Joe Crivelli is Vice President of Investor Relations at Vertex Inc. and joined the Opportunity Fund class on March 22nd as a guest speaker – here are his reflections on the experience.
Last week, I had the privilege of being a guest at the University of Connecticut’s Opportunity Fund Project. This innovative program was launched this year by Steve Wilson, formerly Chief Investment Officer of Lapides Asset Management, a boutique hedge fund based in Greenwich, CT. Throughout his career, Steve has made a name for himself finding “hidden gems” – undiscovered smaller cap companies that have some fundamental ongoing change in their business that is about to create a positive inflection in financial performance.
Steve and I first met earlier in my career when I was serving in an IR consulting capacity for Nutrisystem. NTRI had gone through a challenging period and the stock was depressed when Steve first began doing his due diligence. But the company had just hired a new CEO – Dawn Zier – who was changing the culture of the company. The changes Dawn was implementing would catalyze strong financial performance, but the financials didn’t reflect it just yet. Steve got in early when the stock was trading in the single digits. A few years later, Dawn’s value-creating changes would result in NTRI being acquired for $47 per share – a nice ride indeed!
Steve’s program at UConn is designed to create a new generation of stock analysts with the tools to find great investments like this. A focus on this area makes complete sense for UConn, as the school benefits from being in close proximity to two of the largest investment centers in the world – New York and Boston – as well as the hedge fund community around Stamford, CT.
Students are taught how to screen for new investment ideas, analyze and select stocks, and even present their new investment ideas to an independent investment committee of seasoned professionals.
UConn is also putting its money where its mouth is: a subset of the class is being given a tranche of the school’s endowment to manage – real money with which they will be held accountable for delivering real returns with their stock selections!
The purpose of my visit was two-fold: to pitch the class on Vertex shares, so that they might consider putting some of the money they’re managing into our stock; and to help them understand the role of the investor relations executive in the investment analysis process.
Throughout my time in front of the class, the students peppered me with questions. This is par for the course, as an IRO’s primary job is to answer investor questions. What amazed me was this: the questions these students asked were every bit as astute as those I get from the seasoned stock analysts I talk to every day! In just one semester, these students had truly become stock analysts. They precisely knew where to focus for successful stock selection. If I had encountered any one of these students in a one-on-one meeting at an investor conference or on a non-deal road show, I wouldn’t ever have suspected that they were not professional money managers.
Afterwards, I had the opportunity to watch two pods of students present their investment research to an investment committee. I watched in amazement as these students presented very deeply researched investment ideas to professional money managers. Unflustered, they answered extremely tough questions and defended their investment theses. As I said to Steve afterwards: “I thought I was watching a seasoned group of Fidelity equity analysts presenting their ideas.” The students were THAT professional, and their investment recommendations that well-supported.
And that’s precisely the point of the UConn’s Opportunity Fund Project. To create job-ready professionals who can immediately step into entry-level roles in the investment community and add value on Day One. It’s the type of career-focused education that this country needs more of, to prepare the next generations for life in the real world.
And for UConn there will be a double benefit: as these students rise through the ranks in the investment community and gain career success, they will be good potential donors down the road.
For my part, I am encouraging my stepdaughter, who is a sophomore in high school and beginning to think about colleges and careers, to consider the program. She has already shown strong mathematical ability and an interest in money and investments, so this would be a natural fit for her. So far so good, as she has already short-listed UConn – fingers crossed…!