Walk me through your CV.

What it tests: Story coherence + genuine analytical curiosity about companies and a sector. ER teams want sustained evidence of following companies, building views, and writing them up, not a transactional mindset.

Tell me about your most impressive piece of research or a company you know well.

What it tests: Depth of independent analysis + a differentiated conclusion. Tests whether the candidate did proprietary work and reached a defensible view, not consumed others' notes.

Tell me about a weakness, a failure, or feedback you've received and worked on.

What it tests: Self-awareness + intellectual honesty. Cross-role canonical. Fake weaknesses downgrade immediately. A published analyst is on the record, so honesty about a wrong call and how you handled it matters.

Why sell-side equity research, why not the buy-side or banking?

What it tests: Authentic fit for the published-analyst role: deep sector expertise, writing and defending a public call, and a client-facing / corporate-facing franchise, vs the buy-side's position-taking or banking's transactions.

What sector would you want to cover, and what's happening in it?

What it tests: Genuine sector interest + live engagement. Tests whether the candidate has a reasoned sector preference and can speak to its current drivers and debates, not a generic answer.

What it tests: Whether the candidate has done the homework. Bar: firm-specific evidence from the franchise, sector strength, ranked analysts, and published calls, not generic 'great research reputation'.

How would you describe this firm's research franchise and edge in your own words?

What it tests: Whether the candidate has internalized HOW the desk generates and monetizes research, its sector strength, client value, and independence, not just that the firm 'has research'. Tests whether they read the desk's notes.

What makes a sell-side research call valuable to a client, when is the Street wrong?

What it tests: Whether the candidate understands the value of sell-side research: differentiated estimates, sector expertise, and corporate access, and that the edge is being right when consensus is wrong.

Research interview prep.

A sector analyst whose deliverable is a PUBLISHED call, a rating (Buy / Hold / Sell), a price target, and earnings estimates that feed 'the Street', defended to clients and the covered companies.

What interviewers look for

Does the candidate frame a stock as a CALL, a rating and a price target, not just a description of a good company?
Do they have a variant view vs consensus / the Street, and can they say what's in consensus and why they differ?
Can they build / defend the estimates and the valuation that derive the target price?
Do they think in sector terms, the drivers, the comps, and what moves the whole space?
Are they catalyst-aware, the events in the next 6-12 months that close the gap to target, and risk-aware?
Can they defend a call under pressure to clients and corporates, and admit when the thesis breaks?

Behavioural questions to expect

Walk me through your CV.
What it tests: Story coherence + genuine analytical curiosity about companies and a sector. ER teams want sustained evidence of following companies, building views, and writing them up, not a transactional mindset.
Tell me about your most impressive piece of research or a company you know well.
What it tests: Depth of independent analysis + a differentiated conclusion. Tests whether the candidate did proprietary work and reached a defensible view, not consumed others' notes.
Tell me about a weakness, a failure, or feedback you've received and worked on.
What it tests: Self-awareness + intellectual honesty. Cross-role canonical. Fake weaknesses downgrade immediately. A published analyst is on the record, so honesty about a wrong call and how you handled it matters.
Why sell-side equity research, why not the buy-side or banking?
What it tests: Authentic fit for the published-analyst role: deep sector expertise, writing and defending a public call, and a client-facing / corporate-facing franchise, vs the buy-side's position-taking or banking's transactions.
What sector would you want to cover, and what's happening in it?
What it tests: Genuine sector interest + live engagement. Tests whether the candidate has a reasoned sector preference and can speak to its current drivers and debates, not a generic answer.
Why this firm?
What it tests: Whether the candidate has done the homework. Bar: firm-specific evidence from the franchise, sector strength, ranked analysts, and published calls, not generic 'great research reputation'.
How would you describe this firm's research franchise and edge in your own words?
What it tests: Whether the candidate has internalized HOW the desk generates and monetizes research, its sector strength, client value, and independence, not just that the firm 'has research'. Tests whether they read the desk's notes.
What makes a sell-side research call valuable to a client, when is the Street wrong?
What it tests: Whether the candidate understands the value of sell-side research: differentiated estimates, sector expertise, and corporate access, and that the edge is being right when consensus is wrong.

Technical concepts to master

Three financial statements, connections you'll be probed on

Income statement (IS) overview: Profitability over a period. Revenue → COGS → Gross Profit → OpEx → EBITDA → D&A → EBIT → Interest → EBT → Tax → Net Income.
Balance sheet (BS) overview: Snapshot at a point in time. Assets (current + non-current) = Liabilities (current + non-current) + Shareholders' Equity.
Cash flow statement (CFS) overview: Cash movement, grouped by operating / investing / financing.
Statement connections, the canonical question: How the three statements link: Net Income flows from IS to CFS (operating) and to Retained Earnings on BS. D&A flows from IS to CFS (add-back) and reduces PP&E on BS. CapEx flows from CFS (investing) and increases PP&E on BS. Change in debt flows from CFS (financing) and updates liabilities on BS. Change in cash from CFS updates cash on BS.

The three core valuation methodologies

Discounted Cash Flow (DCF): Intrinsic valuation: project unlevered free cash flows, discount at WACC, sum to get Enterprise Value.
Public Company Comparables (Comps): Relative valuation: apply the multiples of similar publicly-traded companies to your target's metric.
Precedent Transactions: Relative valuation: apply multiples paid in recent M&A transactions of similar companies.
When each is most relevant: DCF: standalone valuation, no good comps exist, you need intrinsic value. Public comps: ongoing operating valuation, market-based sanity check. Precedent transactions: M&A or take-private scenarios, control valuation.

Enterprise Value vs Equity Value, the bridge

Equity Value (Market Cap): Value of the company to its equity shareholders: share price × diluted shares outstanding.
Enterprise Value: Value of the company's core operations to ALL investors (debt + equity + preferred).
The bridge. Equity Value → Enterprise Value: Start with Equity Value; add net debt (debt − cash); add preferred and minority interest.
Why cash is subtracted: Acquirer effectively gets the cash back upon acquisition, it reduces the net price paid for the operating business.

The research note + rating / target

Rating + price target: The rating (Buy / Hold / Sell) is the call; the price target is the 12-month fair value derived from valuation, and the upside / downside to it justifies the rating.
Initiation of coverage: Starting research on a name with a full note, a rating, a target, and the investment thesis.
The note + the conclusion first: A research note leads with the rating, target, and thesis, then supports with estimates, valuation, catalysts, and risks.
Independence (Reg AC / MiFID II): Research is separated from banking; analysts certify their views are their own (Reg AC), and clients pay for research explicitly under MiFID II.

The sell-side stock pitch

The call + business: Name, ticker, rating, price, target, upside / downside %; then what the company does and how it makes money.
Thesis + variant view: Why it's mispriced and what consensus / the Street is missing, your differentiated read.
Estimates + valuation: Your key estimates vs consensus, and the DCF + multiples that derive the target.
Catalysts + risks: The 2-3 events in 6-12 months that close the gap to target, and the two risks / the downgrade trigger.

Estimates + consensus

Consensus / the Street: The average of sell-side analysts' estimates and ratings for a name, the market's baseline expectation.
Earnings revisions: Upgrades / downgrades to estimates over time, a powerful driver of stock performance.
Beats / misses + earnings season: Quarterly results vs consensus; the analyst updates the model, estimates, and target around each print.
Sector drivers: The variables that move a whole sector (rates for financials, drug pipelines for healthcare, the cycle for industrials, the consumer for retail).

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

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