Research interview prep.

Behavioural questions to expect

1. Walk me through your CV.
2. Tell me about your most impressive piece of research or a company you know well.
3. Tell me about a weakness, a failure, or feedback you've received and worked on.
4. Why sell-side equity research — why not the buy-side or banking?
5. What sector would you want to cover, and what's happening in it?
6. Why the firm?
7. How would you describe the firm's research franchise and edge in your own words?
8. What makes a sell-side research call valuable to a client — when is the Street wrong?

Technical concepts to master

• Three financial statements — connections you'll be probed on

  Income statement (IS) overview · Balance sheet (BS) overview · Cash flow statement (CFS) overview · Statement connections — the canonical question · Prepaid expense scenario

• The three core valuation methodologies

  Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) · Public Company Comparables (Comps) · Precedent Transactions · When each is most relevant · Methodologies you specifically would NOT use

• Enterprise Value vs Equity Value — the bridge

  Equity Value (Market Cap) · Enterprise Value · The bridge — Equity Value → Enterprise Value · Why cash is subtracted · Which multiples use EV vs which use Equity Value

• The research note + rating / target

  Rating + price target · Initiation of coverage · The note + the conclusion first · Independence (Reg AC / MiFID II)

• The sell-side stock pitch

  The call + business · Thesis + variant view · Estimates + valuation · Catalysts + risks

• Estimates + consensus

  Consensus / the Street · Earnings revisions · Beats / misses + earnings season · Sector drivers

Practical drills

• A company will earn $5.00 forward EPS. Peers trade at 16x forward P/E; you think the right multiple is 18x given faster growth. Current price is $76. (a) What's your target and the implied upside? (b) Cross-check: EBITDA is $400m, net debt $300m, 100m shares — at a 10x EV/EBITDA peer multiple, what's the implied equity value per share?
• Pitch me a stock in the desk's covered sector. 5 min prep, 2-3 min delivery. Land a rating and a price target, and be ready to defend the variant view, the estimates, and the catalysts for 10-15 min.
• Walk me through how you'd build the model and forecast the estimates for a name in this sector, and which assumptions drive the target.

Smart-question anchors

• Sector + coverage - the covered universe, how names are added, and where the desk's house view differs from the Street
• The call + process - how ratings and targets are set, debated, and changed, and how juniors contribute to models / notes
• Client value + monetization - who reads the research, broker votes / MiFID II, and how the analyst's value is measured
• Corporate access + franchise - conferences, management access, and the analyst's II ranking / reputation
• Independence - how research sits vs banking and the Reg AC / independence posture

Sourced from

Mergers & Inquisitions — Equity Research (buy-side vs sell-side) + ER questions · Corporate Finance Institute — Equity Research Interview Questions · Wall Street Oasis — Equity Research Interview Questions · Wall Street Prep — Sell-Side vs Buy-Side + Equity Research Report · Aswath Damodaran (NYU Stern)