Finance students deliver equity pitch in University of Michigan competition

By Ellen Johnson, student

December 6, 2019

A team of Martha and Spencer Love School of Business students represented Elon at the ENGAGE Undergraduate Investment Conference.

Three undergraduate finance students traveled to the University of Michigan to take part in the ENGAGE Undergraduate Investment Conference which revolved around a rigorous stock pitch competition.
Three students standing dressed in suits.
Gregory Giannantonio ’20, Robert J. Lucas ’20 and Chris Robinson ’20, mentored by Assistant Professor Margarita Kaprielyan, pitched EOG Resources in the ENGAGE Undergraduate Investment Conference stock pitch competition.

Held Oct. 18-19, teams from across the country pitched publicly traded equities, long or short, to a panel of professional investors, who evaluated the pitches on the quality of idea, analysis and presentation.

Gregory Giannantonio ’20, Robert J. Lucas ’20 and Chris Robinson ’20, mentored by Assistant Professor of Finance Margarita Kaprielyan, pitched EOG Resources, a primarily North American oil and gas company, recommending a long position to the judges.

“To prepare for the competition, my group and I selected a company back in June, began modeling during the summer, and worked on the pitch throughout September and October,” Giannantonio remarked. “This led to many all-nighters on Friday and Saturday and even working up until the last minute to meet the submission deadline. Our final deliverable was a 68 slide deck backed with four models (DCF, weighted comps, DDM, Net Asset Value) and an extensive analysis of the oil and gas industry.”

Three students present in front of screens.

He noted the biggest challenge stemming from the complex industry the team chose was “learning about how an oil and gas company operates and the macro-environment surrounding the industry.”

The conference also included sessions on topics such as the economy, investing in recession, replicating private equity strategies in the public world, and how to succeed in the hedge fund industry. Speakers included Mike Wilson, CIO of Morgan Stanley, Stephanie Link, head of global equities research for Nuveen Asset Management, and Seema Hingorani, founder of Girls Who Invest.

“This was an amazing opportunity to render our analytical and professional skills we have developed over our academic careers into a fully comprehensive investment thesis,” Robinson said. “It was eye-opening to see how Elon competitively stacks up against some of the top business school students in this country.”

“This was an amazing opportunity to render our analytical and professional skills we have developed over our academic careers into a fully comprehensive investment thesis.”

Chris Robinson ’20

Other participating teams included the University of Michigan, Swarthmore College, FIU, the University of Notre Dame, the College of William & Mary, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and the University of Virginia.

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