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Bryn Mawr Owl Investment Group starts its first meeting by Annual Summer Internship Panel on 9/17/2014.

Panelists list is as follows:

• Carmen Lai ( International Studies Major, Class of 2015, BMC):
– JP Morgan Chase in Newark, DE
– Corporate and Investment Banking: Financial Control

• Aly Walsh (East Asian Studies & Economics Minor, Class of 2015, BMC):
– JP Morgan Chase in Newark, DE
– Corporate and Investment Banking: Financial Control Project Team Intern

• Ziye Lin (Mathematics Major, Class of 2016, BMC ):
– XL Group in Exton, PA
– Actuarial Intern, Specialty Line

• Tom Yi (Mathematics & Economics Major, Class of 2015, HC) :
– Richmond Hill Investment Co. in NYC
– Summer Analyst, Value-investing hedge fund

• Laura James (Sociology Major, Class of 2015, BMC) :
– The Trivedi’s Congress Campaign for Pennsylvania’s 6th congressional district
– Finance Intern

Each of the panelist shared his or her experience about their internship this past summer. They started by talking about their general experience- what did they do and what is the industry look like. Then they also shared about how they got their internships, their ups and downs during the internship, advantages and disadvantages of coming from an liberal art college. In the end, they gave us their best advice:

-Learn some excel skill. Excel has been used a lot in business related industries

-Ready to take challenge. Those internships are very challenging for students.

-Think step by step logically , rationally and think ahead

-Talk to alumnae. They are the best resource for whatever you want to learn about the industry.

-Know your selling point. Your selling point is going to help you get your dream internship

-Willing to learn. You will learn a lot in an internship.

-Show your interest. People love to work with interns who love their jobs

-Ask questions. Ask for anything you don’t understand and the reason for specific tasks

-Be a quick learner. You need to try your best to learn a lot and fast during your internship.

Many of the students stayed to talk to the panelists after the panel was over and we learned a lot from them. We would like to thank all of the panelist for coming and taking their precious time to talk to OIG members.

Join us for the International Skype Series event to get more information about the finance industry and career choices.

Danny Tang ‘97, Mathematics & Economics, Vice President – China Development Bank (China) kicks off LILAC’s International Skype Series next Tuesday at 9:00PM!

Registration Link:https://brynmawr.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_8pPmoKDHFCHhDqR

What is the International Skype Series (ISS)?  The International Skype Series (ISS) provides students with an opportunity to have informal conversation with women and men (usually alumnae) about their career path and about connections between their post-graduation life and work and their undergraduate experiences at Bryn Mawr.  This program was launched last year as a pilot and this year there is one alumnae participating in the program a month.  The focus of this series is connecting students with alumnae who have some connection to international experiences.  This could be a domestic student who decided to go work abroad, an international student who stayed to work in the US, or an international student who is working internationally.

Welcome back everyone! Hope all of you had a great first two weeks. Bryn Mawr Owl Investment Group is hosting our annual Summer Internship Panel in the first meeting this week. We have invited Bi-Co Juniors and Seniors to share their summer internship experiences with us. If you’d like to hear more about summer opportunities and internships, please join us on Wed, September 17th @Taylor D, 9PM . The panel will start promptly at 9PM (no Bryn Mawr time), so please arrive on time.

Our panelists list is as follows:

• Carmen Lai ( International Studies Major, Class of 2015, BMC):
– JP Morgan Chase in Newark, DE
– Corporate and Investment Banking: Financial Control

• Aly Walsh (East Asian Studies & Economics Minor, Class of 2015, BMC):
– JP Morgan Chase in Newark, DE
– Corporate and Investment Banking: Financial Control Project Team Intern

• Ziye Lin (Mathematics Major, Class of 2016, BMC ):
– XL Group in Exton, PA
– Actuarial Intern, Specialty Line

• Tom Yi (Mathematics & Economics Major, Class of 2015, HC) :
– Richmond Hill Investment Co. in NYC
– Summer Analyst, Value-investing hedge fund

• Laura James (Sociology Major, Class of 2015, BMC) :
– The Trivedi’s Congress Campaign for Pennsylvania’s 6th congressional district
– Finance Intern

The sharing session will be followed by a Q&A session. We look forward to seeing you all on Wednesday!

We are excited to announce the good news that we are now recruiting for our Portfolio Management Team for this year. If you are interested in applying to be a team member, please look at the application checklist provided below and email your application forms to Yaxuan (ywen@brynmawr.edu) by TOMORROW, Thursday, September 4th. If an extension for your application is needed, please inform Yaxuan by the same deadline.

The Portfolio Management Team is a small group (5~8 students) of OIG members, who conduct market research and make trading decisions for the club’s portfolio. Led by the Portfolio Manager, team members have a weekly one-hour meeting outside of the general club meeting time. Past experience and relevant knowledge are valued, but not required. Team members are expected to have a sensitivity to economic activities and possess strong market research ability. Team members will present stock pitches and portfolio update during general club meetings. Time commitment for this position is about four hours per week, including meeting and research time. This is a year-long position, and exception may be given for Spring study abroad members.

Being on the Portfolio Management Team is one of the most engaging OIG experiences. Throughout the year, team members study and try different investment strategies and trading techniques. This year, we are likely to start with fundamental analysis in order to pick a few long-term (6+ months) holds. The team has the flexibility to tailor and maximize this educational experience based on each team member’s interest and background.

Application checklist:

(1) A one-page maximum (double-spaced, 12 pt) statement about your interest in this position and why you would be a good fit.

(2) You can choose to complete an optional questionnaire (click on the link). This is a good place to go if you didn’t have enough space in (1).

(3) Recent resume if you have one.

(4) Email the statement (1), the optional questionnaire (2) and your resume (3) as one Word file to ywen@brynmawr.edu by 11pm, Thursday, September 4, 2014. Email and file name should be “Your_Name_OIG_Portfolio_App”. We understand that the first week may be very busy for some of you. If you intend to apply but need an extension in order to provide more thoughtful responses, please inform the Portfolio Manager via email (ywen@brynmawr.edu) by 11pm, Thursday, September 4, 2014.

Bryn Mawr College Takes Third Place in

Third Adirondack Cup Competition

18 Colleges and Universities Participated in Unique Stock Picking Event

Guilderland, N.Y. – A team of seven Bryn Mawr College students has earned third place in the 2014 Adirondack Cup, a competition during which college teams competed against each other over six months to build and grow a small cap portfolio of stocks, just like the pros at Adirondack Small Cap Mutual Fund (ADKSX). The competition is sponsored by the advisor to the Guilderland-based mutual fund, an owner-managed fund recognized in 2011 and 2013 by Lipper Inc. as the best small cap value mutual fund in the U.S. The St. Lawrence University team took first place in the competition, followed by Ithaca College in second place.

 Students from 18 colleges and universities across the Northeast participated in the competition, managing a hypothetical small cap portfolio of stocks valued at $1 million.The goals of the competition, which is in its third year, are to teach students the difference between trading stocks and thinking through their investment decisions for the long term and to help them make appropriate connections in the financial services sector as they prepare to enter the job market.

According to Adirondack Principal and Chief Marketing Officer Steve Gonick, “The students have grown their network of contacts in the industry as a result of participating in the Adirondack Cup because many of our clients have been actively following the competition, often rooting for the students from the school they graduated from.  This will be extremely helpful as they start their careers.”

The St. Lawrence portfolio had a 27.54 percent return, resoundingly beating the Russell 2000 Index, which measures the performance of small cap stocks in the U.S.; the index had a return of 3.15 percent for the period.  The 2012 Adirondack Cup winner, Ithaca, had a return of 15.33 percent.  Bryn Mawr College had a return of 14.01 percent. Rounding out the top five, Saunders College of Business at Rochester Institute of Technology had a return of 7.79 percent and the State University of New York at Geneseohad a return of 7.03 percent.

The other colleges participating in the competition were Binghamton University;Buffalo State; Clarkson University; The College at Brockport, State University of New York; The College of Saint Rose; Hofstra University; Macalester College; Siena College (the 2013Adirondack Cup winner); St. John Fisher College; State University of New York at Plattsburgh; Union College; University at Albany; and Wesleyan University.

At the start of the competition in October 2013, students were expected to do their research, create a thesis on their stock picks and determine investments and allocation. Each portfolio had to include a hypothetical $1 million invested in five small cap stocks (defined as companies with market caps between $50 million and $3 billion).  Each of the five stock picks had to be from a different industry and each holding had to be at least five percent but no more than 50 percent of the portfolio. Teams were allowed to make changes to their portfolio only twice during the contest period.

The Adirondack Small Cap Fund was launched in April 2005 and has enjoyed strong growth. It has seen tremendous growth in the past year and today has $306 million in assets under management.

Market update

• Market rose consecutively for the past 5/6 days. S&P 500 is up 0.6% so far this week. New- home market isn’t doing well in March probably because of harsh winter
• Federal Reserve policy makers are likely to hold policy steady by trimming their monthly bond purchases by another $10 billion to $45 billion and leaving their benchmark interest rate unchanged at near zero.
• Facebook: Revenue climbed 72% to $2.5 billion, beating expectation. Active users continue to increase and this gives investors a better indication of user engagement. Advertisers increasingly use Facebook ads to boost sales.
• Apple: a year-over-year decline in quarterly revenue. Apple started supplying iPhones to China Mobile in January. China Mobile is a potential catalyst for iPhone demand in the world’s largest smartphone market.
• Weibo: Shares of Weibo Corp. jumped 19% in their trading debut last Thursday. Price right now is around 22. After the IPO, Alibaba is set to own about a third of Weibo. Part of the aim of the relationship is to allow Alibaba merchants to advertise to Weibo users

We are proud to announce our new Executive Board Members for 2014-2015:

Executive Director: Dingwei Li

Portfolio Manager: Yaxuan Wen

Treasurer: Nancy Yannan Li

Secretary: Yiling Bai

Publicity: Tianyi He

Congratulations! We hope all of them all the best the upcoming academic year.

Aspire to Lead: The PwC Women’s Leadership Series

A live, global forum on women and leadership

Special Guest: Sheryl Sandberg (webcast)
FREE LUNCH!
Co-sponsored with LILAC and Owl Investment Group

Participate in a viewing party here at BMC! Join us for free lunch in the campus center!
Skype with BMC Alumna Malli Gupta (’13) and Skye Brainard (’79) at 12:00pm, then watch a webinar with Sheryl Sandberg at 12:30pm focusing on how female students navigate the transition from campus to career.Aspire to Lead: The PwC Women’s Leadership Series 

Date: Thursday, April 24, 2014
Location: Campus Center 200
Time: 12:00-12:30 Skype Panel with BMC alumnae
12:30pm-1:30pm (Live Web Cast)
Register: Please RSVP to LILAC via this LINK

12-12:30pm – Skype call with Malli Gupta (Economics ’13) and Skye Brainard (History ’79)
Malli graduated Bryn Mawr in 2012 with a major in Economics and minors in Creative Writing and Political Science. She joined Health Industries Advisory at PwC after graduation. At PwC, she started the Lean In Circles program in New York Metro and is passionate about dialog around gender inclusive leadership. Skye Brainard (’79) majored in history and has over 19 years experience with designing, developing and delivering learning opportunities for professional services firms.

12:30-1:30 Web Cast
Join us for a live webcast featuring Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s COO and the author of Lean In: Women, Work and the Will to Lead and Lean In for Graduates. She also set up a non-profit organization called LeanIn.Org, igniting a conversation about women and ambition. During the webcast, Sheryl will offer tips to graduates for finding the right job, negotiating your first salary and succeeding in your career. Sheryl will be joined by Terri McClements, PwC’s US Human Capital Leader and Global Talent Leader, who will share her insights and experiences. The event will be broadcast live from Facebook’s campus in California.

This webcast will be of particular interest to female college students looking for tips on entering the workforce, and will delve into some of the challenges students may face as they transition from campus to career. You can read more about Pricewaterhouse Cooper’s commitment to developing the next generation of women leaders here.

Market Update:

• China’s gross domestic product grew by 7.4% in the first quarter, which was the slowest rate in 18 months. However, this was more than the the forecast rate of 7.3% and was successful in calming the nerves of investors.
• The fed released “Beige Book” report, which is a read on the U.S economy from anecdotes gathered by the central bank’s 12 districts. According to the report, the economy of the entire country bounced back after the growth was hampered by the unusually cold winter.
• Stock prices went up for Down Jones .
• Twitter, on the other hand, has been under performing . The reasons being slowing user growth, declining user engagement and premium valuation. There is some potential for its user growth and user engagement to increase in near future, and ad engagement remain healthy as well. The stock rallied at 11% on Tuesday, which is the highest since the day it went public.
• Alibaba, which is a Chinese e-commerce behemoth , produces more sales and net income than ebay and amazon combined. It can raise up to $15 billion at the valuation of up to $200 billions.
• Weibo, which is like twitter, is set to begin trading on Thursday in NASDAQ and JD.com, which is Alibaba’s rival filed for $1.5 billion listing in January.

Stock Pitch:
Under Armour
Under Armour is a leading developer, marketer and contributor of sports apparel and now is venturing into foot wear and women’s wear. Its main markets are North America, Eurpe, Middle East, Africa, Asia and Latin America.

• Trailing P/E: 67.92
• Forward P/E 43.35
• Return on Equity:17.36% relative to cost of capital :9-10%
• Debt:152.92 relative to cash earnings:347.49
• Current ration:2.65x
• Quarterly Earnings Growth-163.4%

Why?

1) There is potential of future growth.

• International Expansion
• Expanding into new apparels: women’s wear and youth wear.

2) It is venturing into new innovative products as well.

• MagZip: Zipper which uses magnet to attract bottom rungs of the zipper (http://gearjunkie.com/)
• Workout Monitor
• Heart rate strap

It is also venturing into NBA market, which is a huge news in itself.

The last time we bought it before the Christmas season to capture the consumer spending right in the holiday season. We were able to do that and earned few gains.

Elections:

Owl Investment Group had elections for new executive board. The new executive board for 2014/2015 is:

• President: Dingwei Li
• Portfolio Manager: Yaxuan Wen
• Bank Treasurer: Yannan (Nancy) Li
• Publicist: Tianyi (Claire) He
• Secretary: Yiling Bai

Congratulation to the new e-board. We hope you have a wonderful time and continue the great legacy of OIG.