Technical &Quantitative Interview Questions Interview question

Valuing a Company Questions:
What are 3 ways to value a company?
I see you worked for Company X. What valuation methods would you use to value Company X and why?
How would you go about valuing a company whose stock you were considering buying?
What project in a previous job or class involved valuing a company and how did you value that company?
Of the different ways to value a company, which typically gives you the highest
valuation? The lowest?
It’s 10pm and you have a pitch to prepare for morning – what would you do to prepare a valuation for the client company?
How do you value a company with no revenue?
Tell me how you would go about valuing a privately held construction company?
What if there are no publicly traded peers?
What criteria are you using to evaluate the company for which you hope to work?
What are the main issues in valuing a privately held firm?
How would you value a non-U.S. company?
How would you value a company with no earnings such as a start up?
I see you worked for Company X. What valuation methods would you use to value Company X and why? Which companies would you use as comparables and why? What multiples would you use to compare and why?
DCF Questions:
Walk me through a DCF.
How do you compute a terminal value on a DCF?
How do you determine your Free Cash Flows? Why is there a need to calculate it?
Where do you get EBIT?
What is EBIT?
What is EBITDA?
Why is EBITDA a surrogate for operating cash flows?
What is the difference between EBIT and Operating Income?
What is WACC and how do you calculate it? Or In a DCF how do you get to WACC? Or Can you walk me through how you would determine a company’s Weighted Average Cost of Capital (WACC)?
What type of discount rate would I use in valuing the cash flows of a particular company?
How do I arrive at the WACC for a given company?
What is the value ratio?
How do you determine the cost of equity?
How do you determine the cost of debt?
What is beta?
What is CAPM and how do you calculate it?
What beta do you use in CAPM and how do you obtain it?
How do you unlever a Beta? Why do you unlever a beta?
How do you lever a Beta? Why do you lever a beta?
In calculating CAPM, do you use an asset beta or an equity beta?
When do you use an unlevered Beta or a levered Beta?
If you have an asset beta how do you derive your equity beta?
What companies or industries have high Betas?
You are interested in X company, what is its beta and the industry average beta?
What index is used to calculate beta?
How do you calculate an equity beta?
Is beta constant or does it vary over time?
What do you think the beta of General Motors is? What about a high-tech stock such as Cisco Systems?
Which is higher, cost of equity or cost of debt?
What number would you use for the market risk premium?
What number would you use for the risk-free rate?
What is a terminal value and the two ways to calculate the terminal value?
How do you calculate the Gordon Growth Model or Perpetuity Model for the second Terminal Value?
What are some of the advantages and disadvantages of DCF?
What is NOPLAT?
Is a DCF valuation the value of equity or the enterprise value of a company?
Reconcile Free Cash Flow from Net Income?
How do you find diluted shares outstanding?
What is the Treasury Stock Method? When would you use it? How do you calculate it?
How do you get the Enterprise Value (or known as firm value, total capitalization, transaction value, aggregate value, adjusted market value)?
What are some shortcomings of DCF?
Is a DCF valuation the value of equity or the enterprise value of a company?
Reconcile Free Cash Flow from Net Income.
Can you walk me through how you would determine a company’s Weighted Average Cost of Capital (WACC)?
Comparable Questions:
Understand equity and enterprise multiples. Know them backwards and forwards and when you apply them, what companies would use equity multiples vs. enterprise multiples, how it is related to debt, etc.
1. Which are higher? Acquisition comparable multiples or public company comparable multiples? Why?
2. What are the difference between public comparables and acquisition comparables?
3. Why don’t you compare Net Income to Enterprise Value?
4. What is difference between Enterprise Value and Equity Value?
Public or Trading Comparables Questions: 1. Pick a company. What multiples would you use for that company? What if it was a start-up? What if it had high CAPEX that was unusual? 2. What determining factors would you use to find comparable companies for a public comp?
3. How would you do a public comparable?
4. How do you find the appropriate market value for a company?
5. How do you find diluted shares outstanding?
6. What is the Treasury Stock Method? When would you use it? How do you calculate it?
7. You are interested in company X, what multiples would you use to compare it to its peers?
8. How would you find information for a comp?
9. When do you use public vs. acquisition?
10. You said you were interested in health care, what is an average P/E multiple in this area.
Acquistion or Transaction Comparables Questions:
1. What are the key factors in determining your comparable transactions?
2. What is included in the price paid for an acquisition?
3. What is the difference between offer value and equity value?
4. What is the difference between transaction value and enterprise value?
5. How would you determine the deal list for acquisition comps?
6. What are some shortcomings of acquisition comps?
7. What multiples would you use for acquisition comps?
Random Questions:
1111. Company A and B are in the restaurant business. Company A is buying company B. What things would company A want to know?
12. What is an option? You're talking to a CEO about how he could use options. What would you say?
13. How would you value and compare a private all equity company vs. a public company with equity and debt?
14. How do you calculate the cost of debt for a private company?
15. If valuing an all-equity company, how would you calculate the cost of equity?
16. If you were advising a client on an acquisition and your client was willing to pay between $800M - $1B and you knew a PE outfit was about to make a bid for $850M, what would you offer to preempt their bid?
17. If company A owned its stores and company B leased its stores, which would have the higher EBITDA?
18. It’s 10pm and you have a pitch to prepare for morning – what would you do to prepare a valuation for the client company?
19. If a target company has a higher P/E than the acquirer in an all-stock deal, will the acquisition be accretive or dilutive?
20. What are the benefits of pooling versus purchase method in an acquisition?
21. You said you were interested in technology, what's the average debt load for a technology company?
22. What is an LBO and how is it structured?
23. What make a company a good candidate for an LBO?
24. How do you ref out a model? (more geared towards former analysts). When a model blows up, what are the three ways to fix it?
25. In a secondary offering, if you could only choose one method of valuation, which one would you use? Why?
26. What is operating leverage?
27. Tell me how you have modeled with equations in the past?
28. Do you have an analytical mind? Show me.
29. What are the benefits of pooling versus purchase method in an acquisition?
30. Here’s a whiteboard. Stand in front of it and present a chapter from your favorite finance textbook. You have five minutes.
31. Do you know the relationship between the price and yield on the bond?
32. How you developed your core finance skills (analytical ability, good communication skills, strong work ethic)?
33. What is an option? You're talking to a CEO about how he could use options. What would you say?
34. Tell me about the stock a stock that you follow? (what are we suppose to say)
35. What does liquidity allow an investor?
36. If you worked for the finance division of our company, how would you decide whether or not to invest in a project?
37. Why might a technology company be more highly valued in the market in terms of P/E than a steel company?
38. When should a company raise money via equity?
39. When should a company raise funds using debt?
40. How would one price the different elements of a convertible bond? (not as likely of a question)
41. Your client wants to buy one of two banks. One is trading at 12xP/E and the other trades at a 16xP/E. Which should your client try to buy? Do you even have enough information to determine this?
42. What are some ways to determine if a company might be a credit risk?
43. How does compounding work? Would I be better off with 10% annually, semi-annually or daily?
44. For a bond, what is duration? Why is duration important?
45. What is the difference between preferred stock and regular stock?
46. How can a company raise its stock price?
47. What is a leveraged buyout? Why lever up?
48. Your boss uses the DCF model for high growth company with low earnings. What do you think of this strategy?
49. Can I apply CAPM in Latin America markets?
50. How do you value a company with NOLS (Net Operating Losses)?
51. Why would a company do a share repurchase or buyback?
52. What are the pros and cons of a company going public?
53. Why would a company decide to issue a convertible bond or equity or debt?
Math Questions:
Find a way to break down each question instead of doing long calculations.
1. Brain Teaser: Say you are driving 2 miles on a 1-mile track. You do one lap at 30 miles per hour. How fast do you need to go to average 60 miles an hour.
2. Give me the sum of all the numbers between 1 and 100.
3. You have a painting that is $320 that is selling for 20 percent off. Howmuch is the discounted price?
4. What is 4 cubed?
5. What is 6 cubed?
6. What is 7 cubed?
7. What is 8 cubed?
8. What is 9 cubed?
9. What is 2/3 + 3/4?
10. What is 1% of one million?
11. What is 10,000 x 10,000?
12. What is larger 3^4 or 4^3?
13. What is larger 3^5 or 4^4?
14. What is 100*100?
15. What is 10,000/8?
16. What is 40% of 1250?
17. What is 3/16 in a decimal?
18. What is 7/16 in a decimal

Technical Interview QuestionsI

1. A 2MB PCM(pulse code modulation) has

a) 32 channels
b) 30 voice channels & 1 signalling channel.
c) 31 voice channels & 1 signalling channel.
d) 32 channels out of which 30 voice channels, 1 signalling channel, & 1 Synchronizatio channel.

Ans: (c)

2. Time taken for 1 satellite hop in voice communication is

a) 1/2 second
b) 1 seconds
c) 4 seconds
d) 2 seconds

Ans: (a)

3. Max number of satellite hops allowed in voice communication is :

a) only one
b) more han one
c) two hops
d) four hops

Ans: (c)

4. What is the max. decimal number that can be accomodated in a byte.

a) 128
b) 256
c) 255
d) 512

Ans: (c)

5. Conditional results after execution of an instruction in a micro processor is stored in

a) register
b) accumulator
c) flag register
d) flag register part of PSW(Program Status Word)

Ans: (d)

6. Frequency at which VOICE is sampled is

a) 4 Khz
b) 8 Khz
c) 16 Khz
d) 64 Khz

Ans: (a)

7. Line of Sight is

a) Straight Line
b) Parabolic
c) Tx & Rx should be visible to each other
d) none

Ans: (c)

8. Purpose of PC(Program Counter) in a MicroProcessor is

a) To store address of TOS(Top Of Stack)
b) To store address of next instruction to be executed.
c) count the number of instructions.
d) to store base address of the stack.

Ans: (b)

9. What action is taken when the processor under execution is interrupted by a non-maskable interrupt?

a) Processor serves the interrupt request after completing the execution of the current instruction.
b) Processor serves the interupt request after completing the current task.
c) Processor serves the interupt request immediately.
d) Processor serving the interrupt request depends upon the priority of the current task under execution.

Ans: (a)

10. The status of the Kernel is

a) task
b) process
c) not defined.
d) none of the above.

Ans: (b)

11. To send a data packet using datagram , connection will be established

a) before data transmission.
b) connection is not established before data transmission.
c) no connection is required.
d) none of the above.

Ans: (c)

12. Word allignment is

a) alligning the address to the next word boundary of the machine.
b) alligning to even boundary.
c) alligning to word boundary.
d) none of the above.

Ans: (a)

13 When a 'C' function call is made, the order in which parameters passed to the function are pushed into the stack is

a) left to right
b) right to left
c) bigger variables are moved first than the smaller variales.
d) smaller variables are moved first than the bigger ones.
e) none of the above.

Ans: (b)

14 What is the type of signalling used between two exchanges?

a) inband
b) common channel signalling
c) any of the above
d) none of the above.

Ans: (a)

15 Buffering is

a) the process of temporarily storing the data to allow for small variation in device speeds
b) a method to reduce cross talks
c) storage of data within transmitting medium until the receiver is ready to receive.
d) a method to reduce routing overhead.

Ans: (a)

16. Memory allocation of variables declared in a program is

a) allocated in RAM.
b) allocated in ROM.
c) allocated on stack.
d) assigned to registers.

Ans: (c)

17. A software that allows a personal computer to pretend as a computer terminal is

a) terminal adapter
b) bulletin board
c) modem
d) terminal emulation

Ans: (d)

18. Find the output of the following program

int *p,*q;
p=(int *)1000;
q=(int *)2000;
printf("%d",(q-p));

Ans: 500

19. Which addressing mode is used in the following statements:

(a) MVI B,55
(b) MOV B,A
(c) MOV M,A

Ans. (a) Immediate addressing mode.
(b) Register Addressing Mode
(c) Direct addressing mode

20. RS-232C standard is used in _____________.

Ans. Serial I/O

21. Memory. Management in Operating Systems is done by

a) Memory Management Unit
b) Memory management software of the Operating System
c) Kernel

Ans: (b)

22. What is done for a Push opertion?

Ans: SP is decremented and then the value is stored.

23. Binary equivalent of 52

Ans. 110100


24. Hexadecimal equivalent of 3452

Ans. 72A


25. Explain Just In Time Concept ?

Ans. Elimination of waste by purchasing manufacturing exactly when needed


26. A good way of unit testing s/w program is

Ans. User test


27. OOT uses

Ans. Encapsulated of detect methods


28.EDI useful in

Ans. Electronic Transmission


29. MRPII different from MRP

Ans. Modular version of man redundant initials


30. Hard disk time for R/W head to move to correct sector

Ans. Latency Time


31. The percentage of times a page number bound in associate register is called

Ans. Bit ratio


32. Expand MODEM

Ans. Modulator and Demodulator


33. RDBMS file system can be defined as

Ans. Interrelated


34. Super Key is

Ans. Primary key and Attribute


35. Windows 95 supports

(a) Multiuser
(b) n tasks
(c) Both
(d) None

Ans. (a)


36.In the command scanf, h is used for

Ans. Short int


37.A process is defined as

Ans. Program in execution


38.A thread is

Ans. Detachable unit of executable code)


39.What is the advantage of Win NT over Win 95

Ans. Robust and secure

40.How is memory management done in Win95

Ans. Through paging and segmentation


41.What is meant by polymorphism

Ans. Redfinition of a base class method in a derived class


42.What is the essential feature of inheritance

Ans. All properties of existing class are derived


43.What does the protocol FTP do

Ans. Transfer a file b/w stations with user authentification


44.In the transport layer ,TCP is what type of protocol

Ans. Connection oriented


45.Why is a gateway used

Ans. To connect incompatible networks


46.How is linked list implemented

Ans. By referential structures


47.What method is used in Win95 in multitasking

Ans. Non preemptive check


48.What is a semaphore

Ans. A method synchronization of multiple processes


49.What is the precedence order from high to low ,of the symbols ( ) ++ /

Ans.( ) , ++, /

50.Preorder of A*(B+C)/D-G

Ans.*+ABC/-DG

51.What is the efficiency of merge sort

Ans. O(n log n)


52.In which layer are routers used

Ans.In network layer


53.Which of the following sorting algorithem has average sorting behavior --
Bubble sort,merge sort,heap sort,exchange sort

Ans. Heap sort


54.In binary search tree which traversal is used for getting ascending order values--Inorder ,post order,preorder

Ans.Inorder


55.What are device drivers used for

Ans.To provide software for enabling the hardware


56.What is fork command in unix

Ans. System call used to create process


57.What is make command in unix

Ans. Used forcreation of more than one file


58.In unix .profile contains

Ans. Start up program


59.In unix 'ls 'stores contents in

Ans.inode block

60. Which of the following involves context switch,

(a) system call
(b) priviliged instruction
(c) floating poitnt exception
(d) all the above
(e) none of the above

Ans: (a)

61. In OST, terminal emulation is done in

(a) sessions layer
(b) application layer
(c) presentation layer
(d) transport layer

Ans: (b)

62. For 1 MB memory, the number of address lines required,

(a)11
(b)16
(c)22
(d) 24

Ans. (b)

63. Semaphore is used for

(a) synchronization
(b) dead-lock avoidence
(c) box
(d) none

Ans. (a)

64. Which holds true for the following statement

class c: public A, public B

a) 2 member in class A, B should not have same name
b) 2 member in class A, C should not have same name
c) both
d) none

Ans. (a)

65.Preproconia.. does not do which one of the following

(a) macro
(b) conditional compliclation
(c) in type checking
(d) including load file

Ans. (c)

66. Piggy backing is a technique for

a) Flow control
b) Sequence
c) Acknowledgement
d) retransmition

Ans. (c)

67. Which is not a memory management scheme?

a) buddy system
b) swapping
c) monitors
d) paging

Ans : c

68. There was a circuit given using three nand gates with two inputs and one output.
Find the output.

a) OR
b) AND
c) XOR
d) NOT

Ans. (a)

69.Iintegrated check value(ICV) are used as:

Ans. The client computes the ICV and then compares it with the senders value.

70. When applets are downloaded from web sites , a byte verifier performs _________?

Ans. Status check.

71. An IP/IPX packet received by a computer using... having IP/IPX both how the packet is handled.

Ans. Read the, field in the packet header with to send IP or IPX protocol.

72. The UNIX shell ....

a) does not come with the rest of the system
b) forms the interface between the user and the kernal
c) does not give any scope for programming
d) deos not allow calling one program from with in another
e) all of the above

Ans. (b)

73. In UNIX a files i-node ......?

Ans. Is a data structure that defines all specifications of a file like the file size,
number of lines to a file, permissions etc.

74. The very first process created by the kernal that runs till the kernal process is halts is

a) init
b) getty
c) both (a) and (b)
d) none of these

Ans. (a)

75. In the process table entry for the kernel process, the process id value is

(a) 0
(b) 1
(c) 2
(d) 255
(e) it does not have a process table entry

Ans. (a)

76. Which of the following API is used to hide a window

a) ShowWindow
b) EnableWindow
c) MoveWindow
d) SetWindowPlacement
e) None of the above

Ans. (a)

77. Which function is the entry point for a DLL in MS Windows 3.1

a) Main
b) Winmain
c) Dllmain
d) Libmain
e) None

Ans. (b)

78. The standard source for standard input, standard output and standard error is

a) the terminal
b) /dev/null
c) /usr/you/input, /usr/you/output/, /usr/you/error respectively
d) None

Ans. (a)

79. The redirection operators > and >>

a) do the same function
b) differ : > overwrites, while >> appends
c) differ : > is used for input while >> is used for output
d) differ : > write to any file while >> write only to standard output
e) None of these

Ans. (b)

80. The command grep first second third /usr/you/myfile

a) prints lines containing the words first, second or third from the file /usr/you/myfile
b) searches for lines containing the pattern first in the files
second, third, and /usr/you/myfile and prints them
c) searches the files /usr/you/myfiel and third for lines containing the words first or second and prints them
d) replaces the word first with the word second in the files third and /usr/you/myfile
e) None of the above

Ans. (b)

81. You are creating a Index on EMPNO column in the EMPLOYEE table. Which statement will you use?
a) CREATE INdEX emp_empno_idx ON employee, empno;
b) CREATE INdEX emp_empno_idx FOR employee, empno;
c) CREATE INdEX emp_empno_idx ON employee(empno);
d) CREATE emp_empno_idx INdEX ON employee(empno);

Ans. c

82. Which program construct must return a value?
a) Package
b) Function
c) Anonymous block
d) Stored Procedure
e) Application Procedure

Ans. b

83. Which Statement would you use to remove the EMPLOYEE_Id_PK PRIMARY KEY constraint and all depending constraints fromthe EMPLOYEE table?
a) ALTER TABLE employee dROP PRIMARY KEY CASCAdE;
b) ALTER TABLE employee dELETE PRIMARY KEY CASCAdE;
c) MOdIFY TABLE employee dROP CONSTRAINT employee_id_pk CASCAdE;
d) ALTER TABLE employee dROP PRIMARY KEY employee_id_pk CASCAdE;
e) MOdIFY TABLE employee dELETE PRIMARY KEY employee_id_pk CASCAdE;

Ans. a

84. Which three commands cause a transaction to end? (Chosse three)
a) ALTER
b) GRANT
c) DELETE
d) INSERT
e) UPdATE
f) ROLLBACK

Ans. a ,b ,f

85. Under which circumstance should you create an index on a table?
a) The table is small.
b) The table is updated frequently.
c) A columns values are static and contain a narrow range of values
d) Two columns are consistently used in the WHERE clause join condition of SELECT
statements.

Ans.d

86. What was the first name given to Java Programming Language.

a) Oak - Java
b) Small Talk
c) Oak
d) None

Ans.a

87.When a bicycle is in motion,the force of friction exerted by the ground on the two wheels is such that it acts

(a) In the backward direction on the front wheel and in the forward direction on the rear wheel.
(b) In the forward direction on the front wheel and in the backward direction on the rear wheel.
(c) In the backward direction on both the front and rear wheels.
(d) In the backward direction on both the front and rear wheels.

Ans. (d)

88. A certain radioactive element A, has a half life = t seconds.
In (t/2) seconds the fraction of the initial quantity of the element so far decayed is nearly

(a) 29%
(b) 15%
(c) 10%
(d) 45%

Ans. (a)

89. Which of the following plots would be a straight line ?

(a) Logarithm of decay rate against logarithm of time
(b) Logarithm of decay rate against logarithm of number of decaying nuclei
(c) Decay rate against time
(d) Number of decaying nuclei against time

Ans. (b)

90. A radioactive element x has an atomic number of 100.
It decays directly into an element y which decays directly into element z.
In both processes a charged particle is emitted.
Which of the following statements would be true?

(a) y has an atomic number of 102
(b) y has an atomic number of 101
(c) z has an atomic number of 100
(d) z has an atomic number of 101

Ans. (b)

91. If the sum of the roots of the equation ax2 + bx + c=0 is equal to the sum of the squares of their reciprocals
then a/c, b/a, c/b are in

(a) AP
(b) GP
(c) HP
(d) None of these

Ans. (c)

92. A man speaks the truth 3 out of 4 times.
He throws a die and reports it to be a 6.
What is the probability of it being a 6?

(a) 3/8
(b) 5/8
(c) 3/4
(d) None of the above

Ans. (a)

93. If cos2A + cos2B + cos2C = 1 then ABC is a

(a) Right angle triangle
(b) Equilateral triangle
(c) All the angles are acute
(d) None of these

Ans. (a)

94. Image of point (3,8) in the line x + 3y = 7 is

(a) (-1,-4)
(b) (-1,4)
(c) (2,-4)
(d) (-2,-4)

Ans. (a)

95. The mass number of a nucleus is

(a) Always less than its atomic number
(b) Always more than its atomic number
(c) Sometimes more than and sometimes equal to its atomic number
(d) None of the above

Ans. (c)

96. The maximum KE of the photoelectron emitted from a surface is dependent on

(a) The intensity of incident radiation
(b) The potential of the collector electrode
(c) The frequency of incident radiation
(d) The angle of incidence of radiation of the surface

Ans. (c)

97. Which of the following is not an essential condition for interference

(a) The two interfering waves must be propagated in almost the same direction or
the two interfering waves must intersect at a very small angle
(b) The waves must have the same time period and wavelength
(c) Amplitude of the two waves should be the same
(d) The interfering beams of light must originate from the same source

Ans. (c)

98. When X-Ray photons collide with electrons

(a) They slow down
(b) Their mass increases
(c) Their wave length increases
(d) Their energy decreases

Ans. (c)

99. An electron emits energy

(a) Because its in orbit
(b) When it jumps from one energy level to another
(c) Electrons are attracted towards the nucleus
(d) The electrostatic force is insufficient to hold the electrons in orbits

Ans. (b)

100. How many bonds are present in CO2 molecule?

(a) 1
(b) 2
(c) 0
(d) 4