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. 012Do a DuPont analysis for a hospital business.AccountingIntermediatetechnicalCSCredit SuisseInvestment Banking · Mumbai · 2020

   Say this

   DuPont splits return on equity into net margin, asset turnover and leverage. For a hospital the story is almost always thin margins, heavy assets and therefore low turnover, with leverage doing a lot of the work on ROE.

   Then walk it

   1. ROE equals net margin times asset turnover times the equity multiplier. Three levers, and each one tells a different operating story.
   2. Net margin for a hospital is driven by payer mix and case mix. Private-pay and high-acuity surgical work carry far better margin than government-scheme volume.
   3. Asset turnover is structurally low, because you have bought land, a building and imaging equipment. The operating metric behind it is occupancy and average revenue per occupied bed.
   4. That heavy asset base is why leverage matters so much. Hospitals fund expansion with debt, so the equity multiplier is doing real work in the ROE.
   5. The banker's conclusion: a hospital chain improves ROE mainly by filling existing beds and shifting case mix, not by cutting costs. Incremental occupancy has almost no marginal cost.

   Where candidates lose it

   Reciting the DuPont formula and stopping. The question names a hospital on purpose. If you cannot say what drives each of the three terms for that specific business, you have shown formula recall and nothing else.

   Expect next

   • Which of the three levers would you push first?
   • What metrics would you ask the CFO for?
   • How would this look different for a diagnostics chain?

   Reported by candidates at Credit Suisse (Investment Banking, Mumbai, 2020). Source: Wall Street Oasis.

2. 035How would you value a telco versus a software company?ValuationIntermediatetechnicalCSCredit SuisseInvestment Banking · Sydney · 2020

   Say this

   The telco is a capital-intensive, low-growth cash cow, so you value it on EV/EBITDA and EV/EBITDA less CapEx, and you care about the dividend. The software company is asset-light and growth-driven, so you value it on revenue multiples adjusted for growth and retention.

   Then walk it

   1. For the telco, EBITDA is large but so is CapEx on spectrum and network, so EV/EBITDA alone flatters it. EV/EBITDA less CapEx, or EV/EBIT, is the honest read.
   2. Telco value is also driven by regulation, spectrum holdings and subscriber metrics like ARPU and churn. A DCF works well because the cash flows are predictable.
   3. For the software company, current earnings are suppressed by growth spending, so EV/EBITDA is close to meaningless. EV/revenue against growth rate is the working metric.
   4. The quality tests for software are net revenue retention, gross margin and the rule of forty, growth plus margin. Those determine whether a revenue multiple is deserved.
   5. So both get a DCF, but the telco DCF is credible on near-term cash flows while the software DCF is almost entirely terminal value. That difference is the real answer: you trust the telco's forecast and you stress-test the software company's.

   Where candidates lose it

   Treating it as a list of two metric sets. The interviewer wants you to notice that the DCF is reliable for one and mostly assumption for the other. That structural insight is the answer.

   Expect next

   • What is the rule of forty?
   • What is the formula for net revenue retention, gross retention and churn?
   • Which would you rather own at today's multiples?

   Reported by candidates at Credit Suisse (Investment Banking, Sydney, 2020). Source: Wall Street Oasis.

3. 044If you were the buyer, what would you consider before doing this acquisition?M&AIntermediatetechnicalEvercoreInvestment Banking · Menlo Park · 2025

   Say this

   Four things in order: is the target worth what I am paying on a standalone basis, what synergies are genuinely achievable, can I fund it without breaking my own credit profile, and can I actually integrate it.

   Then walk it

   1. Standalone value first. Run the DCF and comps on the target alone, ignoring any synergy, so you know what you are paying for the business as it is.
   2. Then synergies, split into cost and revenue, with a probability attached. Cost synergies are largely deliverable; revenue synergies are usually aspirational and I would haircut them heavily.
   3. Then funding and credit. What does pro forma leverage look like, does it breach covenants, does it cost the acquirer its rating? A deal that triggers a downgrade can be value-destructive even if it is accretive.
   4. Then integration and diligence risk: customer concentration, key-person dependency, systems compatibility, culture, and anything in the quality-of-earnings work that suggests the EBITDA is not real.
   5. And the deal-breaker screen: antitrust, foreign investment review, and change-of-control clauses in the target's major contracts. Those are the things that kill deals after you have paid the fees.

   Where candidates lose it

   Producing an unstructured list of worries. Structure is the point. Standalone value, then synergies, then financing, then integration, then closing risk. Give the frame first, then populate it.

   Expect next

   • Which synergies would you actually put in the model?
   • How would you diligence the quality of earnings?
   • What would make you walk away?

   Reported by candidates at Evercore (Investment Banking, Menlo Park, 2025). Source: Wall Street Oasis.

4. 076Pitch me a stock to buy and one to sell.Markets and dealsIntermediatetechnicalBank of AmericaInvestment Banking · New York · 2023MSMorgan StanleySales and Trading · Tokyo · 2025Balyasny Asset ManagementEquity Hedge · New York · 2020

   Say this

   Lead with the recommendation and the target, then give the variant view, then the catalyst, then the risk. Ninety seconds. The variant view is the whole pitch: what do you believe that the market does not?

   Then walk it

   1. One sentence: 'I would buy X at its current level with a target of Y, about 30 percent upside over 12 months.'
   2. Then the business in two sentences, so the interviewer knows you understand what it actually sells.
   3. Then the variant view, which is the only part that matters. 'Consensus models margin flat; I think it expands 200 basis points because the pricing taken last year has not annualised yet.' No variant view means no pitch.
   4. Then the catalyst and the timeline. What event makes the market agree with you, and when.
   5. Then the two biggest risks and what would make you exit. And on the short side, be rigorous: a short thesis needs a catalyst and a borrow cost, because 'it is expensive' is not a thesis.
   6. Know the numbers behind it: revenue growth, margin, multiple, and roughly what the market values it at.

   Where candidates lose it

   Pitching a mega-cap that everyone covers, with a thesis that is just the consensus narrative. If your reason is the reason in the newspaper, there is no edge. And never pitch something you cannot defend on valuation.

   Expect next

   • What would make you change your mind?
   • Are you sure your thesis can be backed up? What if their costs do not fall?
   • How would you hedge this name?

   Reported by candidates at Bank of America (Investment Banking, New York, 2023); Morgan Stanley (Sales and Trading, Tokyo, 2025); Balyasny Asset Management (Equity Hedge, New York, 2020). Source: Wall Street Oasis.

5. 079How would you value your school's most popular food truck, and what assumptions would you make?Case and estimationIntermediatetechnicalCitiInvestment Banking · New York · 2026

   Say this

   Build up the revenue from observable inputs, estimate margin, then apply a multiple appropriate to a tiny owner-operated business. Say every assumption out loud and keep the numbers round.

   Then walk it

   1. Revenue: it serves maybe 150 customers a day at an average ticket of $12, so about $1,800 a day. Open 300 days a year, so roughly $540,000 of annual revenue.
   2. Costs: food cost around 30 percent, one or two staff plus the owner at maybe $80,000 total, then permits, fuel, maintenance and the truck payment. Call it $120,000 of operating profit before the owner's own wage.
   3. Normalise for owner compensation, which is the step people skip. If the owner is working full time, you must charge a market salary, say $50,000, leaving about $70,000 of real EBITDA.
   4. Multiple: this is a tiny business with total key-person dependency, no contracts, and a licence that may not transfer. Two to three times EBITDA, so $140,000 to $210,000.
   5. Then the cross-checks: the replacement cost of a used truck and equipment is maybe $60,000 to $100,000, which sets a floor. And the location permit may be the single most valuable asset, in which case you are really valuing the licence, not the business.

   Where candidates lose it

   Applying a public-market multiple to a food truck. Small, owner-dependent businesses trade at two to four times EBITDA, not ten. And forgetting to charge for the owner's labour, which overstates EBITDA enormously in any small business case.

   Expect next

   • What if the permit is not transferable?
   • How would you value an apple tree?
   • What would make you pay more than replacement cost?

   Reported by candidates at Citi (Investment Banking, New York, 2026). Source: Wall Street Oasis.

6. 080How do you value an apple tree?Case and estimationIntermediatetechnicalLincoln InternationalValuation · New York · 2023Rothschild & CoGeneralist · New York · 2026

   Say this

   As a finite-life cash-generating asset. Forecast the fruit it yields each year, price it, subtract the cost of harvesting, discount over the tree's productive life, and add any terminal value for the land or the timber.

   Then walk it

   1. Cash flows: say 200 kilos of apples a year at a dollar a kilo, so $200 of revenue, less picking, water and treatment of maybe $80. Call it $120 a year.
   2. Shape the life curve. A young tree yields little, a mature tree plateaus, an old tree declines. So this is not a flat annuity; it ramps, plateaus for twenty or thirty years, then falls away.
   3. No perpetuity, because the tree dies. Forecast to the end of the productive life and add salvage, which is the firewood or the cleared land.
   4. Discount rate: this is a risky agricultural cash flow exposed to weather, disease and commodity price. Something well into double digits.
   5. Then the three cross-checks that make it a valuation answer rather than an arithmetic one. Market: what do orchards sell for per tree or per acre? Replacement: what does it cost to buy and grow a sapling to maturity, including the years of no yield? And the option value: if the land under it is worth more as building plots, the tree is worth negative, because you would pay to remove it. That last point is the answer they are listening for.

   Where candidates lose it

   Treating it as a perpetuity. It is a finite-life asset, which is the whole reason the question gets asked. And missing that the highest-value use might be cutting it down, which is the insight that the asset's value depends on the alternative use of what it sits on.

   Expect next

   • What if the land is worth more as development?
   • How does this differ from valuing a mine?
   • What discount rate would you use?

   Reported by candidates at Lincoln International (Valuation, New York, 2023); Rothschild & Co (Generalist, New York, 2026). Source: Wall Street Oasis.

7. 083How would a college increase its revenue?Case and estimationIntermediatetechnicalHWHarris WilliamsInvestment Banking · Richmond · 2018

   Say this

   Price, volume, mix, and new revenue lines. Raise net tuition by discounting less, grow enrolment, shift mix toward full-fee and postgraduate students, and monetise the assets that sit idle.

   Then walk it

   1. Price: the lever is usually the discount rate, not the headline tuition. Most institutions discount heavily; recovering a few points of net tuition is worth more than a sticker price rise and is less visible.
   2. Volume: more students, but constrained by capacity and by admissions standards, since taking weaker students damages the brand that supports the price.
   3. Mix is the highest-return lever. International and out-of-state students pay multiples of the domestic rate. Postgraduate and professional programmes carry better margins. Executive education has almost no marginal cost against existing faculty.
   4. New lines: online programmes that break the capacity constraint entirely, summer and short courses that use the campus in the off-season, conference and event hire, and licensing the brand.
   5. And the asset side: parking, retail on campus, research commercialisation and licensing, plus the fundraising engine, since alumni giving is a genuine revenue line that responds to investment.
   6. The reason mix beats price and volume: operating leverage. Faculty cost is already committed, so an incremental full-fee student in an existing class is almost entirely margin.

   Where candidates lose it

   Listing ideas without ranking them by margin impact. The interviewer wants commercial prioritisation. Naming operating leverage as the reason mix wins turns a brainstorm into an analysis.

   Expect next

   • Which would you do first?
   • What is the risk of the online strategy?
   • How would you value the business after those changes?

   Reported by candidates at Harris Williams (Investment Banking, Richmond, 2018). Source: Wall Street Oasis.

8. 088Comparing two identical buildings, how would you value them differently?Case and estimationIntermediatetechnicalApollo Global ManagementReal Estate · Williamsport · 2022MSMorgan StanleyInvestment Banking · London · 2025

   Say this

   Identical bricks do not mean identical value. The difference is in the leases, the tenants and the debt. Value is net operating income divided by cap rate, and both terms can differ completely for the same building.

   Then walk it

   1. Net operating income first: what rent is actually contracted, at what escalations, with what vacancy and what recoveries of operating expenses. One building leased at above-market rent is worth more than its twin at below-market, today.
   2. Then lease duration and tenant credit. Ten years remaining to an investment grade tenant supports a much lower cap rate than two years remaining to a weak covenant. Duration and credit are the risk in real estate.
   3. Then the cap rate itself, which is where location micro-differences show up: the side of the street, the transport access, the parking, the floor plate efficiency.
   4. Then the debt in place. Assumable below-market fixed-rate debt is a real asset and can be worth several percent of the value. Expensive debt with prepayment penalties is a liability.
   5. Then everything outside the four walls: property tax assessment, ground lease versus freehold, capital expenditure deferred by one owner and not the other, and zoning or development rights above the building.
   6. So the short answer: I would value the cash flows and the risk of those cash flows, not the building. Two identical structures can easily differ 30 percent in value.

   Where candidates lose it

   Assuming the question is a trick with no answer, or listing only location. Leases and tenant credit are the substance. Naming assumable debt is the detail that marks out someone who has looked at real deals.

   Expect next

   • Walk me through getting to exit value from gross potential rent using a cap rate.
   • What is the cash-on-cash return at a given LTV and cap rate?
   • How does a cap rate relate to a multiple?

   Reported by candidates at Apollo Global Management (Real Estate, Williamsport, 2022); Morgan Stanley (Investment Banking, London, 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.