Evercore Interview Prep
What multiples would you use for certain companies?
EV/EBITDA strips out debt costs, taxes, and depreciation, sometimes giving a company an overly optimistic outlook. PE Ratio could be affected by stock price manipulation and individual investing. EBITDA is more useful for equity investors, as they are looking not only for market value but overall growth of a company
Rights Offering
Existing shareholders are given the right to buy new shares at a discount to the current market price; Dilutes ownership unless option is exercised; Sometimes the option can be sold
Time you were faced with a challenge and how you overcame it
Football and being a younger player in a leadership role
Walk me through your resume
Hit all key points
Most important statement
IS, reveals the profitability of a company
Strengths
Leadership Critical Thinking Work Ethic and Competitive Drive
Tell me about a time you failed
Oversleeping through lifts freshman year
What is minority interest?
Ownership of less than 50% of a company's enterprise value. Generally 20-30 with little say in operationsW
Feedback from your previous internship
Patted on the back for my way to retain information at a fast pace as well as be personable and engage in conversations properly with clients
Current Statistics
SP- 4,400 Dow- 34,800 Nasdaq 100- 170 Nasdaq Composite- 13,200 Inflation- 8.5% 10Y- 2.94% (Level not seen since 2018) 2Y- 2.66% Unemployment- 3.6% Apple- 167 Interest Rates- 0.25 (expected to increase by half percentage points moving forward, expected to possibly be at 2%-2.5% at years end)
How can a company raise cash?
Sell stock, sell assets, issue debt
Synergies
The combination of two firms together increases the value than if they were to work separately. Increasing revenue while lowering cost of capital.
Equity Risk Premium
The excess return that investing in a given company provides over a risk-free rate
Time you worked with someone from a different background
Whole life with sports
Amortization
the reduction of a loan balance through payments made over a period of time
EPS equation
(net income - preferred dividends) / average common shares outstanding
What is ECM?
-Cross between IB or Corporate Finance and SandT at face value. -ECM team helps companies execute transactions in primary markets by managing their structure, syndication, marketing, and distribution
Darden Restaurants
-Economies of scale as well as scale with 1800 locations in combination with diversity within its 8 different locations -Impacted heavily in January with the Omicron variant but recovered in March. -Cheddars -Longhorn -Capital Grill -Olive Garden -Seasons 52 -Bahama Breeze -Yard House -Eddie Vs -Implemented pricing actions to combat the effects of inflation. Committed to raising prices 3% this year assuming the 6% inflation rate on the year. -Restaurant Supply is down 13% from Pre-Covid levels, consumers are looking for an affordable restaurant option, Darden provides this due to their economies of scale and pricing options -Their confidence in pricing comes from their scale combined with the ascertain that consumer wages are increasing with inflation -From a real estate perspective, many landlords want safe option from restaurant ownership due to increased interest rates and real estate costs -They currently trade at about $135 with a Trailing PE Ratio that is roughly 35% than the average of some of its competitors, Forward PE ratio that is 19% lower than the average of some of its competitors, and a EV/EBITDA multiple that is 12% lower than the average of some of its competitors (Starbucks, McDonalds, Yum!, Brinker, wanted to find companies that were relatively the same size from a market perspective) FPE- about 15.5 TPE- about 16 EV/EBITDA- 13.88 -Dividend payout of $1.10 per share, or $4.40 annually. Darden paid out 52% of its earnings in dividends last year. Company has grown at an average of 24% annually for the last 5 years
Evercore as a whole
-Evercore's business model is asset light. Growth is driven by human capital and Evercore has invested in its human capital, driving revenue growth and profitability. -The bigger Evercore gets, the easier it is to grow even bigger and more profitable. In addition, the company benefits from long-standing shifts in the industry that are driving customers to independent, focused firms -General Motors sole independent advisor on their IPO in 2010, largest IPO in history, the company raised 20 billion at $33 per share
Walk me through an NAV
-Find present value of cash flows from existing assets by assuming no exploration and deleting their reserves to zero -Add these asset Present values, this is your asset value -Subtract claims to other stakeholders and other corporate effects -Subtract net debt -Subtract the present value of decommissioning liabilities -Subtract the present value of corporate costs -Add the value of the hedge book
Evercore's ECM Team in particular
-Flexibility to work as an underwriter or an independent advisor
Recent Evercore Deal
-J.P. Morgan and Evercore, as joint bookrunners, and the other underwriters, on the offering of 2.01 million shares of Piedmont Lithium Inc.'s common stock at a price per share of US$65.00. The offering included the exercise of the underwriters' option to purchase 262,500 shares, resulting in gross proceeds of US$130.8 million. Intends the use the proceeds to fund some of their projects internationally as well as in the U.S. -Piedmont Lithium attempts to work towards the clean energy economy in America with a large amount of its current attention being paid towards supplying the fast growing E.V. Chain
Questions for the interviewers
-What are the skills I can add between now and the internship? -What have the best interns here done? -How does the implementation of digital currency effect dealflow moving forward
Walk me through a DCF
1. Project the companies free cash flows for about 5 years. Free cash flow is EBIT times 1 minus the tax rate plus depreciation and amortization, minus capital expenditures, minus the change in networking capital. 2. Predict free cash flows beyond 5 years using either a terminal value multiple or the perpetuity method. 3. To calculate perpetuity method, establish a terminal growth rate, usually about the rate of inflation or GDP growth, a low single digit percentage. 4. Now multiply the year 5 cash flow by 1 plus the growth rate and divide that by your discount rate minus the growth rate. 5. Discount rate is the WACC, use that rate to discount all your cash flows back to year zero. The same of the present values of all those cash flows is the estimated enterprise value of the firm according to the DCF.
How far back would you go for precedent transactions
2-3 years to reflect market sentiment
News
5 mins of News Review
Beta
A company's correlation to fluctuation in the market
Deferred value
A liability created when a business collects cash from customers in advance of completing a service or delivering a product
Follow-on
A subsequent investment
Time you were driven
Actually I resort back to my daily basis and goal setting and timing by the hour on my phone
Accounts Payable
Amounts to be paid in the future for goods or services already acquired
Accounts Receivable
Amounts to be received in the future due to the sale of goods or services
Job roles in ECM?
As an analyst you work much more with the modeling and presentation side of dealflow. As an associate and VP a little bit higher up in the hierarchy, you begin to work a little bit more on the communications side of deals as well as take on a leadership role in some cases within some of the bookrunning that the firm does
If you were to pick two statements what would you pick?
Balance Sheet and Income Statement because you can make a CFS from this
Are you a leader or a follower?
Being a leader my whole life, and knowing when to lead and when to follow in a team setting
Why ECM?
Combines two of of strengths and field of interest. Communication and relationships with interest in the market and macroeconomic themes. The IPO process is in almost all cases the most significant event in a company's lifespan so being a part of that is something special from my perspective. You look at the IPO of General Motors in 2010 ($33 a share worth $20 Billion total) that was the biggest IPO ever in the U.S. and Evercore gives you a chance to be a part of that.
Difference between Equity Capital and Debt Capital?
Companies seek to raise capital in order to finance their operations and grow. Equity funding involves exchanging shares of a company's residual ownership in return for capital. Debt funding instead relies on borrowing, where lenders are repaid principal and interest without receiving any ownership claim. In general, equity capital is more expensive and has fewer tax benefits than debt capital, but also comes with a great deal of operational freedom and less liability in the case that business fails.
What motivates you?
Competitive drive, refusing to be less or viewed as less, sometimes this can result in me beating myself up, but always desiring to take the extra step to make myself better
C.V.S. Finance
Confirm relevant partners, verify key metrics, select proper method of valuation
CAPM
Cost of Equity Equation- (Risk Free Rate+Beta)(Equity Risk Premium)
How would you calculate a company"s beta?
Covariance of return on the company times Covariance of return on the market divided by variance of return on the market
Unlevered FCF
EV
EqV Equation
EV - Net Debt/ Diluted Shares Outstanding
Levered FCF
EqV
secondary equity
Equity raised from common investors such as shareholders
Primary equity
Equity raised from private investors
Time when something did not go as planned
Football this year, frustration, keeping people's mind on the objective, long break with Covid able to rebuild
Walk through the 3 financial statements
IS -Revenues -Cogs -SGandA -D and A -Net interest expenses -Tax Expenses -Net Income BS Assets= Liabilities + Shareholders Equity Assets- Long term and short term Liabilities- Same Shareholders Equity CFS CFO- Net income + D and A - Changes in networking Cap CFI- Long term assets and Cap Ex CFF- Repayments of Debt or Dividends
How do the statements connect?
IS Depreciation- Long term assets on Balance Sheet Amortization- Long term assets on Balance Sheet BS Cash- ending cash on CFS flows into cash on balance sheet Shareholders Equity- Net income on income Statement CFS Beginning Cash- Previous periods ending cash on BS Net Income- IS Depreciation- IS Depreciation- IS Cap Ex- BS Repayments of Debt- BS Ending Periods Cash Balance- BS
Why Finance?
Interested in Investing from a younger age in HS. Wanted to feel as though I was more directly involved and truly felt as though using my ability to communicate and be personable with people could correlate very well with the knowledge of the macroeconomic outlook of the current world and the way market conditions may be during that given time.
Time you encountered an ethical dilemma
Kobe and getting him back into the school
How would a $10 increase in depreciation expense affect the three financial statements?
Let's start with the income statement. The $10 increase in depreciation will be an expense, and will therefore reduce net income by $10 times (1-T). Assuming a 40% tax rate, this will mean a reduction in net income of $6. This will flow to cash from operations where net income will be reduced by $6, but depreciation increases by $10, resulting in an increase of ending cash by $4. Cash then flows onto the balance sheet. Where cash increases by $4, PP&E decreases by $10, and retained earnings decreases by $6, causing everything to balance.
Tell me about a time you led a group of people and accomplished something
Many of them are sports examples which I know are pretty generic but what I have found is that people will work their absolute hardest for someone that they know cares about them, not just the product. I know that doesn't always apply to the working world but I think in many ways it does, a group of people that know you will give them everything you have both in the office and out of the office or on the court and off, those groups will accomplish the most because there is a genuine desire to perform for others not just oneself
How to calculate EV
Market Cap + Preferred stock + Debt + Minority Interest - cash and cash equivalents
How would you decide on a company's capital structure?
Maximumizing market value while minimizing WACC
Last Book you read
Money by Tony Robbins or my Dad's book
Equity Markets Right now
Most of the current dealflow is follow-up investments by certain investors with the security against certain uncertainties that come with increased inflation moving forward.
What is the biggest risk you have ever taken?
Moving myself outside of my comfort zone both at La Salle and at Bowdoin, two environments where not everyone was going to see eye to eye with me or felt the same way I felt about things but being able to have success and work with them through that
How would you calculate shareholders equity?
Net difference between total assets and total liabilities
Weaknesses
Perfectionism Impatience Tendency to take on too much
Current Event Highlights
Political uncertainty in Europe and economic risks stemming from China's shutdowns were adding to investor nerves after a bumpy start to 2022 for stocks. Bond yields have surged on the prospect of tighter monetary policy set by the Fed. The war in Ukraine, which is entering a new phase in the east of the country, has boosted commodity prices, adding to inflationary pressures. I was reading T Rowe Price last week and they talked about how Earnings season has posed mixed emotions for investors in the economy. Many investors are observing how companies are able to successfully pass off inflation costs to consumers. Bond prices continue to slip as yields increase, causing investors to weight the advantages of investing in bonds as opposed to stocks.
What are the three most important things when deciding to invest in a company?
Present stability, growth trajectory, past performance
Time you approached something logically
Presentation with Janney
Book Building
Process in which an underwriter estimates the value of an IPO
Three Methods of Valuation
Public Comps (3) Precedent Transactions (Most important for PE) DCF (2) Sometimes LBO
Rev Multiple vs. EBITDA
Rev- used for companies with negative profits EBITDA- Used for more mature companies
Different types of Debt and Equity
Senior/Bank Debt High Yield/Subordinate Debt Quasi Equity Common Equity
Tell me something that is not in your resume
Service trip to Medellin Colombia with my friends
Time you worked with a group mate who was not cooperative
Setting up work to help them because it was affecting the entire group
Another M&A Deal?
Spotify Rival, Deezer, the French music streaming service is merging with a Paris listed SPAC to go public with a valuation of 1.13 billion. Makes up 2% of the global streaming market. Popular in France and Brazil. France with a 29% market share and Brazil with a 17% market share. Could possibly give Deezer a more competitive market position.
Biggest accomplishment
Success at Bowdoin and Golden Dozen
Why Evercore
Talking to Sam Richardson, Kierdan McDonald, Mobeen Malik, and Adam Kalinsky about being able to feel as though you are part of the transactions and dealflow at a very early stage in your career Talked to Kieran this week about being able to take different opportunities within specified fields of interest
Premium
The rate something is paid for above its value
private placement
The sale of a portion of a company directly to a private investor as opposed to being publicly traded
Why is minority interest used in EV equation?
To cause 100% accurate comparison in between different companies wit complete ownership
What is equity?
What is left after debt and other obligations are subtracted from total value
Can a company have negative EV?
Yes, high cash balance or low market cap
At-the-market program
a plan that integrates the marketing mix to provide a good, service, or idea to prospective buyers
Share Repurchase
a transaction in which a firm uses cash to buy back its own stock
derivatives
any financial asset whose value is derived from the value of some other "underlying" asset (i.e. stocks, bonds, commodities, rates)
Convertibles
bonds or preferred stocks that can be exchanged for common stock at the option of the holder
Preferred Equity
equity that pays a fixed income, like a bond
WACC
weighted average cost of capital. Cost of raising capital at a given company. (Cost of equity)(Percentage of Equity) + (Cost of Debt)(Percentage of Debt)(1-tax rate) + (Shareholders Equity)(Percentage of Shareholders Equity)