are BB financials the best group to follow?

"Your company's balance sheet sucks compared to JP Morgan's"

Pretty sure the only way your strategy would backfire is if you actually said this in an interview.

Yeah, you can definitely find a better word for "sucks."

If a candidate was intelligent and socially astute enough to inform me that my company's balance sheet sucked during an interview, I'd hire that rockstar on the spot.

lol well to post seriously on the topic.. I would stay away from financials just because its often a hard industry to grasp.... I still dont think a majority of the american public has any ideas what happened with Bear Stearns or the subprime mess... or even why gas prices are high.... but I think its easiest to stick to a company that has a simpler and more tangible business model. One industry thats sometimes easier is consumer product or retail....

In general you may want to pick an industry that interests you personally...... makes it easier to follow... Then you may want to pick a few standout companies in that industry and analyze what makes them do very well compared to their peers. You will want to look at it from a balance sheet approach and an economic approach. Often times the way a company is capitalized (debt vrs equity) or the specific balance sheet items will not give you a good enough idea about what makes that company great. Alot of times its marketing or economic (micro or macro) factors that delineate the winners from the losers.

Most of all, commenting on balance sheet items can be pretty worthless without a story that ties the importance of that item. Saying something like "Company XYZ has a low debt to equity ratio, or a high EV to EBITDA ratio" is worthless compared to stating something like "Given that company XYZ is short on cash on hand and may not see profits for awhile (because it is still growing its infrastructure), it would seem worrisome that it has as much debt in its financing structure"

I agree with sumguy. If you can talk competently about the financial firms, it will only help you--both for your understanding of the industry and odds of success come interview time. One anecdote. During an info session, a friend of mine in the EU asked a BB MD why his firm wasn't using its balance sheet for prop trading like GS. Needless to say, most of the session attendees had no idea what my friend was talking about and the surprised MD stammered and provided a crappy answer. Guess where that guy is starting FT in July? That same BB.

smuguy was obviously kidding, the tone of sarcasm was in my opinion impossible to miss.

to answer the op, the financials are very difficult to grasp (Equity Research Analysts dont have a fucking clue) and if some kid came into an interview trying to talk about the firms balance sheet i would think he was a tool and youd prob end up getting torn to shreds.

just read WSJ watch cnbc follow some stocks and youll be ok.