The wrong peer: why a set can be built badly

mentor: Half the skill in comps is knowing what does NOT belong. Below is a deliberately bad set: a chip anchor sitting next to a fund, a bank, and a company from a different sector entirely. The table shows what happens — some members refuse outright, others ground but shouldn't be read as peers.

Diagnose it: say why each member is or isn't a valid comparable to the anchor. The mentor grades the diagnosis — the reasoning about comparability, not a recitation of numbers.

A comparable is a company in a similar line of business. A fund isn't a company at all — it's a basket, with no operating statements. A bank files a different income statement, so the walk metrics don't apply. A large company in another sector files everything but has different economics. Comparability is about business, not size.