Investment Banking interview preparation

Questions

100

Traced to a firm

100

Firms

46

Updated

September 2026

Asked at

All firmsTSTruist Securities10Rothschild & Co8Centerview Partners7CSCredit Suisse7HWHarris Williams6Houlihan Lokey6Lazard6Mizuho6Barclays5Citi5Deutsche Bank5Evercore5Moelis & Company5MSMorgan Stanley5Piper Sandler5RCRBC Capital Markets5Goldman Sachs4Nomura4TD Securities4Bank of America3GSGuggenheim Securities3J.P. Morgan3Jefferies3Moody's3Perella Weinberg Partners3WPWarburg Pincus3WBWilliam Blair3HSBC2Lincoln International2Scotiabank2TPTPG2UBS2Wells Fargo Securities2Advent International1Apollo Global Management1Bain Capital1Balyasny Asset Management1BLBlackRock1BPBNP Paribas1General Atlantic1Invesco1Morningstar1PIMCO1STSociété Générale1SSState Street1WMWellington Management1

Topic

All topicsAccounting14Valuation21M&A10Markets and deals10Capital markets3LBO8Leveraged finance3Restructuring2Credit3Debt capital markets2Capital structure2Case and estimation11Brainteasers6Fit5

Level

AnyCoreIntermediateHard

Type

AnyTechnicalCaseBrainteaserFitMarket view

1. 016What are the main drivers or sensitivities in a DCF?ValuationIntermediatetechnicalTD SecuritiesInvestment Banking · New York · 2026Moelis & CompanyInvestment Banking · New York · 2026

   Say this

   The discount rate and the terminal value assumption, by a wide margin. After those, the revenue growth and margin path in the forecast years, then CapEx and working capital intensity.

   Then walk it

   1. WACC dominates because it compounds. A 100 basis point move in WACC can swing value 15 to 20 percent for a long-duration business.
   2. Terminal value is the other big one, since it is usually 60 to 80 percent of enterprise value. A 50 basis point change in perpetuity growth moves the answer materially.
   3. Inside the forecast, margin matters more than revenue for most mature businesses, because a margin point drops straight to cash.
   4. CapEx and working capital intensity matter most for capital-hungry or fast-growing companies, where growth consumes cash.
   5. The standard output is a two-way sensitivity table, WACC against exit multiple or against perpetuity growth. That grid is what actually goes in the deck, not a single point value.

   Where candidates lose it

   Listing revenue growth first. It feels intuitive but it is wrong for most businesses; discount rate and terminal value swamp it. Also, saying 'a DCF gives you the intrinsic value' as if it were one number, rather than a range you present as a football field.

   Expect next

   • Given a $10 change in revenue, COGS, or CapEx, which has the biggest impact?
   • How do you pick the perpetuity growth rate?
   • What would you do if the DCF value is miles above the trading price?

   Reported by candidates at TD Securities (Investment Banking, New York, 2026); Moelis & Company (Investment Banking, New York, 2026). Source: Wall Street Oasis.

2. 034How would you value a pre-revenue healthcare company?ValuationHardsuperdayPiper SandlerInvestment Banking · New York · 2026Moelis & CompanyMergers and Acquisitions · Los Angeles · 2022

   Say this

   A risk-adjusted DCF built asset by asset. For each drug candidate, forecast peak sales after launch, discount back, then multiply by the cumulative probability of clinical and regulatory success for that phase.

   Then walk it

   1. Value each pipeline asset separately. A Phase III candidate and a preclinical one are completely different risks and cannot share a discount rate.
   2. For each asset: estimate the addressable patient population, penetration, price and duration of therapy to build peak sales, then shape the ramp and the patent cliff.
   3. Apply probability of technical and regulatory success. Industry benchmarks run roughly 60 to 70 percent from Phase III, around 30 percent from Phase II, and low single digits from preclinical.
   4. Discount at a high rate, often 10 to 15 percent, and net off the cash burn until launch. Then sum the assets and add the cash on the balance sheet.
   5. Cross-check against what the market pays. EV per pipeline asset by phase, precedent biotech M&A, and the last private round. And say plainly that the answer is a wide range, because a single readout can move it by a factor of three.

   Where candidates lose it

   Reaching for revenue multiples when there is no revenue, or building one DCF for the whole company. The technique is per-asset and probability-weighted. If you cannot name roughly what a Phase II success rate looks like, you have not prepared the sector.

   Expect next

   • What probability would you use for a Phase II asset?
   • How do you handle the patent cliff?
   • What would you cross-check this against?

   Reported by candidates at Piper Sandler (Investment Banking, New York, 2026); Moelis & Company (Mergers and Acquisitions, Los Angeles, 2022). Source: Wall Street Oasis.

3. 043Walk me through a deal you have been following, and tell me how it changed the industry.Markets and dealsIntermediatetechnicalBarclaysInvestment Banking · New York · 2023EvercoreInvestment Banking · Menlo Park · 2025Moelis & CompanyInvestment Banking · London · 2026WBWilliam BlairInvestment Banking · Atlanta · 2026

   Say this

   Pick one deal, know it cold, and tell it as a story with a number in every sentence: who bought whom, for how much, at what multiple, funded how, and why it made strategic sense.

   Then walk it

   1. Open with the facts in one breath: acquirer, target, enterprise value, the multiple paid, the premium to the undisturbed price, and the funding mix.
   2. Then the strategic rationale in one sentence. What did the buyer get that it could not build, and what synergies did it guide to?
   3. Then your own view, which is the part that matters. Was the price defensible? I would say something like: at fourteen times EBITDA against a peer set at eleven, the buyer needed the full guided synergies to justify it, so the deal is really a bet on integration.
   4. Then the industry effect: did it trigger consolidation, did it force a competitor response, did it change how the sector is valued?
   5. Pick a deal in the group you are interviewing with, and pick one where you have an actual opinion. A deal you can only describe is worse than a smaller deal you can argue about.

   Where candidates lose it

   Choosing the biggest headline deal and only reciting what the press release said. If you cannot say what multiple was paid and whether you think it was too much, you have not followed the deal, you have read about it.

   Expect next

   • Was the price too high?
   • If you were the buyer, what would you have worried about in diligence?
   • Who else could have bought it?

   Reported by candidates at Barclays (Investment Banking, New York, 2023); Evercore (Investment Banking, Menlo Park, 2025); Moelis & Company (Investment Banking, London, 2026); William Blair (Investment Banking, Atlanta, 2026). Source: Wall Street Oasis.

4. 061Does PIK financing increase or decrease enterprise value?Leveraged financeHardtechnicalMoelis & CompanyInvestment Banking · Los Angeles · 2026

   Say this

   Neither, directly. Enterprise value is set by operating cash flows, and how you finance the business does not change them. PIK changes the split between debt and equity, and it grows the debt claim over time because the interest accrues.

   Then walk it

   1. PIK means pay in kind: the interest is not paid in cash, it capitalises onto the principal. So the debt balance compounds upward.
   2. Enterprise value is unaffected in theory, because EBITDA and cash flow are unchanged. Financing does not create operating value.
   3. What changes is the bridge. Net debt grows every year as interest accrues, so at a constant enterprise value the equity value shrinks over time. The equity is being eaten from below.
   4. The genuine second-order effects: PIK preserves cash today, which can fund growth and therefore raise EBITDA, so it can indirectly support value. And PIK accretion may not be cash-tax deductible in the same way, which weakens the tax shield.
   5. The practical reason it exists: it lets a struggling or fast-growing borrower avoid a cash interest burden it cannot currently service. It buys time and it is expensive. If the business does not grow into it, the accreting balance is what wipes out the equity.

   Where candidates lose it

   Saying enterprise value falls because debt went up. Debt is not part of enterprise value; it is part of the bridge to equity. Confusing the two here is the exact error the question is designed to expose.

   Expect next

   • How much would you pay for 2x your money on a 12 percent PIK with no compounding?
   • So what happens to the equity value over the hold?
   • When would a lender insist on PIK?

   Reported by candidates at Moelis & Company (Investment Banking, Los Angeles, 2026). Source: Wall Street Oasis.

5. 090You have a rope 30cm long and another 45cm long. Each centimetre takes one minute to burn. How do you measure exactly 25 minutes?BrainteasersHardtechnicalMoelis & CompanyInvestment Banking · New York · 2025

   Say this

   The only tool you have is that lighting a rope at both ends halves its time. With these two lengths the times you can construct are 15, 22.5, 26.25, 30 and 37.5 minutes — 25 is not one of them. I would show you that working and tell you the puzzle as stated has no exact solution.

   Then walk it

   1. The single insight: a rope lit at both ends burns out in half its length in minutes, regardless of where it burns unevenly.
   2. Light the 30cm at both ends and it is gone at 15 minutes. Light the 45cm at both ends and it is gone at 22.5.
   3. Best combination for something near 25: light the 45cm at both ends and the 30cm at one end at time zero. At 22.5 minutes the 45 is gone and the 30 has 7.5cm left. Light its second end and it burns out 3.75 minutes later, at 26.25.
   4. The other combination goes the wrong way: light the 30cm at both ends and the 45cm at one end. At 15 minutes the 45 has 30cm left; lighting its second end gives 15 more minutes, so you land on 30.
   5. So the reachable set is 15, 22.5, 26.25, 30, 37.5 and the un-halved 45. There is no route to exactly 25.
   6. In the room, say the halving principle immediately, construct the timings out loud, then say plainly that 25 is not reachable and 26.25 is the closest. Interviewers garble the lengths on this puzzle constantly, and catching that scores better than forcing a wrong answer.

   Where candidates lose it

   Forcing an answer because you assume the question must have one. Narrate the halving principle, build the reachable times, and say if the target is not among them. Confidently asserting a solution that your own arithmetic contradicts is the actual failure here.

   Expect next

   • What is the general set of times you can construct?
   • How much water can you measure with a 3-litre and a 4-litre bottle?
   • What angle do the clock hands make at 3:15?

   Reported by candidates at Moelis & Company (Investment Banking, New York, 2025). 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.