Investment club celebrates 15 years with stock pitch competition
Alumni founders return with tips for successful careers in finance
Moments before he was set to present in front of three judges and an audience of faculty, students, staff and alumni, Daniel Ross ā19 was frantically reviewing his notes. His group was the last of 10 to present in the inaugural Peggotty Investment Club Stock Pitch Competition held April 23 at ĢĒŠÄTV. And the other student presenters had made it look easy.
Weeks of researchādigging through financial statements, reading news articles and calculating potential future earningsāwere on the line. Ross made one small mistakeājust as he had in rehearsal, he talked over another member of his groupābut he recovered quickly.
By the end of the presentation, Ross and his teammates, Ben Sachs ā18 and Will Cannon ā19, had thoroughly impressed the judges with their pitch for investing club funds in the Chicago Board of Options Exchange.
The competition was part of the Peggotty Investment Clubās 15th anniversary celebration, which also included a panel discussion with four of Peggottyās founding members. Each team was challenged to research a company, create a model, generate an investment thesis, and calculate a warranted potential price after considering three scenarios for the stockāa bear, base and bull case.
Scoring was based on quality of presentation, content, subject knowledge and whether or not the stock would be a good buy for the Collegeās Peggotty Investment Club, through which students manage an endowed scholarship fund. The prize: the top three stocks will be added to the clubās portfolio.
āThe more you can go off note and be confident, the better,ā said Dean of Academic Support Noel Garrett, who served as one of the judges. āThe CBOE team was extremely poised and confident.ā
It was a gamble to pitch an options exchange instead of a company that sells a good or serviceāAmazon, Tesla and Johnson & Johnson were among the companies pitched by other teams. But the team thought it would be a great addition to Peggottyās $121,000 portfolio.
āCBOE was a pick that on its own was an okay long-term investment, but the judges were really looking for something that would complement the portfolio and hedge against global risk or an overvalued sector,ā Ross said. āWe picked a stock that if the market were to have a correction, we would excel.ā
The gamble paid offāCBOE won first place in the competition.
āItās an honor,ā said Cannon. āThe other members of our club are incredibly smart and all the groups did a fantastic job with their research.ā
Dow Chemical, pitched by Sam Rodiger ā18, Matt Edwards ā18, Hugh MacGillivray ā18 and Hunter Rosenthall ā18; and Acxiom Corporation, pitched by Adam Goldberg ā18 and Max Chesky ā19, took second and third place, respectively. Jackie Murphy ā18, a member of the Amazon team, was also recognized as Presenter MVP.
Board of Trustee Chair Pamela D. Zilly ā75, a retired senior managing director at The Blackstone Group LP, opened the event with a brief history of the club. The idea came from a group of students interested in gaining hands-on experience in investment management, she said. At the same time, Jim Doran approached the College with an interest in giving students an opportunity to gain real-world experience in financial markets, while also paying tribute to his wife, Peggotty Namm Doran ā58. The result was the establishment of a $50,000 endowed scholarship fund to be managed entirely by members of the new Peggotty Investment Club. Over the years, other donors helped grow the fund.
āThe club has seen significant growth since its humble beginnings,ā Zilly said.
Open to students of all majors and class years, Peggotty now boasts 50 active members; another 30 regularly attend meetings. Since 2002, the value of the portfolio has grown 142 percent, and the club has generated more than $41,000 in scholarships for students majoring in government.
Associate Professor of Economics Purba Mukerji, who attended the stock pitch competition, said Peggotty has created quite a buzz on campus.
āWhen I sign up new economics majors, one of the first things they ask is how they can get involved,ā she said. āThis kind of real world experience is fantastic.ā
Club President Andrew Stutzman ā17, a physics and economics double major and math and computer science double minor, said Peggotty allows students to apply what theyāve learned in class and gain valuable skills for successful careers in finance. Stutzman, who will start his career as an equity research associate at Eaton Vance after graduation, said students also benefit from the alumni network, which includes more than 300 former members and several hundred other alumni who regularly interact with the club.
Four of those alumniāfounding Peggotty members Andrew Creedon ā03, Paul Goncalves Jr. ā03, Brett Roth ā03 and Wyley Scherr ā03āwere on hand at the anniversary celebration to share their tips on breaking into the finance industry.
Scherr, now a principal at Brynwood Partners, a private equity investment firm, told students that the Peggotty club taught him to āspeak the languageā of finance, which is essential in interviews. But how you present yourself is just as important, he said.
āBe humble, be kind. Handshakes and tie knotsāitās the basic stuff that goes a million miles in the interview process. Reread your emails. Donāt be dumb. Take your time and think about what you are saying,ā Scherr said.
Creedon, a fixed income research analyst at Sun Life Financial, added that itās okay to admit you donāt know everything.
āāI donāt knowā is a fine answer in an interview, as long as it is followed up with, āIāll do some research and get back to you,āā he said.
Roth, who worked for 14 years in the insurance industry and is now starting his own financial tech company, told the students to learn from their mistakes, make the most of every opportunity and not expect an easy road.
āPeople are going to tell you āno.ā You have to be persistent, you have to be resilient and drive toward your goals.ā
Four years to your career. Learn more
May 3, 2017
