1. Select 3 not-so-well-known stocks in the Telecommunications and Internet Infrastructure markets. Clarification: 3 total.
2. "Pitch" a potential investor these 3 stocks (i.e. tell why they are good investments). These stock pitches are regularly given and asked for on Wall Street.
3. Some guidelines: each recommendation should be 6 sentences long - you can write more sentences if you wish, but not less.
4. Structure it like this: Make an actionable recommendation - why an investor should buy this stock - and get to the point in the beginning with a quick summary sentence (i.e. "I think Company X is a great investment because it's undervalued next to the competition and has been diversifying its operations and getting into higher-margin businesses.")
5. List 3 key reasons why you like or don't like the company, followed by how these reasons are different from the consensus. It is essential to understand what the "mainstream" thinks in equity research like this and then think differently from others. This analysis gets big-name investors to pay attention to someone's recommendations.
6. Summarize what you think the stock should be valued at ("Right now it's at $20, but I could see it rising to $30 within the next year") and explain how you reached this conclusion. You might talk about comparables, DCF analysis, or other methodologies, many of which you would probably also use in banking.
7. The biggest mistakes people make are not actually giving a recommendation or not focusing on just the important details.