In September 2016, Devon Krapcho (FIN ’18), Alyssa Loffredo (FIN ’18) and Grant Ebenger (FIN ’17) of the Mendoza College of Business flew to Boston to compete in the Cornell Undergraduate Stock Pitch Challenge hosted by the Johnson College of Business.
Exactly one week before the competition, teams were assigned one common stock and four stocks in a specific industry for rounds one and two, respectively. During the 2-day competition, teams presented their stock recommendations in the first round to a panel of judges, describing their decision to buy or sell/short the investment. The 15-minute pitches were evaluated on aspects such as presentation quality, responses during the Q&A session, and ability to effectively analyze stocks.
Notre Dame was one of 11 schools to participate in the 2016 competition, alongside schools such as Harvard University, Duke University, and the overall winner Stanford University.
Although the Mendoza team didn’t place in the competition, participants found the experience valuable because it gave them the opportunity to interact with like-minded students interested in investing and the chance to receive feedback from professionals at top firms such as Fidelity, T. Rowe Price and Putnam Investments.
Ebenger explained that while preparing for the competition, “The Notre Dame Institute for Global Investing connected us with alumnus Steve DuFour and assisted us with our presentation. Both provided critical feedback prior to the competition.” Their preparation paid off as participants learned about the art of constructing a stock pitch, as well as “identifying a differentiated view from the market and how catalysts will reveal this differentiated view,”Ebenger further noted.
Overall, he said, the experience integrated classroom lessons with real-life investing decisions, allowing students to have a fuller grasp on the fast-pace and demanding world of investments.