N/a

Lol what 

Sounds like this isn’t a great idea 

Don't be stupid. These people aren't stupid, they will most likely catch your lie by asking you to explain how you arrived at that figure, what inputs, where did you get the inputs, etc.

But above all, irregardless of success, it will yield that you are: A) dishonest, and B) lazy at best, stupid and arrogant at worst.

The 1st one is the killer - can't work with someone you can't trust, no ifs or buts. The 2nd one is treatable, but high risk (burnout, early exit) and the candidate pool is probably robust and competitive enough to make that a discard on your application.

Goddamn man HF is an absolute joy and a privilege for most people there, if you don't have the passion for research and markets, why even bother? Go be sell-side and you will at least have a more stable job with possibly higher comps

Also, forget the number. That is irrelevant, they aren’t gonna act upon it, they would do their own DD first. They care about the method, reasoning, and vision/creativity behind your recommendation. Definitely don’t be afraid to go against the grain. Got a position covering L/S TMT at a ~10B HF under a PM by presenting to him my thesis (done when I was at uni in my free-time) on Semis in late 2019/early 2020 when the market looked to be getting out of the down-cycle

This is an awesome post, and no… do not make up stuff. When making up the P/E ratio were you just going to make fake next years earnings estimates? Guessing you did a bunch of work and it turns out you’re just in line with street estimates. Welcome to 90% of situations after covering 90% of generally available information. Doesn’t mean there can’t be a thesis in there somewhere still, keep at it

Lol here's a thought - even if you managed to fool them with your cap, do you want to work at a place which can't even see a fake ratio in their face? And a fake number capped by a student too, not Bernie Madoff. Heads you lose, tails they win.

Don't do it man. Just walk them thru your thesis and say what has happened. If you're good, they'll appreciate that