One of the most high-profile events held at the Johnson School is the annual MBA Stock Pitch Competition. I was involved with sending applications to other schools and helping the directors with the logistics, so it was a relief that the competition ran smoothly. This past Thursday and Friday, we hosted teams from Darden, Wharton, NYU, Columbia, Wisconsin, Chicago, Kellogg, Maryland, UNC, Duke, and Michigan. Each school sent 3 of their best stock junkies to vie for a chance to impress recruiters and to take home the $3000 prize.
This year's competition didn't disappoint. Kellogg's two-year winning streak was broken by Maryland, whose final-round pitch of Under Armour Inc impressed the judges the most. Here's how the format works. All of the teams were given the same stock (Home Depot), and a list of stocks from two industries (satellite radio and athletic apparel). The teams had exactly 12 hours on Thursday to anaylze their stocks and prepare their presentations. On Friday, they pitched their stocks to a panel of buy-side analysts and portfolio managers. The first two rounds consisted of the teams pitching Home Depot (long or short) and pitching their choice from the sat radio industry (long or short). We broke for lunch while the judges deliberated on which 4 teams would make it through to the final round.
The mood was intense when the final 4 teams were announced: Wicsonsin, NYU, Maryland, and Kellogg. Just minutes later, the first team was standing in front of the judges recommending a long position in Under Armour. It was kind of interesting that the teams could choose from 4 different athletic apparel companies (Under Armour, Nike, Lululemon, and Crox), yet 2 of the final teams recommend a long in Under Armour, and the other 2 teams recommended shorting it. The quality of the presentations were excellent, especially since most of the teams were composed entirely of first-year students and since they only had 12 hours of preparation.
