Investment Banking interview preparation
Every question below is either traced to a named firm from a public candidate report, or tagged at desk level when we could not trace it. Answers are written the way you would actually say them out loud — answer first, then the mechanism, then the limitation.
100 questions, mapped to the firms that asked them
- Questions
- 100
- Traced to a firm
- 100
- Firms
- 46
- Updated
- September 2026
022Rank the valuation methodologies from highest to lowest and explain why.NomuraInvestment Banking · New York · 2026
Say this
The usual ordering is precedent transactions highest, then DCF, then trading comps, with an LBO analysis lowest. But I would say upfront that this is a tendency, not a rule, and I can construct cases where it inverts.
Then walk it
- Precedents sit highest because they include a control premium and often synergies a strategic buyer was willing to pay for.
- DCF usually sits above trading comps because sell-side forecasts tend to be optimistic, and because you are capturing the full life of the cash flows.
- Trading comps reflect minority stakes with no control, so they exclude the premium.
- LBO analysis is normally the floor, because a sponsor needs a target return and cannot pay for synergies it does not have.
- The inversions are the interesting part. In a frothy market, trading comps can exceed precedents from a downturn. And a strategic with real cost synergies can beat any sponsor, which is why the sponsor floor is not always the floor.
Where candidates lose it
Delivering the ranking as gospel. Interviewers ask this specifically to see whether you understand the logic or memorised a ladder. Name the ordering, give the reason for each rung, then volunteer a case where it flips.
Expect next
- Give me a case where trading comps exceed precedents.
- Would Blackstone or Nike pay more to acquire Adidas?
- Who typically pays more, a sponsor or a strategic?
Reported by candidates at Nomura (Investment Banking, New York, 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.