Research Analyst Interview Questions

EBITDA is unrelated to enterprise value. EBITDA is earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization. It is a relatively useless indication of a company's real earning power according to warren buffett, charlie munger, ben graham and value investors et al. EV is market cap + debt - cash and cash equivalents. This looks like it was a quick question to see if the candidate is full of it : )

I think when he said "over", he was using it to signify "divided by, as in Enterprise Value/EBITDA. The advantage is that it allows you to compare firms of different sizes and capital structures, as EV is the whole pie and EBITDA flows to both debt and equity holders. A similar question I have gotten is: "What would you use as a numerator if your denominator were EBITDA: Enterprise Value or Equity Value?"

The interviewer wanted to see how well I can remember and repeat what I have read, for the purposes of saying it 200 times a week in order to sell advertising space.

This is a person who just doesn't get it. It's hard for me to believe, but it's true. Some people don't seem to be able to comprehend the mission or how it works. I would think it would be obvious to just about anyone. But, here is a person who wants to be openly critical of something they don't understand.

In case the distributor no longer carries the part and they have to change distributors. It would be extremely costly to reprint their catalogs.

The above answer is partly correct. But as a one-stop shop, they can become the source for products that a buyer would otherwise negotiate a better price for through a distributor or manufacturer. What I've done as an enigineer and buyer was to buy one of something from McMaster. Then, because it is usually in the manufacturer's packaging, I would contact the manufacturer and get more info on costs and similar products. I must say, though, McMaster is an invaluable source with good pricing and incredibly fast delivery.

First, McMaster-Carr wants to have the reputation of only supplying the top product to customers and they want their trust. They don't want you to go to multiple online stores/catalogs and shop on price, they want the customer trust that it will come the next day and the customer will be pleased with what comes out of the box. That's why you can't order a catalog; they choose their customers. Try searching for screws online. McMaster-Carr sells a gazillion of them, but they don't show up in Google searches. They target their customers. Sure, it makes things easier when there's a source change, but they want to de-emphasize brand and just sell the "best" one of everything to the target customer.

honestly the work seems mundane and tedious so it is a hard spin

History, Geography and Religion books

Walked them through my resume

Did a reseach on the company to come up with my reasons