LEADERSHIP CHANGE
Spring 2015 Newsletter Yazan Malas – Portfolio Manager
LEADERSHIP CHANGE Leadership of the Fund changed hands during the Fall 2014 semester. Former Portfolio Manager, Alex Ferreira, and former Chairman, Zachary Leibowitz, appointed the following members: Jordan Coleman – President
The Portfolio Manager is responsible for leading the pitch process and for the overall performance of the portfolio. Yazan develops the training curriculum, creates the corresponding materials, and leads technical workshops. In addition to tracking portfolio analytics, Yazan performs due diligence with analysts beyond the pitch itself in order to make positive changes to the portfolio. Once the pitch process is complete, Yazan works to provide feedback on analysts’ research, models, and presentation skills. Omer Sander – Chairman
The President is focused on the development of members’ skill sets and career pursuits. In addition to making various strategic decisions, this involves frequent individual meetings to support members through the pitch process and internship recruitment. The President is also responsible for assisting the Portfolio Manager in developing the training curriculum and leading meetings. Marketing is another priority of the President, as the Fund is continuously working to publicize its members’ research. Finally, Jordan leads MEF’s recruiting process to maintain a strong pipeline of incoming members.
The Chairman’s primary responsibility is to work with Isenberg faculty to improve our processes. He also works to create recruiting opportunities with competitive financial institutions. Additionally, Omer took the lead on a case study competition, in which participants predicted the bankruptcy of a multi-billion dollar company.
PORTFOLIO
CURRENT HOLDINGS
At the beginning of the semester, the portfolio had 42 holdings. We found that this was too large to monitor appropriately. Therefore, we changed our target number of holdings to between 25 and 28 holdings, with either 3 or 4 stocks per sector. We feel that a portfolio with this amount of holdings will eliminate enough risk through diversification and will allow our analysts to follow each holding more closely. In order to make recommendations on what to sell and hold, analysts spent the first four weeks of the semester reading MEF reports on current holdings, conducting additional research, updating financial models, and producing new reports on each stock. The Senior Analyst and Junior Analyst from each sector met with the Portfolio Manager to discuss the research and to make final decisions. There have been a number of recent transactions that have been made to manage our portfolio holdings. These include liquidations, increases in current positions, and reductions to current positions. An overview of our recent trades and current allocation is seen below. If you have any questions about our allocation or trade activity, please reach out to us! We would love to hear your opinions and advice.
RECENT SELLING ACTIVITY Altria Apollo Global Management LLC Chesapeake Energy Corp. Darling International Inc. Hawaiian Holdings Inc. Littelfuse Inc. Lululemon Athletica Inc. Quanta Services Inc. Seventy Seven Energy Inc. Suncor Energy Inc. Verizon Communications Inc. Willamette Valley Vineyard Inc. Xerox Corp.
MO APO CHK DAR HA LFUS LULU PWR SSE SUN VZ WVVI XRX
American Express Co. Ameriprise Financial Inc. Amgen Inc. Brookfield Property Partners LP Calavo Growers Inc. Cameco Corp. Canadian National Railway Inc. Cerner Corp Corning Inc. Cummins Inc. Eversource Energy F5 Networks Inc. General Mills Inc. Google Inc. Johnson & Johnson Johnson Controls Inc. Moog Inc. Oaktree Capital LLC Rock Tenn Co. Schlumberger Ltd. Seagate Technology PLC Sempra Energy Sherwin Williams Co. Snap-On Inc. Stanley Black & Decker Inc. Starbucks Corp. TJX Companies Inc. WD 40 Co. Wyndham Worldwide Corp.
CURRENT SECTOR ALLOCATION
AXP AMP AMGN BPY CVGW CCJ CNI CERN GLW CMI ES FFIV GIS GOOGL JNJ JCI MOG.A OAK RKT SLB STX SRE SHW SNA SWK SBUX TJX WDFC WYN
PORTFOLIO PERFORMANCE VS. S&P500
FULL-TIME JOB & INTERNSHIP PLACEMENT One of the primary goals of our group is to place our members into top internships and full-time positions. Each year, our placements have gotten stronger. This year has been no exception. Below is a summary of our members’ placements.
SENIORS Chris Sowa J.P. Morgan Credit Trading New York City, NY Alex Ferreira Canaccord Genuity Investment Banking New York City, NY Matt Grumoli Susquehanna International Group Equity Research New York City, NY Kyle Jessey Credit Suisse Internal Consulting New York City, NY Zach Leibowitz Fordham University School of Law New York City, NY
Pat Dennehy J.P. Morgan Asset Management New York City, NY Pat Metcalf Deloitte Advisory Boston, MA Sasha Stendronsky Goldman Sachs Asset Management New York City, NY Nicole Bisson Wellington Management Investment Analytics Boston, MA Sam Jezard Best Chevrolet Service Center Manager Boston, MA
JUNIORS Jordan Coleman Piper Jaffray Investment Banking San Francisco, CA Omer Sander J.P. Morgan Equity Research New York City, NY Eileen McDonald J.P. Morgan Sales & Trading New York City, NY
Yaz Malas Fidelity Investments Research Boston, MA Will Gonet Triumph Group Aerospace Manufacturing West Hartford, CT
SOPHOMORES Hannah Kim Wellington Management Operations Boston, MA Blake Rowe Egon Zehnder Consulting/Market Research Dallas, TX Pauline Gillette MFS Investment Management Global IT Boston, MA Zack Halpryn TJX Companies Business Analysis Framingham, MA
Josh Owczarski MassMutual Corporate Development Springfield, MA Emma Turner Liberty Mutual Insurance Corporate Finance & Accounting Boston, MA Meghan Bates Hanover Insurance Group Market Research Worcester, MA Drew McGeary BNY Mellon Global Investment Distribution Boston, MA
CONNECTING WITH ALUMNI
FRESHMEN Nick Wiles Patriot Financial Group Wealth Management Westborough, MA
Tony Battista Tatum Financial Consulting Woburn, MA
ONLINE PRESENCE Over the past semester, we created a new website for the Fund (www.minutemenequityfund.com). The site features the Fund’s history, investment strategy, and research reports. This allows potential employers and other interested viewers to learn about our Fund, validate our valuable experiences, and get in touch with us. We are also marketing the Fund by using Harvest (www.hvst.com), an online platform where fund managers and investors post investment ideas and share their perspectives. We have begun to post our research to the website and have gotten a substantial amount of views. The executives of Harvest have been working closely with us to spread the word about our progress. Ultimately, we hope to connect with other users on the platform to get feedback on our research and to create recruiting opportunities. As we continue to revise reports from recent rounds of pitches, they will appear on the MEF website and on Harvest.
We believe that involvement from MEF alumni will further help our members achieve their professional goals. Keeping in mind that you are busy, we are working to find ways for you to stay engaged: Feedback on the newsletter – It’s important to us that alumni get the content that they want, so we would like to know what you’re most interested in reading about. Workshops – While we work to improve our curriculum and to teach each other, guidance from industry professionals can quickly advance our understanding of market research, portfolio management, valuation, and more. Let us know if you’re interested in leading a virtual or in-person workshop! Recruiting opportunities – Each year, senior members of the Fund successfully mentor junior members through the recruiting process, but we can improve our job placement by developing long-standing relationships with numerous companies. We hope that some of you are interested in soliciting resumes or speaking with a few of our members about opportunities at your company. Harvest – We encourage you to create an account on Harvest so that you can view our research and comment on it with feedback. We will also post updates about our major projects for you to read. Networking opportunities – We are interested in taking networking trips to Boston and New York City. Many MEF alumni have already made time to speak with us, and we would like to meet with more of you. CONTACT US: [email protected] _______________________
LEADERSHIP CHANGE Leadership of the Fund changed hands during the Fall 2014 semester. Former Portfolio Manager, Alex Ferreira, and former Chairman, Zachary Leibowitz, appointed the following members: Jordan Coleman – President
The Portfolio Manager is responsible for leading the pitch process and for the overall performance of the portfolio. Yazan develops the training curriculum, creates the corresponding materials, and leads technical workshops. In addition to tracking portfolio analytics, Yazan performs due diligence with analysts beyond the pitch itself in order to make positive changes to the portfolio. Once the pitch process is complete, Yazan works to provide feedback on analysts’ research, models, and presentation skills. Omer Sander – Chairman
The President is focused on the development of members’ skill sets and career pursuits. In addition to making various strategic decisions, this involves frequent individual meetings to support members through the pitch process and internship recruitment. The President is also responsible for assisting the Portfolio Manager in developing the training curriculum and leading meetings. Marketing is another priority of the President, as the Fund is continuously working to publicize its members’ research. Finally, Jordan leads MEF’s recruiting process to maintain a strong pipeline of incoming members.
The Chairman’s primary responsibility is to work with Isenberg faculty to improve our processes. He also works to create recruiting opportunities with competitive financial institutions. Additionally, Omer took the lead on a case study competition, in which participants predicted the bankruptcy of a multi-billion dollar company.
PORTFOLIO
CURRENT HOLDINGS
At the beginning of the semester, the portfolio had 42 holdings. We found that this was too large to monitor appropriately. Therefore, we changed our target number of holdings to between 25 and 28 holdings, with either 3 or 4 stocks per sector. We feel that a portfolio with this amount of holdings will eliminate enough risk through diversification and will allow our analysts to follow each holding more closely. In order to make recommendations on what to sell and hold, analysts spent the first four weeks of the semester reading MEF reports on current holdings, conducting additional research, updating financial models, and producing new reports on each stock. The Senior Analyst and Junior Analyst from each sector met with the Portfolio Manager to discuss the research and to make final decisions. There have been a number of recent transactions that have been made to manage our portfolio holdings. These include liquidations, increases in current positions, and reductions to current positions. An overview of our recent trades and current allocation is seen below. If you have any questions about our allocation or trade activity, please reach out to us! We would love to hear your opinions and advice.
RECENT SELLING ACTIVITY Altria Apollo Global Management LLC Chesapeake Energy Corp. Darling International Inc. Hawaiian Holdings Inc. Littelfuse Inc. Lululemon Athletica Inc. Quanta Services Inc. Seventy Seven Energy Inc. Suncor Energy Inc. Verizon Communications Inc. Willamette Valley Vineyard Inc. Xerox Corp.
MO APO CHK DAR HA LFUS LULU PWR SSE SUN VZ WVVI XRX
American Express Co. Ameriprise Financial Inc. Amgen Inc. Brookfield Property Partners LP Calavo Growers Inc. Cameco Corp. Canadian National Railway Inc. Cerner Corp Corning Inc. Cummins Inc. Eversource Energy F5 Networks Inc. General Mills Inc. Google Inc. Johnson & Johnson Johnson Controls Inc. Moog Inc. Oaktree Capital LLC Rock Tenn Co. Schlumberger Ltd. Seagate Technology PLC Sempra Energy Sherwin Williams Co. Snap-On Inc. Stanley Black & Decker Inc. Starbucks Corp. TJX Companies Inc. WD 40 Co. Wyndham Worldwide Corp.
CURRENT SECTOR ALLOCATION
AXP AMP AMGN BPY CVGW CCJ CNI CERN GLW CMI ES FFIV GIS GOOGL JNJ JCI MOG.A OAK RKT SLB STX SRE SHW SNA SWK SBUX TJX WDFC WYN
PORTFOLIO PERFORMANCE VS. S&P500
FULL-TIME JOB & INTERNSHIP PLACEMENT One of the primary goals of our group is to place our members into top internships and full-time positions. Each year, our placements have gotten stronger. This year has been no exception. Below is a summary of our members’ placements.
SENIORS Chris Sowa J.P. Morgan Credit Trading New York City, NY Alex Ferreira Canaccord Genuity Investment Banking New York City, NY Matt Grumoli Susquehanna International Group Equity Research New York City, NY Kyle Jessey Credit Suisse Internal Consulting New York City, NY Zach Leibowitz Fordham University School of Law New York City, NY
Pat Dennehy J.P. Morgan Asset Management New York City, NY Pat Metcalf Deloitte Advisory Boston, MA Sasha Stendronsky Goldman Sachs Asset Management New York City, NY Nicole Bisson Wellington Management Investment Analytics Boston, MA Sam Jezard Best Chevrolet Service Center Manager Boston, MA
JUNIORS Jordan Coleman Piper Jaffray Investment Banking San Francisco, CA Omer Sander J.P. Morgan Equity Research New York City, NY Eileen McDonald J.P. Morgan Sales & Trading New York City, NY
Yaz Malas Fidelity Investments Research Boston, MA Will Gonet Triumph Group Aerospace Manufacturing West Hartford, CT
SOPHOMORES Hannah Kim Wellington Management Operations Boston, MA Blake Rowe Egon Zehnder Consulting/Market Research Dallas, TX Pauline Gillette MFS Investment Management Global IT Boston, MA Zack Halpryn TJX Companies Business Analysis Framingham, MA
Josh Owczarski MassMutual Corporate Development Springfield, MA Emma Turner Liberty Mutual Insurance Corporate Finance & Accounting Boston, MA Meghan Bates Hanover Insurance Group Market Research Worcester, MA Drew McGeary BNY Mellon Global Investment Distribution Boston, MA
CONNECTING WITH ALUMNI
FRESHMEN Nick Wiles Patriot Financial Group Wealth Management Westborough, MA
Tony Battista Tatum Financial Consulting Woburn, MA
ONLINE PRESENCE Over the past semester, we created a new website for the Fund (www.minutemenequityfund.com). The site features the Fund’s history, investment strategy, and research reports. This allows potential employers and other interested viewers to learn about our Fund, validate our valuable experiences, and get in touch with us. We are also marketing the Fund by using Harvest (www.hvst.com), an online platform where fund managers and investors post investment ideas and share their perspectives. We have begun to post our research to the website and have gotten a substantial amount of views. The executives of Harvest have been working closely with us to spread the word about our progress. Ultimately, we hope to connect with other users on the platform to get feedback on our research and to create recruiting opportunities. As we continue to revise reports from recent rounds of pitches, they will appear on the MEF website and on Harvest.
We believe that involvement from MEF alumni will further help our members achieve their professional goals. Keeping in mind that you are busy, we are working to find ways for you to stay engaged: Feedback on the newsletter – It’s important to us that alumni get the content that they want, so we would like to know what you’re most interested in reading about. Workshops – While we work to improve our curriculum and to teach each other, guidance from industry professionals can quickly advance our understanding of market research, portfolio management, valuation, and more. Let us know if you’re interested in leading a virtual or in-person workshop! Recruiting opportunities – Each year, senior members of the Fund successfully mentor junior members through the recruiting process, but we can improve our job placement by developing long-standing relationships with numerous companies. We hope that some of you are interested in soliciting resumes or speaking with a few of our members about opportunities at your company. Harvest – We encourage you to create an account on Harvest so that you can view our research and comment on it with feedback. We will also post updates about our major projects for you to read. Networking opportunities – We are interested in taking networking trips to Boston and New York City. Many MEF alumni have already made time to speak with us, and we would like to meet with more of you. CONTACT US: [email protected] _______________________
