November 23rd Meeting

Tonight we watched the first half of the movie called “The Bank”.  Below is a short description:

The Bank
(2001) NR
Jim Doyle (David Wenham), a young mathematician, may have the key to the future of the financial markets. Discovering a formula that accurately predicts fluctuations of stock prices, Jim is bamboozled by a ruthless CEO, Simon O’Reilly (Anthony LaPaglia). Developing a get-rich-quick scheme that quickly turns deadly, the two become embroiled in one of the biggest scandals in banking history.
Genre:Crime Dramas, Crime Thrillers, Suspense

Until next time! Hope to see you all and Have a Great Thanksgiving!

Annual Wharton Finance Conference this Friday, Nov 20th

For those interested, the 2009 annual Wharton Finance Conference will be held this Friday, November 20th! 

The event will be held at the Park Hyatt Philadelphia at the Bellevue (200 South Broad Street — Broad & Walnut), from 7:30AM-6:00PM. The Cost is $65.00 per person, and you must register online beforehand. For more details on the event, directions, and where to register, please visit online at http://www.whartonfinanceconference.com/index.html

The year’s theme “Looking Forward: Finance in a New Horizon” will be  explored by a variety of panel discussions, participants will have the opportunity to gain a perspective on the global nature of finance in the current environment. For more information  

Note: Business attire requested throughout the day.

From the Bi-Co to Wall Street: Being a Woman in Finance

Monday, November 23rd, BMC, Dorothy Vernon Room in Haffner Hall, 6:30pm

Bryn Mawr alumnae Jamie Higgins ’98 (Vice President, Goldman Sachs) and Megan Rowley ’08 (Analyst, Goldman Sachs) will discuss their experiences as women on Wall Street, respective career  paths, and how Bryn Mawr helped to prepare them for a career in finance.  They will also take questions on Goldman Sachs’ summer internship program and how best to approach the application process.

All BMC and HC students (including men) are welcome!!

LETS GET THIS BLOG ROLLINGGGGG :)

** ATTENTION ALL BRYN MAWRTYRS!! LOVELY LADIESSS!! WOMEN of OIG!!! LOVESSS !!! **

This blog is for ALL OF YOUUU! so PLEASEEE dont be shy!!! YOUR COMMENTS AND FEEDBACK ARE VERY MUCH APPRECIATED AND ENCOURAGED!! Please feel free to contribute to the blog as often as you want! Feel free to share with us anything you’d like!

Not sure what to post or talk about on the blog? Below are some suggestions for topics we would love to hear your feedback on!:

Posts (am I writing too much? should i write more? am i boring you to death? are you even reading this right now?),

Our Portfolio (how do you feel about our recent decision to buy Cree? Should we have bought Trina instead? do you have any info/research you’d like to share?)

Stocks (do you have any suggestions on a stock that looks like a potential “good buy”? are there any stocks in our portfolio you think we should sell/get rid of? any information/recent news articles/things you overheard in passing.. regarding a company, the stock market, the economy, etc?)

Meetings (how are you liking the meetings thus far? do you feel the board members need to step up our game? do you find yourself bored? or are you pleasantly and intellectually stimulated by our discussions/presentations? anything in particular you would like us to cover? what are some things you’d like to see more of –or less of– in our meetings?)

Events (how did you like our trip to Goldman Sachs? how about the NYSE? the Museum of Finance? Would you be interested in going again next year, or perhaps encouraging friends to go? Any other places you would like to visit? Any guest speakers/firms/alumnus you’d be interested in visiting/having visit us?)

General Information (any interesting articles or news that you would like to share? any definition or terms you would like us to define or explain? any particular area of finance/the economy/OIG you’d like more information on?)

THIS BLOG IS YOUR BLOG – SO OWNNN ITTTT!

November 9, 2009

Nathalie gave an awesome presentation on Mergers & Acquistions! A lot of insightful and helpful information for those of you curious about/interested in Investment Banking! We went over some of the different types of mergers and acquisitions, including  “hostile takeovers”, “reverse merger”, etc. The presentation will soon be posted on the blog for those of you to use as a helpful reference!

We also looked at two “Green” (i.e. renewable energy) stocks: Cree Inc and Trina Solar Ltd.

Cree Inc.: a market-leading innovator of lighting-class LEDs, LED lighting, and semiconductor solutions for wireless and power applications.

Trina Solar Ltd: an integrated solar-power products manufacturer based in China; produce monocrystalline photovoltaic (PV) modules ranging from 165 watts to 230 watts in power output and multicrystalline PV modules ranging from 210 watts to 230 watts in power output.

We then took into account the factors that would help us determine which particular stock is a better buy. After analyzing and reviewing the important valuation specifics of each stock — including EPS, PE ratio, PEG ratio, etc. — as well as discussing recent news involving the “Green” industry, and more specifically involving the light bulb industry (for instance, how LED lightbulbs are on the rise…for example, a recent news release estimated that “Guangdong (China) LED lighting industry market size in 2015 is expected to break through 80 billion yuan (US$12.8 billion), which account for 50% of the global share.” http://snipurl.com/t6vox )

So, although not many of us knew so much about the future of “monocrystalline and multicrystalline photovoltaic (PV) modules”, whereas we were a bit more familiar with LED lightbulbs (more and more frequently LED lightbulbs are being used in various electronics, including cameras, TV’s –LED replacing plasma–, etc)… Please keep in mind that just because we didn’t know much about PV modules doesn’t mean we can assume they aren’t going to be profitable.. However, we were able to use another source of information to analyze and determine which stock would be best to buy: the good ole’ valuation indicators!! (feel free to check out the valuation details of each stock, either via your own research using tools such as Google Finance or ETrade, or you can check out the presentation as well for the specific valuation details we looked at)

In the end, after discussing the important factors, the group felt that Cree Inc looked like the better stock to buy at this time.and so…. we voted…. AND THE MEMBERS OF OIG HAVE MADE THE DECISION TO ADD CREE INC TO OUR PORTFOLIO!! WOOT!  Be sure to keep an eye out on our new baby and see if it ends up performing as well as we hoped! http://snipurl.com/t6w09

For those of you curious about Trina Solar Ltd (the underdog/rejected puppy)… itd be interesting to see whether or not our prediction holds true that Cree Inc was the “better buy” over Trina..

October 19, 2009

(post minutes for october 19/october 26, currently under construction)

Nathalie shared with us her presentation “Finance 101”, in which she gave a thorough and helpful overview on trading, stocks, investment banking, and other important factors of the finance world. Be sure to check out this awesome powerpoint presentation, currently up on our website!

OIG Meeting #4 – 10/5

Leslie Warren, BMC Class of ’08, and former portfolio manager of OIG!!, graciously extended her time to come chat with the members on her life post-college, working in finance. Leslie currently works as an analyst of asset management at JP Morgan. Below are some key notes and helpful advice taken from the meeting:

*JP Morgan has good risk management (a bit more risk adverse compared to the other bulge-bracket banks), which would largely explain for sustaining strength throughout tough times.

*Leslie enjoys working in Asset Management (Private Banking) for she finds it to be a more personable area of finance, as her job entails managing the wealth and portfolios of individual investors; more client interaction, etc.

*Leslie suggests to really prep and review your resume before sending out to employers. Stay updated with CDO! (Leslie got her job working at JPMorgan through the CDO, starting as a summer analyst her junior year summer and then was granted an offer to come back full-time)

*Some good reads to keep yourself updated on current economy: Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, the Economist, and the NY Times Green Blog.

With a month of OIG behind us, things are looking great! There will be no meeting for OIG next week as it is fall break, however we look forward to seeing all your faces Monday, October 19th (9pm Dalton 119) for our first meeting back from break! Nat will finish up her presentation on “Investing 101” as well as discuss the newsletter containing updates on how our portfolio is doing. In the meantime and over break, we encourage you to start researching for some companies that might be good to invest in/add to our portfolio!!  (Click on the helpful links tab featured at the top of  this blog for some good websites to start with; and utilize Google to find other helpful sites!)

**We welcome your suggestions for anything that you’d like featured on the blog, so please let us know! you can email any questions/suggestions pertaining to the blog at lamirhekma@brynmawr.edu

Thanks and have a great break! Can’t wait to see you ladies when we get back!!!

OIG Meeting #3 – 9/28

INVESTING 101!

Nathalie Schallock, OIG’s portfolio manager, gave a thorough presentation on financial tools and analysis, useful for analyzing stocks and deciding whether or not to make an investment. We hope to get Nat’s helpful presentation up on the blog sometime over fall break, so keep checking back!

OIG Meeting #2.. Annual Summer Internship Panel! 9/18/09

Hi all,

At our second meeting, OIG featured a panel consisting of 4 Bryn Mawr students who took the time to share with us their  experiences from over summer, each of them having had some sort of finance internship. The panelists discussed where they worked, what is what like working there, what their daily activities entailed, etc. In addition, each panelist offered insight into the world of finance and what it takes to get into such a demanding industry. The students shared their perspectives on the differences between working at a small firm versus a large firm, working as a women in a predominantly male driven industry, and what it’s like working in such an industry coming from a small liberal arts environment.

The panelists certainly had a lot to say and a lot of advice to offer! On behalf of OIG, we graciously thank the panelists who shared their experiences! Below is information on the panelists, where they interned, as well as contact info in case you have any questions you’d like to ask them! In addition, be sure to contact/visit CDO for internships and job opportunities throughout the year!

INTERNSHIP 2009 PANELISTS:

(Name, Year, Major. Company, Location, Job description, Contact Info) 

*Romy Dewar, 2011, Math Major. ING, NYC, Trading, rdewar@brynmawr.edu 

*Tanya Kaur, 2010, Political Science Major. The Bank of New York Mellon, kkaur@brynmawr.edu

*Sara Marcus, 2010, Math/Economics Major. Novantas, NYC, Consulting, semarcus@brynmawr.edu

*Lilly Amirhekmat, 2011, Math/Economics Major. Fredericks Michael & Co., NYC, Investment banking/M&A, lamirhekma@brynmawr.edu