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The following information was compiled by Yufan Wang, Portfolio Manager of Owl Investment Group. Hopefully it will give you girls/guys some idea on how the stock market will move.

• Sysco released earning today, missing analysts’ estimates. Share tumbled 6.2%;

• Governors Chop Spending;

• AOL to Acquire Huffington Post for $315 million;

• Nokia, under new CEO, prepares to freshen its executive ranks;

• Bonds Flash an Inflation Alert;

• China begins to stockpile Rare-Earth Metals;

• No Rush to Hire Even as Profits Soar;

A heads-up for Mawrtyrs:  There will be an interesting Career Lab Series hosted by Forte Foundation.

Feb 24th, 2011

Tired of the old “bored” room and old-school business? Join Forté’s 2011 Career Lab to explore how business knowledge can enhance your academic background, professional ambitions, and social or service interests, and can help you segue into an exciting and opportunity-rich career. Accomplished women from Forté Foundation sponsor companies and schools will reveal the new world of business and help you envision your role in it.

Who Should Attend? All undergraduate women who dream of a fun and successful business careers, regardless of major. Liberal Arts, Engineering, all majors welcome. Cost? Free

Register today @ www.fortefoundation.org/careerlab

Today we sold our 210 shares of Eagle Rock Energy Partners LP (EROC) with a stellar 94% profit after holding the stock for a whole year.

Yufan executed the sale in front us on the computer screen in Taylor F. It was gratifying to take this step forward and cash in some fruits of our labor. 🙂 All of our members present consented to this sale.

EROC is a domestically focused energy company in the business of natural gas. It has been making negative earnings for two years except for two quarters last year. We had looked at this stock before winter but decided to postpone the sale because natural gas prices generally rise during winter, which is a good sign for companies like EROC.

Our rationale for selling it:

• Disappointing earnings: Stocks like EROC can’t go up forever without the support of strong earnings.
• We are lucky to get a 94% increase in price already, far exceeding our original selling benchmark of 65%.
• It’s time for us to diversify our portfolio and invest in other stocks.

Because of time limits, we didn’t look into other stocks today. But one sector to look into is rare-earth. China has been setting up export quotas for its rare-earth resources. As a result, US companies have increased their production, making it a good time to look into this revived industry.

Other than EROC, Ruilin introduced to us the concept of Options. According to Investopedia, the definition of an option is: A contract that gives the buyer the right, but not the obligation, to buy or sell an asset at a specific price on or before a certain date. An option, just like a stock or bond, is a security. It is also a binding contract with strictly defined terms and properties.

One more thing: Forte Foundation’s Career Lab is taking place on campus soon. Please make sure to check your mailbox and RSVP soon if you are interested. This is a free event and will expose you to a myriad of information related to business.

Janney Montgomery Scott Speaker: Cara Petonic

Cara Petonic ’07
Equity Research Associate at Janney Montgomery Scott LLC
Philadelphia, PA

Cara shared her experience at an investment bank with us. Thanks Cara!

This week at OIG, we watched the Wall Street Journal video special about the 2008 crisis when everything went sour.

Please check it out if you missed our meeting.:)

http://online.wsj.com/video-center?mod=WSJ_formfactor

OIG’s First Special Event of This Semester:

Friday, September 17, 3:30-5:00, Dalton 25

SUSAN BOEDY

PRINCIPAL OF KNIGHTSBRIDGE ADVISERS LLC.

Susan will speak on women in finance, careers in finance, private equity investing, and fund to funds management.

Join us for this special event!

This year’s Senior Career Panel featured 5 impressive Mawrtyrs from the Class of 2010, who each shared with us their plans for post-graduation, and the paths they each took to get to where they’re going! The panelists provided thorough insight into the process–ranging from applications to jobs, to grad schools, and even to Peace Corp! They discussed the nature of the interviews, with different types of interview styles across various different industries (i.e. the “case” interviews for consulting, the “stress” interviews for finance, etc.), and how to best prepare. Overall, the Senior Class of 2010 Career Panel was a huge success and we are all very proud of the soon-t0-be graduates and their success! Many Thanks and a Big Congratulations to the following panelists for their words of wisdom and encouragement!

Kira Gendlerman
Mgmt Trainee Program
McMaster-Carr
Kgendler@bmc

Yuliya Orlova
Analyst
Analysis group
Yorlova@bmc

Pauline Stern
Econ Masters Program
Oxford Univ
Pstern@bmc

Alyssa Martin
Risk Analyst
Munich Re America
Armartin@bmc

Lucy Sung
Peace Corps
Graduate School in Public Health
Lsung@bmc

Some Key Take-Aways and Words of Advice, regarding the Application Process, Courtesy of the 2010 Panelists:

*Take Initiative! This is something that you have to pursue individually!

*No need to be Selective (most of the panelists applied to a vast number of firms, anywhere from 50-80 and more applications!)

*The importance of Networking **Especially Alumni!

*Reach out beyond CDO!

*Practice and Get Good at Interviewing! Practice talking to people, reading people, interacting with people, etc. *Practice your general answers. Know terminology (especially important for Finance interviews!). Organize your thoughts ahead of time.

*Go to Thinktanks…just get out, Get Exposure! (interview questions often are geared to gage how you can handle stress, your team building skills, leadership skills, experience, strengths & weaknesses, how you work under a boss, the way you interact with a group of people, etc.)

*Grad school –> Necessary that you have some Research background, make use of your summers!

*In general –> Make use of your summers!

*Firms want to see that you actually know that you’re interested in the day to day activities that would be required of you. You must be able to demonstrate that you’ve done your research and that you’re interested.

*Get Started on Application Process Early (start in Fall or sooner!!) 

*Be Organized! Keep a detailed record of what emails were sent out/when/to who, etc.

*Resources/places to find job: Ocean, SLAC (Student Liberal Arts Consortium) = for full time jobs: apply for SLAC by October! =Great for people who don’t know exactly what they want to do, as it features many different firms across a variety of different industries.

*Application Process is a Huge Time Commitment –> treat it like another courseload.

*And, Most Importantly… Don’t Get Discouraged!!! You are all Brilliant, Impressive, and Amazing Women, with a LOT to offer! Just be patient, and stay focused on the future, for the right thing for you will come at the right time 🙂

Tonight, John Griffith, treasurer and CFO of Bryn Mawr College, gave a wonderfully helpful and interesting talk about our school’s endowment. Mr. Griffith discussed the differences between Bryn Mawr (and other similar small liberal arts colleges) versus the larger, well-known universities (Ivy Leagues, Top 10, and state schools). One factor John addressed was that when comparing endowments between schools, it isn’t so much the size of the endowment to look at, but rather the endowment per student. Bryn Mawr carries a 625 million dollar endowment, with a $22,000 endowment per student…while Pomona college (dubbed “the richest school in the country”) boasts a $44,000 endowment per student! Amongst some of the “richest” schools in the country include Williams, Amherst, Grinell, land our very own neighbor, Swarthmore College!

Be sure to join us at next week’s meeting, for Senior Career Panel! Come here about what all your senior friends are doing after they graduate, and pick up some insider tips on how to get a job in the current economy! Look forward to seeing you allll 🙂

**Tonight’s meeting began with a look at the current condition of our stock portfolio.

*China Educational Alliance (a recent addition to our portfolio) has thus far suffered a hefty drop of $300..that being said, analysts have faith that this stock will soon rise again, and continue in an upward trend.

*With the soon-to-be-released iPad, Apple shares have been on the rise.

*Mercadolibre (another recent buy) has also been performing quite well, and with its recent expansion into Portugal, we expect to see a continuous upward trend.

–Thoughts on stocks to sell? EROC? Nokia? Let’s hear your feedback on which stocks you think should stay and which ones should go!

**Lingyi gave an AWESOME presentation in which she pitched a stock soon to be listed on NYSE: KKR group, Kohlberg Kravis Robert & Co. KKR is a NYC-based private equity firm that invests primarily in leverage buyouts (i.e. using debt to acquire companies; high risk type of investment) and growth capital (i.e. helping mature companies grow; low risk type of investment). KKR completed 2 of the largest buyouts to date. KKR has invested in more than 160 companies. As of March 12, KKR has been filing for NYSE, planning to raise $7.5 billion, with the sale of 2.2 billion shares. It’s divisions include Asset Management and KKR Financial. In 2009, KKR’s pro forma net income was $1,953.9 billion. Lingyi believes that KKR will be a strong stock, noting that “as we are coming out of the recession, there will be a number of investment opportunites for private equity firms to take advantage of and profit from.” Great Job!!

**This past weekend, Swarthmore College held the LAX Entrepreneurship Conference. Meldon  attended this day long event, and brought back some very valuable insight to share with our group. She gathered that right now, there are an increading number of different opportunities for entrepreneurs, and particularly within the chemicals industry. Mel noted that her favorite event that day was the highly interactive and engaging twitter conference, where she met with Swarthmore alum and co-founder of Twitter, and was even able to ‘tweet’ her thoughts in real-time throughout the presentation. One particularly important peice of advice that Mel took with her: “D0 your research (and do so extensively!). Meldon will be posting commentary and more insight gathered from the conference in her blog at “Startphilly.com” — a fantastic resource for local entrepreneurs!  Be sure to check out the site, and please make sure to comment on Mel’s stuff! It’s great and quite insightful!! 🙂

**With fewer club donations than expected this year, OIG still had $2,000 left to donate… so, tonight, the members of OIG brainstormed a number of charities that would like to donate to, and then voted on 4 charities, each of which we will be donating $500 to.

And, the winning charities are….

*7 Sisters of China!! *Haiti/Disaster Relief!! *Chile Relief!! *Doctors without Borders!!

Thanks to all those who came out tonight! It was a productive and insightful meeting! Stay tuned for next week, as we have John Griffin (CFO of Bryn Mawr College!!) coming to talk to OIG about Bryn Mawr’s endowment! It’s quite an interesting talk, so be sure to invite friends, bring popcorn, sit back, and enjoy 🙂

See you next week!

This past Friday, March 26th, marked OIG’s Spring 2010 Semester Field Trip! OIG members had a wonderfully busy and informative day of visiting with several Bryn Mawr alumnae, who currently work at some of Philadelphia’s most prominent companies. It was quite inspiring to hear these women offer their perspectives on “Life-post-BMC”, as well as discuss the invaluable experience they had while at Bryn Mawr, and how their college experience truly paved their path to success.

We began our day at Accenture, where several recent graduates of Bryn Mawr presented the business strategies and structural breakdown of one of the largest consulting firms in the world. We later ventured to Sunoco, where we met with a Bryn Mawr alum (along with 2 of her colleagues) who discussed with us the business principles of a Fortune 500 company; in addition to providing us with some very valuable insight, stemming from a long line of success and accomplishments throughout her post-college career. Our final trip was a visit to the Wharton School of Business, at the University of Pennsylvania, where we met with the director of admissions, as well as 3 current MBA students (one of whom was a Mawrtyr!!). The women shared with us their experiences, as well as their reasons for choosing Wharton over other business schools, and provided us with some helpful advice in regards to applying to, and attending, business school.

It was quite an eventful and exciting day for OIG! Thank you to all those who came; please feel free to comment your thoughts and opinions on the trip. Feedback is always greatly appreciated! 

Looking forward to seeing you all at our next meeting!! 🙂

Tonight was Elections night!

It was certainly an emotional night for us all. Each candidate and OIG member who ran for a board position was certainly more than qualified to be apart of the OIG board; it seems almost unfair to elect just one person per position, seeing as each candidate was more than capable of doing an Incredible job! It was truly a wonderful sight to see the dedication, drive, intelligence, and passion that resonated in each of the OIG members. To all those who ran tonight, you should each be very proud of yourselves, for all of you have impacted OIG in more ways than you can imagine. Your presence and role in OIG is invaluable, and although a position title could not be awarded to every member tonight, the fact that each member’s voice is just as important and renders equal impact as any counter member (with or without board title) is undeniable. Thank you again to all those who ran, and thank you to each member of OIG for making our club the amazing and incredible club that it is. Now get excited for OIG  2010-2011!!!! It’s going to be an AMAZINGGG YEAR!!! 🙂

And, of course, a big CONGRATS to the members of the 2010-2011 BOARD OF OIG! CONGRATULATIONS LADIES!!! WOOT! 🙂

PRESIDENT: SASHA BEREZNAK, ’11

PORTFOLIO MANAGER: YUFAN WANG, ’11

SECRETARY: LILLY AMIRHEKMAT, ’11

TREASURER: RUILIN XU, ’11

PUBLICITY CHAIR: SOPHIA ABBOUD, ’12

..it’s going to be a great year ladies! 🙂

 

In addition, some equally exciting news to get pumped for….

THIS FRIDAY (MARCH 26TH) IS OIG’S SPRING SEMESTER FIELD TRIP!!!! YAYYYY!! 🙂  We will be exploring the (financial) heart of Philly….can’t wait!