Did just well enough to do a take-home on private co

Hi team,

After networking efforts with the goal of landing an Analyst role in Toronto, a boutique EMD (Exempt Market Dealer) group was nice enough to give me a chance. The odds are not in my favor BUT I did just well enough for the hiring manager to be interested in seeing what kind of an analysis I can perform on a private company within a week. Based on the group's interests, and my interests as of late, I've decided that I'll perform research on a private company involved in micro-agriculture (Cricket farms). I mentioned the idea on the spot and the manager was enthusiastic. Now I feel committed to the idea - for better or for worse.

I've got final exams through Friday of next week (Aug 4) so I thought I'd reach out to the community to see if I could get some advice for when I officially begin next week. I've listed some numbered questions below to help lead this but don;t feel bound to what's listed here. You can reference a targeted question by numbering your response with the corresponding number. Thank you in advance.

1. Is there a resource that's aimed at supplying analyses of companies or industries?
2. Is there a publisher or an analyst that's famous/well known for well written or well-developed analyses?
3. I've identified a few cricket farmers/organizations here in Canada. Is it wrong to call them up and see what I can uncover about their company?
4. Should I disclose that I'm interested in analyzing their company as a case study or project? I feel like this is a given but I'm also interested in what feedback I might get on this question.
5. Should I sight my sources in APA format? I'll probably just use the format I see most often in other analyses.
6. How much of the analysis should include potential legal barriers? For example, hurdles for cricket farms to mass produce products for human consumption in grocery stores. There seems to be some gray area around the product needing to be a frozen packaged good.
7. What should the conclusion be for a private company being analyzed? I realize this is a pretty basic question, but my experience has been with public companies which usually concludes with a buy/hold or sell. For a private company such as the ones I'll be looking at, I feel like I should conclude with the subject company being a good or bad company in comparison to the private market and how they may fair in different market conditions going forward. I'd rather not get dinged for failing to have a black/white conclusion.

Great post for public companies: https://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/sources-an…

Thanks again.