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.

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Question bank

100 questions, mapped to the firms that asked them

Questions
100
Traced to a firm
100
Firms
46
Updated
September 2026
Asked at
All firmsTruist Securities10Rothschild & Co8Centerview Partners7Credit Suisse7Harris Williams6Houlihan Lokey6Lazard6Mizuho6Barclays5Citi5Deutsche Bank5Evercore5Moelis & Company5Morgan Stanley5Piper Sandler5RBC Capital Markets5Goldman Sachs4Nomura4TD Securities4Bank of America3Guggenheim Securities3J.P. Morgan3Jefferies3Moody's3Perella Weinberg Partners3Warburg Pincus3William Blair3HSBC2Lincoln International2Scotiabank2TPG2UBS2Wells Fargo Securities2Advent International1Apollo Global Management1Bain Capital1Balyasny Asset Management1BlackRock1BNP Paribas1General Atlantic1Invesco1Morningstar1PIMCO1Société Générale1State Street1Wellington Management1
Topic
All topicsAccounting14Valuation21M&A10Markets and deals10Capital markets3LBO8Leveraged finance3Restructuring2Credit3Debt capital markets2Capital structure2Case and estimation11Brainteasers6Fit5
Level
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Type
AnyTechnicalCaseBrainteaserFitMarket view
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  1. 027How does EV/EBITDA vary across industries, and where is it larger or smaller?ValuationIntermediatetechnicalTruist SecuritiesInvestment Banking · New York · 2026

    Say this

    High multiples go to businesses with durable growth, high returns on capital and low reinvestment needs, so software and branded consumer sit at the top. Low multiples go to cyclical, capital-hungry, low-growth businesses like steel, airlines and utilities.

    Then walk it

    1. Software trades high because incremental revenue costs almost nothing to serve, revenue is recurring, and CapEx is minimal. Twenty times and above is normal.
    2. Branded consumer and medical devices sit in the mid to high teens on pricing power and stable demand.
    3. Industrials and distribution sit around eight to twelve, reflecting moderate growth and real capital needs.
    4. Cyclicals and capital-intensive businesses sit low, often four to seven, because earnings are volatile and most of the EBITDA gets reinvested just to stand still.
    5. The unifying logic is that EV/EBITDA is a shorthand for growth, risk and reinvestment. High multiple means the market expects EBITDA to grow and to convert into cash. Steel fails both tests.

    Where candidates lose it

    Reciting sector multiples as trivia without the underlying driver. If you cannot explain why software earns twenty times and steel earns five, you have memorised a table. The answer is cash conversion and growth durability.

    Expect next

    • Which company would have a higher multiple, asset-heavy or asset-light?
    • What is an appropriate multiple for software?
    • A company in your sector trades at half the peer multiple. Why?

    Reported by candidates at Truist Securities (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.