveals that you have only ever thought about why things go up.

   Where candidates lose it

   Not having one prepared. Long-short interviews ask for both sides, and candidates almost always have three longs and no shorts. Prepare one short properly, including the borrow cost and the squeeze risk.

   Expect next

   • What is the borrow?
   • What would squeeze you?
   • How would you size it?

   Reported by candidates at Balyasny Asset Management (Generalist, New York, 2020). Source: Wall Street Oasis.

6. 089What is the case study process here, and how would you approach a two-week modelling test?Career and fitIntermediatecase studyPoint72Investment Banking · London · 2026DED.E. ShawGeneralist · New York · 2025

   Say this

   Treat it as a recommendation, not a model. Spend the first day deciding what the investment question is, then build only the model you need to answer it, and reserve the last quarter of the time for the write-up.

   Then walk it

   1. Identify the decision first. What is the one variable this investment turns on? Everything you build should serve answering that.
   2. Build a model sized to the question. A beautiful 20-tab model that does not resolve the debate scores worse than a three-tab model that does. Graders are checking judgement about materiality.
   3. Do primary work. Transcripts, competitor filings, industry data, and anything you can verify externally. This is what separates entries, because everyone can build a model.
   4. Structure the output like a note: recommendation and target up front, the variant view, the evidence, the valuation, the risks and the falsifier. Never make the reader hunt for your conclusion.
   5. Sensitise honestly. Show the bear case with a number attached, and say what you are least confident about. Overclaiming certainty is the most common way candidates lose credibility.
   6. Then rehearse defending it out loud, because the presentation is usually where the decision is made. Expect them to attack your weakest assumption, and have the downside quantified before they ask.

   Where candidates lose it

   Spending all the time on the model and writing the conclusion in the last hour. The model is the working; the recommendation is the product. Budget time backwards from the write-up.

   Expect next

   • How did you get your assumptions?
   • What is the bear case worth?
   • What would you have done with another week?

   Reported by candidates at Point72 (Investment Banking, London, 2026); D.E. Shaw (Generalist, New York, 2025). Source: Wall Street Oasis.

7. 090How did you arrive at the assumptions in your case study?Research processHardcase studyDED.E. ShawGeneralist · New York · 2025Houlihan LokeyInvestment Banking · Richmond · 2025

   Say this

   Each assumption should trace to something external: a historical rate, a disclosed contract, an industry data point, a peer's experience. Name the source for each, and say which ones you are least confident about.

   Then walk it

   1. Go through them in order of importance to the answer, not in model order. The interviewer cares about the two that drive the result.
   2. For each, give the anchor: 'I used 6 percent price growth because that is what they have taken in each of the last four years and the contracts reprice annually to an index.'
   3. Where you had no data, say so explicitly and explain the logic you substituted. Inventing a source is fatal; reasoning openly from a gap is respected.
   4. Distinguish the assumptions that matter from the ones that do not. 'The tax rate assumption is immaterial; the retention assumption drives 70 percent of the value' shows you understand your own model.
   5. Present the sensitivity around the critical ones rather than defending a point estimate. The honest position is a range with a most likely case.
   6. And volunteer your least confident assumption before they find it. Doing so converts a vulnerability into evidence of self-awareness.

   Where candidates lose it

   Defending every assumption equally, or saying 'that is what management guided'. Guidance is an input to be tested, not a source of truth. Trace assumptions to independent evidence wherever possible.

   Expect next

   • Which assumption are you least confident about?
   • What if that assumption is 20 percent wrong?
   • Where did you disagree with management's guidance?

   Reported by candidates at D.E. Shaw (Generalist, New York, 2025); Houlihan Lokey (Investment Banking, Richmond, 2025). Source: Wall Street Oasis.

8. 094How would you size a market from the bottom up?Case and estimationIntermediatetechnicalAdvent InternationalPrivate Equity · Boston · 2022Viking Global InvestorsQuantitative Research · New York · 2024

   Say this

   Count the customers and multiply by what each can spend. Number of potential buyers, times realistic annual spend per buyer, times the share of that spend your product can address. Then sanity-check against a top-down figure.

   Then walk it

   1. Define the buyer precisely. Not 'all businesses' but 'US companies with more than 500 employees in regulated industries', which you can actually count from public data.
   2. Estimate spend per buyer from observable evidence: the company's own average contract value, a competitor's disclosed pricing, or what the buyer currently spends on the alternative.
   3. Multiply, then apply a realistic ceiling on penetration. No product reaches 100 percent of its theoretical market, and assuming it does is how addressable markets become fiction.
   4. Cross-check top-down: industry revenue from trade bodies or the sum of the competitors' revenues. If bottom-up and top-down differ by more than a factor of two, one of your assumptions is wrong and you should find out which.
   5. Distinguish total addressable market, the serviceable portion given your product and geography, and the realistically obtainable share. Most published figures quote the first and imply the third.
   6. Then state the number as a range with the two assumptions that drive it, and show what the answer is if each is halved.

   Where candidates lose it

   Citing a published market size figure. Those are almost always top-down, commissioned, and inflated. The whole point of bottom-up is that you build it from countable units and can defend each step.

   Expect next

   • How many books were sold in the US last year?
   • What penetration is realistic?
   • How much of that is in the current share price?

   Reported by candidates at Advent International (Private Equity, Boston, 2022); Viking Global Investors (Quantitative Research, New York, 2024). Source: Wall Street Oasis.

9. 097What do you think about a company like Google starting to pay a dividend?Company analysisHardtechnicalS&P GlobalDebt Capital Markets · Chicago · 2022

   Say this

   It is a signal about the reinvestment opportunity, and that signal cuts both ways. It says the company has more cash than it can deploy at high returns, which is maturity, but it also broadens the shareholder base and imposes discipline.

   Then walk it

   1. The positive reading: a commitment to return cash imposes capital discipline and reduces the risk of value-destructive acquisitions. It also makes the stock eligible for income and dividend-focused funds, widening the buyer base.
   2. The negative reading: initiating a dividend is an admission that the company cannot reinvest all its cash above the cost of capital. For a growth company that is a signal of maturity, and maturity usually means a lower multiple.
   3. Dividends are sticky in a way buybacks are not. Cutting one is punished severely, so initiating it is a long-term commitment that reduces flexibility.
   4. The alternative use question: if the shares are cheap, a buyback returns more value. If they are expensive, a dividend is the better instrument. So the choice itself tells you what management thinks about its own valuation.
   5. For a technology company specifically, there is a tension with stock-based compensation: paying a dividend while issuing shares to employees means returning cash with one hand and diluting with the other.
   6. So my read would be: mildly negative for the growth narrative, mildly positive for governance, and the market reaction usually depends on which of those two the shareholder base cares about more.

   Where candidates lose it

   Answering only 'it is good, shareholders get cash'. The interesting content is the signal about reinvestment opportunities and the stickiness of the commitment. Argue both sides and then take a position.

   Expect next

   • Would a buyback be better?
   • What does it do to the shareholder base?
   • How would a credit analyst view it?

   Reported by candidates at S&P Global (Debt Capital Markets, Chicago, 2022). 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.