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Well, you probably won't be asked to short a stock-- despite what people say, that question is relatively rare, unless you're interviewing at certain hedge funds. Otherwise, you've touched upon most of the bases. You have to be able to tell your story, explain why you want to work at the firm, and have at least 1 good stock pitch. Depending on the firm, you might also get broader questions about your investing philosophy (e.g. "How do you choose a stock to pitch?"), behavioral anecdotes (e.g. "Tell me about a time you worked in a team and overcame some challenge"), or market questions (e.g. "Tell me about interest rates" or "How do you feel about so-and-so large cap firm?").
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@50in07" not sure if it helps but for stock pitch someone had posted this before 2 to 3 pages examples of pitch (long/short) - https://www8.gsb.columbia.edu/valueinvesting/resources/newsletters
at your question (sorry to hijack), interested to know too. If one has limited resources - annual reports, company website & internet (google searching), and does not have access to bloomberg, reuters, capital iq for industry, comparables analysis for example... how far the pitch can go? anyone? thanks in advance.
@Nobodythere already touched upon this, but I've also used Graham and Doddsville in the past. Their example pitches are (more or less) the maximum of what could be expected from you as an undergraduate, so take a close look at them.
In general, the easiest way to structure the pitch is as follows: 1. Introduction 2. Background on the company/industry 3. Two-three point investment thesis 4. Valuation and conclusion
If your pitch can fill out 1-2 pages of a handout, you're probably on track. While you shouldn't talk for more than 4-5 minutes when giving your pitch in an interview, you still want to know enough about the company that you could withstand 10-15 minutes of grilling in the follow-up questions. So know the company's different revenue segments/business model, know some details about their operations, know the competitive landscape, know the assumptions behind your valuation, and know the market consensus on the stock (and why you differ!), etc. Most places won't require you to go this in-depth, but it's definitely something you want in your back pocket.
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