Michael Pesendorfer, recent UW graduate and former CMC member, met with the club over Zoom to discuss opportunities at Robert W. Baird. In addition to reviewing the attached slides, Michael took questions from members on his day-to-day, the role of  a sell-side analyst, and what it is like to work at Baird. Among other things, Michael noted that Baird is hiring analysts and prefers undergrads. You can watch Michael’s presentation here.

The slides we used in the latest training session are attached. During the session we discussed some key accounting concepts and reviewed where to find useful financial reports in Factset. We also discussed different types of businesses and how the competitive nature of the industry in which a company operates can be revealed in the company’s financial reports.

Following the accounting discussion, we reviewed the key elements of a stock pitch: a business overview, the investment thesis, and forecasts and valuation. We also outlined the steps in the research process that allow an analyst to put together an effective pitch.

As mentioned at our last meeting, we are pivoting to offer more basic training in accounting and company analysis in the next training session. On March 10^th we’ll review the accounting concepts and company analysis techniques reviewed in the attached presentations and in the reading described below. If you review the material in advance of our meeting you will get much more out of the session. The more questions the better. We also created this signup sheet for those interested in participating in the Associate Analyst Pitch Day April 21^st. We will discuss this at the March 10^th session.

UW’s AREIT Director Tim Pire discussed real estate investment trusts with members during a recent session. His attached presentation covers the history of the sector, performance of different property types, and how analysts evaluate the demand drivers in order to assess FFO (funds from operations – the REIT “equivalent” of EPS) and NAV (net asset value – the value of the real estate less debt and preferred stock). There are many commonalities in analyzing REIT securities and other equity securities. The remaining training sessions will be focused on introducing the tools you need to perform your own company and stock analysis in order to develop a pitch and to  evaluate the pitches of other members.