Best Way to Prepare for a Fundamental L/S Internship?
I recently received an offer for a Summer 2027 fundamental long/short internship and have about 10 months before I start.
For those who have worked in public equities, how would you recommend preparing?
Interested in anything from modeling and earnings work to idea generation, investment write-ups, shorting, and building a repeatable process.
My goal is to show up as prepared as possible and already thinking like a junior investor.
Would appreciate any advice.
To prepare effectively for your fundamental long/short internship, here’s a structured approach based on the most helpful WSO content:
1. Stock Pitch Mastery
2. Modeling Skills
3. Reading and Research
4. Idea Generation and Process Building
5. Earnings Work
6. Networking and Mentorship
7. General Habits
By focusing on these areas, you’ll position yourself as a well-prepared and thoughtful junior investor, ready to make a strong impression during your internship.
Sources: Q&A: 3rd Year Hedge Fund Analyst, How to get a Hedge Fund Internship, Hedge Fund Careers: Getting a Hedge Fund Job Out of Undergrad and Beyond, https://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forum/hedge-fund/the-hedge-fund-experience-good-bad-ugly?customgpt=1, How to prepare for summer ASSOCIATE internship
Following
Modelling
And then spend time tracking a few stocks, and modelling the KPIs quarter to quarter, try get a feel of what matters and what the stock is moving on.
I’d also spend some time thinking through bigger picture themes and trends, what is the current trade? How are yields moving, how are indexes and sectors moving, what does that tell you about the regime we are in
Thanks for the advice
I joined out of undergrad
Long term it makes no difference. In the shorter term there’s a general view that the kids coming out of school (and surviving the grad programs) are materially better. But that is to be expected.
Otherwise these programs wouldn’t exist. Some of the larger/better teams at my firm rely on taking someone out of the grad program each year, but still hire laterals
You can PM. Honestly come in being very coachable and have some competency with modeling, ie. if someone asks you to look at X name you should have some sense of how to do a segment build or think through how to model costs or rev. There is usually 1-2 KPI's etc that stocks trade on so being able to identify that and work through that should be value add when you are pitching or chatting. A big part of succeeding at these places during undergrad is being useful with tools or data in a way they are not or at least unfamiliar with...for instance during one of the HF internships I did I showed my PM how to scrape wayback machine with some added tooling to fill in missing gaps etc and was able to build unit economics off that information for a name we were lacking info for.
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