The quarterly report summarizes the performance of the Intrieri Family Student Managed Fund for the first quarter of 2015. The fund returned 3.44%, outperforming its benchmark which returned 1.65%. Healthcare was the top performing sector, while Telecommunications was the worst. The report discusses the fund's sector allocation strategy and transition to a more value-oriented portfolio. It also provides an overview of the global and US economic environments and highlights initiatives to further improve the fund.
The Intrieri Family Student Managed Fund reported an annual return of 7.24% for 2014, underperforming the S&P 500's return of 13.46%. While disappointing, this is consistent with most actively managed funds underperforming their benchmarks last year. The fund returned 4.82% in the 4th quarter, slightly underperforming the S&P 500's 4.90% return due to a higher than normal cash position. Moving forward, the fund will work to diversify away from the S&P 500 benchmark by adding small-cap and international holdings, as originally mandated.
Book Partial Profits: PTC India Finance - Nirmal BangIndiaNotes.com
PTC India Financial Services is an NBFC subsidiary of PTC India Limited that provides debt financing to power projects. The document recommends buying PTC India Financial Services stock for the following key reasons:
1) The company has grown its loan book over 4 times in the last 4 years and aims to double its balance sheet in the next 12-18 months, driven by a large pipeline of sanctioned projects.
2) It has shifted focus to lower risk renewable energy projects and maintains healthy asset quality with zero net NPAs.
3) Profitability is expected to increase further from equity investment exits and growth in the loan book, driving higher return ratios.
4) Adequate capitalization will
- DSP Top 100 Equity Fund invests primarily in large cap Indian stocks with a concentrated portfolio of about 30 stocks.
- The fund focuses on finding sustainable, scalable businesses with consistent returns and growth even through economic downturns.
- As of December 2021, the fund's top sectors were financials, materials, and healthcare. The largest themes in the portfolio included private banks, consumption, IT, infrastructure like cement, and pharmaceuticals.
Rak ceramic dividend appraisal full niloy sahaNiloy Saha
This report analyzes the dividend policy of RAK Ceramics Limited from 2014 to 2018. It begins with an overview of key concepts related to dividends including types of dividends, factors affecting dividend policy, and theories of dividend relevance and irrelevance. The report then examines RAK Ceramics' net income, dividend declarations, earnings per share, payout and retention ratios, and the relationship between net income and total dividends over the period. Finally, it determines whether RAK Ceramics follows a policy of dividend relevance or irrelevance based on the analysis.
Creating Value For Your Investments - Monarch Networth Capital LimitedMnclGroup
Monarch Networth Capital Limited (MNCL) is one of the leading financial services companies in India. With over 25 years of experience in capital markets, MNCL’s clear focus is to create value for its stakeholders For more info visit https://www.mnclgroup.com
The document discusses the DSP Healthcare Fund, an equity fund focused on investing in Indian and US healthcare companies. It highlights the large growth opportunity in the Indian healthcare industry given low penetration and spending levels currently. The fund aims to invest in companies across the healthcare ecosystem that benefit from rising healthcare expenditure, export opportunities, and the growing medical devices industry. Top holdings include Dr. Reddy's Laboratories, IPCA Laboratories and Divi's Laboratories based on their growth drivers and competitive advantages.
SBI Dynamic Asset Allocation Fund: An Open-ended Dynamic Asset Allocation Sch...SBI Mutual Fund
SBI Dynamic Asset Allocation Fund is an open-ended dynamic asset allocation scheme which aims to provide investors an opportunity to invest in a portfolio of a mix of equity and equity-related securities and fixed-income instruments which will be managed dynamically so as to provide investors with long-term capital appreciation.To know more about this mutual fund check SBI Mutual Fund page
https://www.sbimf.com/Products/HybridSchemes.aspx
Global Value Equity Portfolio - February 2011Trading Floor
The Global Value Equity portfolio performed strongly in January with most contribution coming from our stock selection, driven by CNP Assurances and Almirall, with almost no help from our sector allocation
The Intrieri Family Student Managed Fund reported an annual return of 7.24% for 2014, underperforming the S&P 500's return of 13.46%. While disappointing, this is consistent with most actively managed funds underperforming their benchmarks last year. The fund returned 4.82% in the 4th quarter, slightly underperforming the S&P 500's 4.90% return due to a higher than normal cash position. Moving forward, the fund will work to diversify away from the S&P 500 benchmark by adding small-cap and international holdings, as originally mandated.
Book Partial Profits: PTC India Finance - Nirmal BangIndiaNotes.com
PTC India Financial Services is an NBFC subsidiary of PTC India Limited that provides debt financing to power projects. The document recommends buying PTC India Financial Services stock for the following key reasons:
1) The company has grown its loan book over 4 times in the last 4 years and aims to double its balance sheet in the next 12-18 months, driven by a large pipeline of sanctioned projects.
2) It has shifted focus to lower risk renewable energy projects and maintains healthy asset quality with zero net NPAs.
3) Profitability is expected to increase further from equity investment exits and growth in the loan book, driving higher return ratios.
4) Adequate capitalization will
- DSP Top 100 Equity Fund invests primarily in large cap Indian stocks with a concentrated portfolio of about 30 stocks.
- The fund focuses on finding sustainable, scalable businesses with consistent returns and growth even through economic downturns.
- As of December 2021, the fund's top sectors were financials, materials, and healthcare. The largest themes in the portfolio included private banks, consumption, IT, infrastructure like cement, and pharmaceuticals.
Rak ceramic dividend appraisal full niloy sahaNiloy Saha
This report analyzes the dividend policy of RAK Ceramics Limited from 2014 to 2018. It begins with an overview of key concepts related to dividends including types of dividends, factors affecting dividend policy, and theories of dividend relevance and irrelevance. The report then examines RAK Ceramics' net income, dividend declarations, earnings per share, payout and retention ratios, and the relationship between net income and total dividends over the period. Finally, it determines whether RAK Ceramics follows a policy of dividend relevance or irrelevance based on the analysis.
Creating Value For Your Investments - Monarch Networth Capital LimitedMnclGroup
Monarch Networth Capital Limited (MNCL) is one of the leading financial services companies in India. With over 25 years of experience in capital markets, MNCL’s clear focus is to create value for its stakeholders For more info visit https://www.mnclgroup.com
The document discusses the DSP Healthcare Fund, an equity fund focused on investing in Indian and US healthcare companies. It highlights the large growth opportunity in the Indian healthcare industry given low penetration and spending levels currently. The fund aims to invest in companies across the healthcare ecosystem that benefit from rising healthcare expenditure, export opportunities, and the growing medical devices industry. Top holdings include Dr. Reddy's Laboratories, IPCA Laboratories and Divi's Laboratories based on their growth drivers and competitive advantages.
SBI Dynamic Asset Allocation Fund: An Open-ended Dynamic Asset Allocation Sch...SBI Mutual Fund
SBI Dynamic Asset Allocation Fund is an open-ended dynamic asset allocation scheme which aims to provide investors an opportunity to invest in a portfolio of a mix of equity and equity-related securities and fixed-income instruments which will be managed dynamically so as to provide investors with long-term capital appreciation.To know more about this mutual fund check SBI Mutual Fund page
https://www.sbimf.com/Products/HybridSchemes.aspx
Global Value Equity Portfolio - February 2011Trading Floor
The Global Value Equity portfolio performed strongly in January with most contribution coming from our stock selection, driven by CNP Assurances and Almirall, with almost no help from our sector allocation
The document summarizes a presentation on the 10 year anniversary of the FTSE RAFI Index Series. It discusses how fundamental indexing was originally conceived as an alternative to cap-weighted indexing and active management. It then reviews how the original criticisms of fundamental indexing have held up based on 10 years of live performance data. Finally, it discusses how fundamental indexing has evolved and the future of smart beta strategies.
The document provides an outlook on the Indian equity and fixed income markets for October 2018. It summarizes the performance of various global and Indian indices in September, with Indian equities suffering declines. It recommends staying cautious on equities and preferring large caps over mid and small caps. For fixed income, it suggests maintaining a cautious approach and staying in low duration funds given concerns around tightening liquidity. Specific mutual fund schemes are highlighted for their ability to benefit from market volatility through dynamic asset allocation.
Equities remain in vogue as bond yields adjust, the spread on SB/Junk continuing to narrow, this dynamic should be enough to see appetite remain for equity investments. The gains in the S&P 500 were the broadest since 1994, every instance where 80% of the 500 companies gained was followed by additional gains the following year. Caution against unbridled optimism, corporate valuations are the richest since 2000 and margins the highest on record. Shiller P/E, the cycle adjusted P/E ratio, is now at 25.6, 55.2% higher than the historical mean of 16.5.
CastlePoint Composite Performance through December 31, 2011. Investment returns for both the composite (the “Composite”) and the indices presented above are gross of fees and include the reinvestment of interest and dividend income. Returns exclude investment advisory fees but include transaction costs and foreign withholding taxes. Composite portfolios are valued monthly and use time-weighted, geometrically-linked rates of return adjusted for daily-weighted cash flows. Results are based on fully-discretionary accounts under management. Although great care was taken in the preparation of this document, its completeness and accuracy cannot be guaranteed. Monthly statements that substantiate these investment returns are available for verification or auditing purposes. Past performance is no guarantee of future favorable results. The investment philosophy, process, and discipline used to generate these returns were continuously applied over all time periods.
- The fund employs a contrarian investment strategy, focusing on out-of-favor industries and stocks that have fallen from investor support, with the view that they have potential to regain popularity within three years.
- Their "middle-down" research process identifies attractive industries first before performing bottom-up analysis on individual companies, focusing on those trading at discounts to tangible book value and cash flow.
- They construct a concentrated portfolio of less than 60 stocks across multiple sectors, with a maximum position of 5% and target market caps between $500 million to $1 billion.
DSP World Mining Fund - An Open Ended Fund Of Funds Scheme investing in Mining Companies through International Funds
This Open-ended Fund of Funds Scheme is suitable for investors who are seeking*:
1. Long-term capital growth
2. Investment in units of overseas funds which invest primarily in equity and equity related securities of mining companies
3. High Risk**
*Investors should consult their financial advisors if in doubt about whether the Scheme is suitable for them.
**Risk may be represented as:
Low: Investors understand that their principal will be at low risk
Moderately Low: Investors understand that their principal will be at moderately low risk
Moderate: Investors understand that their principal will be at moderate risk
Moderately High: Investors understand that their principal will be at moderately high risk
High: Investors understand that their principal will be at high risk
The Tiger Fund has consistently underperformed its benchmark, the Russell Top 200 index, over the period from 8/1/2011 to 6/30/2015. Key issues identified include underperformance of buy decisions made by student managers, inconsistent sector allocation strategies between classes that reduced returns, and a lack of experience among student managers. Recommendations to improve performance include constraining student decision making, revising the course structure, and providing additional training to students on valuation and market consensus analysis.
Netwealth portfolio construction series - Why you should consider investing o...netwealthInvest
Julian Beaumont from Bennelong Australian Equity Partners presented a webinar session on how to invest outside of the top 20 ASX stocks, for Netwealth on May 26, 2016.
The Global Equity Fund annual report summarized the fund's performance for the past year. The fund returned 4.23% compared to its benchmark index return of 11.21%. The letter to shareholders discussed investing $200,000 in the benchmark ETF and selling portions as individual stocks were added. The report included the fund's current holdings, trading activity, top performers and underperformers, lessons learned, and introduced the incoming fund class.
The fund invests in IPO securities listed in Greater China, Singapore, or the US that derive revenue from Greater China or Singapore. Over the past 2 years, the fund achieved a return of 138.39%, outperforming its benchmark by 42.07%. The manager uses quantitative and qualitative criteria to determine investments with a focus on IPOs that offer growth potential.
This document provides an overview of the IDFC Focused Equity Fund. The fund is an open-ended equity scheme that invests in a concentrated portfolio of a maximum of 30 stocks with a multi-cap focus. It aims to invest in companies with superior quality and growth characteristics. The fund manager believes returns are driven by identifying the right stocks and allocating sufficiently to them. Currently, the fund is overweight in sectors such as information technology, telecom, and healthcare.
This presentation provides a look at Performance-based Equity from three angles: Design, Legal issues (provided by Jennifer George at Orrick) and Administration concerns (provided by Paz Dizon of Gilead). The administrative concerns is especially interesting since Paz drills deep into some of the difficulties and how she handled them.
1) HGHAX had the highest returns over 3, 5, 8, and 10 years but also the highest expenses. IYH and SPY had lower returns but much lower expenses.
2) IYH and SPY had lower standard deviations, indicating less volatility than HGHAX. IYH in particular had the lowest risk.
3) IYH had the highest Sharpe Ratios over 3 and 5 years, meaning it had the best risk-adjusted returns. SPY had the lowest Sharpe Ratios, indicating poorer risk-adjusted performance.
- HBJ Capital is an equity research firm that provides stock recommendations to retail, high net worth, and institutional clients with the goal of identifying "hidden gem" multibagger stocks.
- Their flagship Multibagger Stock Package recommends 12 stocks per year with in-depth research reports and quarterly updates, focusing on mid-cap, small-cap, micro-cap, and other styles that could generate high returns.
- Their research process involves analyzing sectors, companies, management, and financials through primary and secondary research to identify undervalued stocks with strong growth potential.
Cedar Fair is an operator of regional amusement parks and separately gated outdoor water parks. In 2014, it expects to entertain over 23 million guests across its 11 amusement parks, 3 water parks, and other attractions. The document discusses Cedar Fair's strong financial performance in recent years with revenue growth of 6% in 2013 and adjusted EBITDA growth of 9% driven by increases in attendance and per capita spending. It also outlines Cedar Fair's strategic growth initiatives and new attractions being introduced in 2014 to continue enhancing the guest experience.
IDFC Focused Equity Fund _Fund presentationJubiIDFCEquity
This document provides an overview of the IDFC Focused Equity Fund, an open-ended equity scheme that invests in a maximum of 30 stocks with a multi-cap focus. The fund aims to generate superior returns by identifying the right stocks and allocating sufficiently to high-conviction ideas. It takes a focused approach of investing in high-quality, high-growth companies, while maintaining a well-diversified portfolio across market caps and sectors. The fund is currently overweight in commodities, information technology and telecom sectors.
This document provides an overview of Prescient Limited, a South African investment management firm, and its subsidiaries, investment teams, funds, and performance. Some key points:
- Prescient Limited has various subsidiaries that provide financial services including investment management, life insurance, and securities.
- The firm has a global presence with offices in South Africa, Namibia, Ireland, and China.
- It offers a range of actively managed solution funds targeting different risk and return objectives, such as income, capital preservation, and long-term growth.
- Performance charts are shown for some of their flagship funds such as the Income Provider, Positive Return, and Africa funds, demonstrating strong returns above benchmarks.
The document analyzes whether investors remain psychologically scarred from the 2008-2009 financial crisis in a way that has disrupted their normal assessment of risk and reward. It finds that investors exhibit several psychological constraints, including heuristics, overconfidence, and loss aversion. It predicts that as a result, the "wall of worry" phase of the bull market will last longer than usual, economic activity will be slower to recover, portfolio models may misjudge returns, interest rates will stay low for longer, and equities may underperform bonds for an extended period. Investors will also be slow to reallocate back into equities.
Strategies for positive returns in volatile marketsnetwealthInvest
Part of Netwealth's portfolio construction webinar series - ST Wong from Prime Value presented to an audience on 14th June 2016 on the topic of absolute investing.
Financial Analysis and Website Performance of Google.Sadman Ahmed
Google has been the leading search engine for many consecutive years and will continue to develop its worldwide domination of all aspects of the internet, search, multimedia and telecommunications industries.
The document summarizes a presentation on the 10 year anniversary of the FTSE RAFI Index Series. It discusses how fundamental indexing was originally conceived as an alternative to cap-weighted indexing and active management. It then reviews how the original criticisms of fundamental indexing have held up based on 10 years of live performance data. Finally, it discusses how fundamental indexing has evolved and the future of smart beta strategies.
The document provides an outlook on the Indian equity and fixed income markets for October 2018. It summarizes the performance of various global and Indian indices in September, with Indian equities suffering declines. It recommends staying cautious on equities and preferring large caps over mid and small caps. For fixed income, it suggests maintaining a cautious approach and staying in low duration funds given concerns around tightening liquidity. Specific mutual fund schemes are highlighted for their ability to benefit from market volatility through dynamic asset allocation.
Equities remain in vogue as bond yields adjust, the spread on SB/Junk continuing to narrow, this dynamic should be enough to see appetite remain for equity investments. The gains in the S&P 500 were the broadest since 1994, every instance where 80% of the 500 companies gained was followed by additional gains the following year. Caution against unbridled optimism, corporate valuations are the richest since 2000 and margins the highest on record. Shiller P/E, the cycle adjusted P/E ratio, is now at 25.6, 55.2% higher than the historical mean of 16.5.
CastlePoint Composite Performance through December 31, 2011. Investment returns for both the composite (the “Composite”) and the indices presented above are gross of fees and include the reinvestment of interest and dividend income. Returns exclude investment advisory fees but include transaction costs and foreign withholding taxes. Composite portfolios are valued monthly and use time-weighted, geometrically-linked rates of return adjusted for daily-weighted cash flows. Results are based on fully-discretionary accounts under management. Although great care was taken in the preparation of this document, its completeness and accuracy cannot be guaranteed. Monthly statements that substantiate these investment returns are available for verification or auditing purposes. Past performance is no guarantee of future favorable results. The investment philosophy, process, and discipline used to generate these returns were continuously applied over all time periods.
- The fund employs a contrarian investment strategy, focusing on out-of-favor industries and stocks that have fallen from investor support, with the view that they have potential to regain popularity within three years.
- Their "middle-down" research process identifies attractive industries first before performing bottom-up analysis on individual companies, focusing on those trading at discounts to tangible book value and cash flow.
- They construct a concentrated portfolio of less than 60 stocks across multiple sectors, with a maximum position of 5% and target market caps between $500 million to $1 billion.
DSP World Mining Fund - An Open Ended Fund Of Funds Scheme investing in Mining Companies through International Funds
This Open-ended Fund of Funds Scheme is suitable for investors who are seeking*:
1. Long-term capital growth
2. Investment in units of overseas funds which invest primarily in equity and equity related securities of mining companies
3. High Risk**
*Investors should consult their financial advisors if in doubt about whether the Scheme is suitable for them.
**Risk may be represented as:
Low: Investors understand that their principal will be at low risk
Moderately Low: Investors understand that their principal will be at moderately low risk
Moderate: Investors understand that their principal will be at moderate risk
Moderately High: Investors understand that their principal will be at moderately high risk
High: Investors understand that their principal will be at high risk
The Tiger Fund has consistently underperformed its benchmark, the Russell Top 200 index, over the period from 8/1/2011 to 6/30/2015. Key issues identified include underperformance of buy decisions made by student managers, inconsistent sector allocation strategies between classes that reduced returns, and a lack of experience among student managers. Recommendations to improve performance include constraining student decision making, revising the course structure, and providing additional training to students on valuation and market consensus analysis.
Netwealth portfolio construction series - Why you should consider investing o...netwealthInvest
Julian Beaumont from Bennelong Australian Equity Partners presented a webinar session on how to invest outside of the top 20 ASX stocks, for Netwealth on May 26, 2016.
The Global Equity Fund annual report summarized the fund's performance for the past year. The fund returned 4.23% compared to its benchmark index return of 11.21%. The letter to shareholders discussed investing $200,000 in the benchmark ETF and selling portions as individual stocks were added. The report included the fund's current holdings, trading activity, top performers and underperformers, lessons learned, and introduced the incoming fund class.
The fund invests in IPO securities listed in Greater China, Singapore, or the US that derive revenue from Greater China or Singapore. Over the past 2 years, the fund achieved a return of 138.39%, outperforming its benchmark by 42.07%. The manager uses quantitative and qualitative criteria to determine investments with a focus on IPOs that offer growth potential.
This document provides an overview of the IDFC Focused Equity Fund. The fund is an open-ended equity scheme that invests in a concentrated portfolio of a maximum of 30 stocks with a multi-cap focus. It aims to invest in companies with superior quality and growth characteristics. The fund manager believes returns are driven by identifying the right stocks and allocating sufficiently to them. Currently, the fund is overweight in sectors such as information technology, telecom, and healthcare.
This presentation provides a look at Performance-based Equity from three angles: Design, Legal issues (provided by Jennifer George at Orrick) and Administration concerns (provided by Paz Dizon of Gilead). The administrative concerns is especially interesting since Paz drills deep into some of the difficulties and how she handled them.
1) HGHAX had the highest returns over 3, 5, 8, and 10 years but also the highest expenses. IYH and SPY had lower returns but much lower expenses.
2) IYH and SPY had lower standard deviations, indicating less volatility than HGHAX. IYH in particular had the lowest risk.
3) IYH had the highest Sharpe Ratios over 3 and 5 years, meaning it had the best risk-adjusted returns. SPY had the lowest Sharpe Ratios, indicating poorer risk-adjusted performance.
- HBJ Capital is an equity research firm that provides stock recommendations to retail, high net worth, and institutional clients with the goal of identifying "hidden gem" multibagger stocks.
- Their flagship Multibagger Stock Package recommends 12 stocks per year with in-depth research reports and quarterly updates, focusing on mid-cap, small-cap, micro-cap, and other styles that could generate high returns.
- Their research process involves analyzing sectors, companies, management, and financials through primary and secondary research to identify undervalued stocks with strong growth potential.
Cedar Fair is an operator of regional amusement parks and separately gated outdoor water parks. In 2014, it expects to entertain over 23 million guests across its 11 amusement parks, 3 water parks, and other attractions. The document discusses Cedar Fair's strong financial performance in recent years with revenue growth of 6% in 2013 and adjusted EBITDA growth of 9% driven by increases in attendance and per capita spending. It also outlines Cedar Fair's strategic growth initiatives and new attractions being introduced in 2014 to continue enhancing the guest experience.
IDFC Focused Equity Fund _Fund presentationJubiIDFCEquity
This document provides an overview of the IDFC Focused Equity Fund, an open-ended equity scheme that invests in a maximum of 30 stocks with a multi-cap focus. The fund aims to generate superior returns by identifying the right stocks and allocating sufficiently to high-conviction ideas. It takes a focused approach of investing in high-quality, high-growth companies, while maintaining a well-diversified portfolio across market caps and sectors. The fund is currently overweight in commodities, information technology and telecom sectors.
This document provides an overview of Prescient Limited, a South African investment management firm, and its subsidiaries, investment teams, funds, and performance. Some key points:
- Prescient Limited has various subsidiaries that provide financial services including investment management, life insurance, and securities.
- The firm has a global presence with offices in South Africa, Namibia, Ireland, and China.
- It offers a range of actively managed solution funds targeting different risk and return objectives, such as income, capital preservation, and long-term growth.
- Performance charts are shown for some of their flagship funds such as the Income Provider, Positive Return, and Africa funds, demonstrating strong returns above benchmarks.
The document analyzes whether investors remain psychologically scarred from the 2008-2009 financial crisis in a way that has disrupted their normal assessment of risk and reward. It finds that investors exhibit several psychological constraints, including heuristics, overconfidence, and loss aversion. It predicts that as a result, the "wall of worry" phase of the bull market will last longer than usual, economic activity will be slower to recover, portfolio models may misjudge returns, interest rates will stay low for longer, and equities may underperform bonds for an extended period. Investors will also be slow to reallocate back into equities.
Strategies for positive returns in volatile marketsnetwealthInvest
Part of Netwealth's portfolio construction webinar series - ST Wong from Prime Value presented to an audience on 14th June 2016 on the topic of absolute investing.
Financial Analysis and Website Performance of Google.Sadman Ahmed
Google has been the leading search engine for many consecutive years and will continue to develop its worldwide domination of all aspects of the internet, search, multimedia and telecommunications industries.
A Case Study Analysis on the Asian Financial Crisis of 1997 and Zapa ChemicalsSadman Ahmed
Asian Financial Crisis of 1997:-
The Asian crisis was one of the worst financial disasters in the history of Thailand. The investors moved away large sums money away, inflation spiraled out of control, and it ultimately put pressure on the exchange rates of the Baht. Due to Thailand’s problems alone, the effect of the crisis spread along different countries in Asia. The impacts prove how integrated the economies of today are. Much of the fault lies on the failed policies of the government and weak regulatory regime.
Zapa Chemicals (risk management)
The exchange rate exposure and the legal hurdles can be quite a burden when transferring funds across the borders. In the case of Zapa Chemicals, the tax filing problem did not help them to transfer funds. They didn’t know when exactly the funds would be available for receiving. The risk management of the firm is quite a hefty task for foreign companies to successfully pursue.
Strategy of Capital Structure Decisions of BanglalinkSadman Ahmed
This is a report I had prepared while interning at Banglalink. The topic is 'Capital Structure' and I have given comprehensive background knowledge about it.
This document presents a marketing plan for Nutri-Jam, a fruit jam product of Nutro Consumer Products Ltd. It includes an executive summary, market analysis, customer analysis, marketing strategy, promotion plans, and conclusion. The market analysis identifies competitors and their strengths/weaknesses. It also covers target customers as urban middle class families aged 10-40. The marketing strategy discusses the product, pricing, placement, and promotion. The plan aims to introduce a natural jam product with innovative packaging to gain market share in the saturated jam sector in Bangladesh.
The Blue Hen Investment Club had a successful 2014. It saw record interest from students and optimized its recruitment process. It implemented new initiatives like performance evaluations, equity research reports, and financial modeling workshops that improved members' skills. The portfolio performed well against the S&P 500 in 2014, with a return of 13.37% versus 13.69% for the index. Top performing sectors were Health Care, Information Technology, Industrials & Materials, and Financials. The club also emphasized value stocks and reduced holdings to focus on fewer companies. Notable holdings included Symantec, Computer Task Group, and Premiere Global Services.
The document provides a quarterly report from Conquest Strategies, LLC on their MidCap portfolio for Q4 2015. It summarizes the strategy, investment objective, and performance for the quarter and year. While the portfolio underperformed the benchmarks for the quarter, it outperformed for the year. The report discusses sector allocations and top holdings, noting increases to utilities and healthcare. It provides analysis of selected positions and the outlook.
Randy Kerns, CIC, ChFC • Voya Financial Advisors Inc.
- Why passive investors get hammered by Mike Posey
- Can it really be earnings season already?
- What oil's plunge and the strong Dollar may mean for 2015 by Jeanette Schwarz Young
- Active management as a practice differentiator (John McGonagle, CFP, CRPC, Asset Architects LLC)
This document introduces four individuals who are members of the investment team at IPP Financial Advisers Pte Ltd (IPPFA):
- Albert Lam, Managing Director of IPPFA's Investment Division and chairman of the Investment Committee.
- Tan Lye Poh, Director of Wealth Management at IPPFA and a member of the Investment Committee.
- Eddy Tan, Head of Alternative Investments at IPPFA who assesses alternative investment products.
- David Mok, Head of Fund Management at IPPFA who oversees investment evaluation, selection, and strategy.
The document summarizes recent awards and growth at Lawler Partners accounting firm. It discusses the firm winning two national awards for best accounting and professional services firm. It highlights the firm's commitment to exceeding client expectations and understanding their businesses. It also notes the firm's continued growth in the Sydney market and transition from a regional to mid-tier national firm.
- After interviewing their investment manager partners, the consensus is one of cautious optimism about further stock market gains, but managers note the path remains precarious.
- Managers favor value stocks over growth and are underexposed to emerging markets and commodities despite recent strength in those areas.
- Within fixed income, emerging market bonds are becoming more attractive due to US dollar weakness.
- Government bonds are viewed more as portfolio insurance than a source of return given their low yields.
Mercer Capital's Portfolio Valuation: Private Equity and Venture Capital Mark...Mercer Capital
This document provides a summary of private equity, venture capital, and portfolio valuation trends from Mercer Capital. It discusses several topics:
- Private equity deal activity and valuations remain robust, though pricing pressure is being felt as traditional PE investors look outside their typical sectors and geographies for opportunities. Technology deals accounted for 20% of PE buyouts in the first quarter of 2017, up from a historical average of 10-15%.
- Venture capital investments increased slightly in the first quarter of 2017 after two consecutive quarters of declines, reaching $16.5 billion. However, restrictions on visa programs and international trade could negatively impact venture-backed companies.
- Regulatory scrutiny of portfolio valuations continues, so
- The BUIG recorded its first full year of performance in 2015 with its Sustainable Equity Balanced Fund returning 1.45% compared to its benchmark return of -0.36%, outperforming by 1.81%. Its performance placed in the top 5th percentile of 958 balanced funds tracked by Morningstar.
- For 2016, the BUIG plans to restructure its organization to provide more opportunities for general members to be involved in managing the portfolio. Changes include consolidating investment roles and introducing new analyst positions.
- In 2015, the fund outperformed its benchmark in the 1st and 2nd quarters by overweighting healthcare, consumer discretionary, and energy sectors, and underweighting bonds. It
Milwaukee Growth Fund-February Client Meeting MaterialsAlexander D. Sagal
The Milwaukee Growth Fund seeks to outperform its benchmark, the Russell 3000 Growth Index, through long-term capital appreciation by investing primarily in equity securities of companies positioned for growth. It utilizes a bottom-up fundamental analysis approach combined with macroeconomic and thematic overlays to identify high-quality companies with exceptional growth potential. The portfolio is actively managed through weekly reviews and formal reviews of holdings. Since its inception in October 2010, the fund has produced a total return of 67.81%, outperforming its benchmark by 2.58%.
The Small Cap Focused Growth portfolio underperformed its benchmark in Q1 due to disappointing guidance from two large holdings, SPS Commerce and The Advisory Board, which fell 39% and 33% respectively. Additionally, investor sentiment turned negative towards the portfolio's focus on high secular growth stocks, favoring lower growth, lower volatility stocks. However, the portfolio manager remains confident that focusing on companies capable of sustained high growth will generate strong long-term returns, as short-term volatility in stock prices often diverges from long-term earnings potential.
This document provides an overview of CNO Financial Group's corporate governance and business initiatives. It discusses CNO's focus on the middle-income market in the US, which represents 53% of the population. Half of near-retirees receive no professional retirement guidance and many lack confidence in their ability to address critical illnesses. CNO takes a proactive approach to understanding customers and succeeding in the middle market through strategic alignment of distribution, products/advice, and operations/administration. The document outlines CNO's track record of execution including management actions, stock price outperformance, capital returned to shareholders, and proactive shareholder engagement. It discusses CNO's governance including board structure, executive compensation aligned with shareholders, and
This document provides an outlook on the mutual fund industry for 2015 from Deloitte. It begins with a foreword and then sections on looking back at 2014 predictions and what was accurate, looking forward to key focus areas in 2015. The key focus areas for 2015 according to the report are leveraging technology to drive distribution, unlocking revenue opportunities through new products, managing reputation risk through governance, and targeting growth through operational innovation. The report provides analysis and predictions for each of these focus areas to help industry leaders strategize for the coming year.
The document is the transcript of a conference call by Ameriprise Financial discussing their 4Q07 earnings.
- Ameriprise reported solid operating results for the quarter and full year 2007 despite tough market conditions, with revenue growth of 8% and adjusted EPS growth of 14%.
- The company's balance sheet remained strong without significant write-downs, due to their conservative risk management approach.
- Looking ahead, Ameriprise plans to manage expenses prudently while continuing to invest in long-term growth, in order to navigate the difficult market environment.
Avant garde wealth mgmt - Quarterly letter - 1306Gaurav Jalan
The document summarizes the analysis of a basket of 251 Indian consumer companies by Avant Garde Wealth Management. It finds that while consumer stocks have strong earnings growth and return on equity, their valuations are currently at historic highs relative to earnings. Historically, high valuations for consumer stocks have coincided with weaker future returns despite ongoing earnings growth. The document also discusses the impact of the US Federal Reserve's comments about tapering quantitative easing, which caused short-term turmoil in global asset markets. It questions whether the Fed will actually be able to normalize monetary policy and raise interest rates given its enormous balance sheet.
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1. Business Tagline or Motto
INTRIERI FAMILY
STUDENT MANAGED FUND
First Quarter Report
April 17, 2015
2. The students participating in the Intrieri Family Student Managed Fund would like to thank the
Fund's Advisory Board for their support and guidance.
Mr. Vince Intrieri, 2011 Alumni Fellow
senior managing director, Icahn Capital Management
Dr. Greg Filbeck, CFA, FRM, PRM, CAIA
department chair, Finance and Economics
Samuel P. Black III Professor of Insurance and Risk Management
Dr. Timothy Krause
assistant professor of Finance
Intrieri Family Student Managed Fund Advisor
Mr. Eric Robbins, MBA, CFA
lecturer in Finance
Mr. Rick Hedderick, MBA, CFP
lecturer in Business
First Quarter ReportIntrieri Family Student Managed Fund
President’s Message 2-4
Incoming President’s Message 5
Financial Reporting 6
Advisor’s Letter 7
Market/Economic Analysis 8
Risk Management 9
Sector Analysis 10-18
End Note 19
Portfolio Holdings 20
In this report:
3. Quarterly Fund Performance
This report examines the fund’s performance over the First Quarter of 2015, from January 1, 2015 through March 31, 2015.
During the first quarter of the year, the Intrieri Family Student Managed Fund returned 3.44%, significantly outperforming the
S&P 500 Index quarterly return of 0.44% that has been used as the fund’s benchmark in the past. The revised fund’s bench-
mark of 80% S&P 500, 10% EAFE, and 10% Russell 2000 returned 1.65% for the quarter due to the performance of interna-
tional stocks. As noted in the previous report, we were fully invested this quarter in an attempt to eliminate a cash-drag on
performance.
Our top performing sector was Healthcare, with a strong quarterly return of 18.17%. Our holdings in the Healthcare sector
significantly outperformed their benchmark SPDR ETF’s return of 6.32%, indicating solid stock-picking as well as validating
our decision to bring this previously underweighted sector up to overweight status. With the continued aging of the baby-
boomer generation and continued improvements in health-related technology, many of the companies in this sector stand to
benefit in the long-term. We currently have two analysts who manage the holdings in this sector, as it is the largest sector cur-
rently allocated within the S&P 500 Index. Both analysts (Tyler Brose and Kevin Pascale) worked throughout the quarter to
help increase the weight of our current holdings to better track and eventually outperform the sector ETF.
Our worst performing sector was Telecommunications with a return of -4.19%. Currently, we only hold one stock in this sec-
tor, so the lack of diversification that exists in this sector has been harmful to this sector’s performance. Our lead analyst
(Justin Staab) recently elected to replace this holding near the beginning of the quarter with Bell Canada (BCE), with a strong
valuation to support his proposal. However, this stock has yet to realize its valuation potential. Additionally, our decisions to
underweight Utilities and increase our holdings in Energy that was previously underweighted have benefitted Fund perfor-
mance, although stock selection has been the main driver of performance.
First Quarter Report
Intrieri Family Student Managed
Fund president, Aaron Filbeck
Intrieri Fund President’s Message
2
IFSMF 3.44%
Fund Benchmark 1.65%
S&P 500 Index (80%) 0.44%
Russell 2000 Index (10%) 4.32%
MSCI EAFE Index (10%) 4.19%
4. Benchmarking and Sector Allocation
As noted in the last report, our Investment Policy State-
ment mandates us to allocate portions of our portfolio
to small-capitalization and developed international secu-
rities. Up until this point, we had been benchmarking
our performance solely to the S&P 500, which meant
that almost 100% of our holdings were large-
capitalization companies. Over the course of the past
three months, one of my primary objectives has been
working with our analysts to sell our overvalued large-
cap stocks and replace them with those that better
match our IPS benchmark.
Further, I began meeting with both Ryan Mitcheltree and Amanda Myers to determine appropriate sector allocations for
our portfolio during the quarter. While we continue our focus primarily towards stock selection, I felt it was important to
remain aware of business cycles, economic projections, and the overall market performance in the process. Therefore, we
elected to benchmark our sector allocations towards the index weights as of the end of the last quarter.
Since 80% of our benchmark composition is the S&P 500, we found it appropriate to use 2014 Q4 sector weights as a
basis for “market-neutral.” We used the Fidelity Business Cycle Analysis to determine where our economy currently
stood. We identified both Basic Materials and Utilities as sectors we want to hold underweight, and Technology and In-
dustrials as sectors we want to hold overweight. We were fairly successful in our implementation of this strategy, with the
exception of Basic Materials, which still remains overweight relative to our target benchmark. This is mostly due to the
fact that we only hold three stocks, and the largest one (Monsanto) comprising 4% of our portfolio that remains slightly
undervalued by our investment criteria.
Portfolio Style Diversification
Our Investment Policy Statement currently gives us the option to invest in
both growth and value stocks in order to pursue a blended value-growth
strategy. Over the course of the first quarter, due to our new focus on in-
vestment valuation, we have significantly decreased our positions in growth
stocks and shifted to a more value-oriented strategy. This was done by re-
placing some of the over-valued growth stocks with small and mid-cap
value and blend-stocks. This shift in style is due to our continued emphasis
on stock valuation. It is much more difficult to place a favorable intrinsic value on growth stocks using our valuation met-
rics. As a result, many of the securities that are added to the portfolio are value stocks.
First Quarter ReportIntrieri Fund President’s Message
3
Sector Position
Basic Materials Underweight
Communication Services Neutral
Consumer Discretionary Neutral
Consumer Staples Neutral
Energy Neutral
Financial Services Neutral
Healthcare Neutral
Industrials Overweight
Technology Overweight
Utilities Underweight
Figure 2: Mar-31 2015Figure 1: Dec-31 2014
5. Moving Forward
This has been a great start to 2015, and the credit for our massive outperformance goes to this current team of analysts, all
of whom have been working diligently to make sure we are actively managing our holdings. My hope is that the next team
that succeeds this one is able to continue to bring forth new ideas and implement even better infrastructure to continue
this streak of outperformance.
Therefore, as the spring semester comes to an end, we must focus and prepare the fund for the summer months, when
Dr. Krause will be left to manage the portfolio. Throughout the semester, we have been attempting to generate as many
“buy” recommendations as possible. This way, once a stock reaches its intrinsic value, Dr. Krause is able to replace the
stock on our behalf.
I am very happy to announce that Kevin Pascale, our Lead Analyst of the Healthcare Sector has been selected as my re-
placement as President & Chief Investment Strategist for the upcoming fall semester. Kevin’s skills and abilities as an ana-
lyst can only be expanded upon in this new role. There is still so much that can be done, and I am very interested to see
where he takes the fund in the coming months. I would also like to welcome the new team of Lead Analysts: Andrew
Dylewski—Basic Materials, Andrew Williams—Consumer Discretionary, David Graham—Energy, Joshua McAleer—
Financials and Real Estate, Kevin Pascale—Healthcare, Zachary Stickle—Technology/Comms, and Chris Galvin—
Utilities.
On a personal note, this past year has been a great experience, and I am very excited to begin utilizing the skills I’ve ac-
quired from working on this team in the investment world. I am very thankful to Dr. Krause, who has taught me so much
in such a short amount of time, and I am excited to watch what the next group of analysts accomplishes in the next year
and beyond.
Regards,
Aaron Filbeck, President & Chief Investment Strategist
First Quarter ReportIntrieri Fund President’s Message
4
6. Strategic Planning
Since our last report, the Fund’s holdings have been aligned to meet the benchmark allocation of our Invesment Policy
Statement (80% S&P 500, 10% Russell 2000, and 10% MSCI EAFE). In the upcoming quarter, I would like to contin-
ue our initiative to will better diversify the Fund’s holdings within each sector, as well as among various asset classes,
also set forth by our IPS. In order to meet our internal benchmarks, I will begin to focus on allocating our holdings
towards 35% Large Value, 35% Large Growth, 10% Small Value, 10% Large Hybrid, and 10% International Equity
stocks.
Our analysts will continue to utilize and improve upon the quantitative evaluation methodology (QEM) for stock selec-
tion in the upcoming quarter. In the two quarters since our analysts have been following QEM the Fund’s perfor-
mance has increased in relation to its benchmark. Additionally, we look to improve other methods of analysis, includ-
ing that of management and industry cycles, to complement our QEM in an effort to increase the quality of our securi-
ty selection in the future.
Regards,
Kevin Pascale
Incoming President and Chief Investment Strategist
First Quarter ReportIncoming President’s Message
5
7. FINANCIAL REPORTING & LOOKING FORWARD
FINANCIAL REPORTING
During the first quarter of 2015, we have begun to see the benefits of having new reporting systems implemented. Us-
ing various macros in Excel, I have been able to pull the most current prices of our holdings, and send out weekly re-
ports detailing the fund’s performance. Having these methodologies in place has also allowed us to better actively
manage our portfolio.
In addition, I’ve been able expand on the functionality of the weekly reports, which are sent out to each Lead Analyst.
The weekly reports now show the weight of each stock within each sector, and I’ve also added a new “Sector Weight”
report. This report allows our team to see a weekly snapshot of each sector’s weight in the fund relative to S&P 500
Index and the target sector weight – which is determined by Aaron, Ryan, and Amanda.
In addition to being able to compare our price targets with current prices, I’ve been able to expand the functionality of
our worksheets by integrating the full use of the Yahoo! Finance API. Using Visual Basic, I was able to add functions
into our current workbooks that allow our team to pull current fundamental metrics such as P/E ratios, 52 Week Highs,
Market Capitalizations, PEG Ratios, along with approximately 80 other firm characteristics. I’ve demonstrated this to
the team and shown them how this can be applied to any spreadsheet, in the case of when further analysis is needed.
My hope is that the “real time” data provided by Yahoo! Finance API will used in creative ways that will lead directly
to increased reporting and performance.
I am currently looking for my replacement as Senior Vice President of Financial Reporting for the upcoming Fall 2015
semester. It’s my goal to find someone with a background in Management of Information Systems (MIS) to join the
fund and continue to make improvements to our reporting systems. This semester, I have worked hard to set the
groundwork on our reporting needs, and look forward to watching the systems evolve after I graduate in May.
I am most certainly open to feedback. If you have any suggestions, please feel free to contact me so I may pass recom-
mendations onto my successor!
Sincerely,
Justin R. Staab
Justin Staab,
senior vice president of
Financial Reporting
6
8. Continued Improvement
Dear Benefactors and Supporters of the Intrieri Family Student Managed Fund,
First of all I would like to thank Aaron, the IFSMF Officers, and the Lead Analysts
for putting this report together in a record time. This is an experienced, talented, and
extremely capable group that will be missed. As in past quarters, the students have
made significant progress in implementing a variety of initiatives that were introduced
to increase the learning aspects of the fund as well as to make it as successful as pos-
sible. As Aaron notes above, I am also happy to report that the fund was able to per-
form at a much better level than the S&P 500 this quarter. The Fund also soundly
beat the performance of the benchmark that the Fund will track moving forward.
The students have been very successful in implementing the initiatives that were set
out in previous quarterly reports, and that success has translated into successive
quarterly performance improvements.
I am especially proud of the fact that the students have now established price targets for every stock in the fund, and
that only three “overvalued” stocks remain in our holdings (by our metrics). Those will be re-evaluated by the end of
the semester, and we will have a small “buy” list that I will be able to use over the summer to replace stocks that hit
their price targets. This semester we had several stocks hit their price targets that were only purchased earlier in the
semester, which is more evidence of a job well done. This semester, three IFSMF Officers participated in the EN-
GAGE Student Investment Conference in March in Detroit, MI, where students from hundreds of schools gather
annually. The team submitted a ten-minute “stock pitch” video, from which twelve finalists were chosen to make their
pitch in person in Detroit, and eventually a winner was chosen. Although we have some work to do to catch the win-
ning team (Michigan State), our students’ presentation was very close in quality to some of the top twelve pitches.
As far as new initiatives, during the summer and fall semester we will be looking for ways to expand interest in the
Fund. We would like to get first– and second-year students involved in some capacity, and we would like to expand
participation of Behrend MBA students. Additionally, we are hoping to continue and expand our relationships with
other disciplines, including but not limited to MIS, Economics, and Accounting Clubs on campus. Finally, I am happy
to welcome incoming IFSMF President Kevin Pascale and the new Lead Analysts. It should be a great semester in the
fall! Please feel free to contact me at any time with questions, comments, and/or suggestions for improvement.
Best Regards,
Dr. Tim Krause,
Faculty Advisor to the Intrieri Student Managed Fund
First Quarter ReportIntrieri Fund Faculty Advisor’s Message
Intrieri Family Student
Managed Fund Advisor,
Dr. Tim Krause
7
9. MARKET ANALYSIS
THE GLOBAL ECONOMY
Although some domestic economies are doing better than
others, the overall global economy is lacking growth. Ac-
cording to the IMF, the global economy could experience
a longer period of slow economic growth. The Eurozone’s
GDP grew by only 0.2%, which missed expectations of
0.4% growth. Germany continues to be the leading econ-
omy in the Eurozone, growing at a rate of 0.8%, beating
expectations of 0.7%. On the other hand, France did not
experience any significant growth, despite expectations of
0.1%. Italy and Portugal were among other countries that
also suffered in economic growth in this first quarter
(Business Insider). Furthermore, the euro (EUR) has sig-
nificantly declined against the dollar (USD). This is due to
the Eurozone’s quantitative easing (QE) program and
Greece’s extreme debt problem. Also, the USD has in-
creased in value due to strong 2014 Q4 economic growth,
and the ending of the Fed’s QE program.
The Chinese economy has also been suffering. First quar-
ter estimates place China’s GDP at 6.9% growth, a 0.4%
decrease from the previous quarter. Additionally, China’s
GDP growth in Q1 is the slowest growth in six years
(Reuters). The Central Bank is taking action in order to
stimulate the economy for the next quarter, and their gov-
ernment has loosened mortgage restrictions in order stim-
ulate China’s housing market. China has also stated they
will cut power prices and iron-ore taxes for businesses in
an attempt to increase liquidity and stimulate the economy
(WSJ).
THE UNITED STATES ECONOMY
In the first quarter of 2015, the U.S. unemployment rate
continued its downward trend, ending at 5.5%, down from
the 5.7% average from 2014’s Q4. Joblessness is now,
according to the Fed, in the safe range of 5.2% to 5.5%
that can realistically be sustained over time. The U6 un-
employment rate decreased with similar improvement end-
ing at 10.9% in March, despite an initial small bump to
11.3% in January 2015, and is its lowest measure since
2008. The healthy job market looks to be easily sustainable
for the next quarter and beyond.
In an exciting announcement following a March Federal
Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting, Janet Yellen
said that “with economic conditions improving, and with
further improvement expected in the months ahead, we
have again modified our forward guidance.” By dropping
the word “patient” from the guidance on interest rates, the
Fed opened the door to an interest rate increase, potential-
ly as soon as mid-June through late-August. But historical-
ly low inflation rates do not encourage the Fed’s involve-
ment any time soon. The low inflation can be attributed to
the after-effects of Q4’s low oil prices that contributed
lower input costs for businesses and consumers.
Domestic corporate profits generally appear to be increas-
ing at a 5% – 10% growth rate, which will likely be fol-
lowed by corresponding stock market returns. The S&P
500 generally stayed above 2000 points, with slight fluctua-
tions and no major corrections for this quarter in particu-
lar. The projections for Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
for Q1 2015 is a 1.4% decrease from the actual 2.2% end-
ing level from Q4 2014.
The U.S. trade deficit, the amount that U.S. imports ex-
ceeds U.S. exports, fell dramatically from $42.7 billion in
January to $35.4 billion in early April. The shrinking wage
gap resulted from falling exports, with imports falling even
more. The trade deficit fell to 3.2% compared to the same
period last year. Also, the growing U.S. economy is likely
to increase imports and the strong dollar will continue to
push down exports in the coming months. Forecasters
expect to see an increase in the trade deficit next quarter.
The United States economy remained mid-cycle in Q1
with peaking growth and continued neutral policy
measures. Thus the fund should continue under-weighting
Utilities and Materials, which tend to be more sensitive to
interest rates. As 2015 projections for economic growth
are uncertain, capital goods producers should keep an eye
on potentially decreasing GDP, particularly those in Infor-
mation Technology and Industrials sectors.
The harsh snowstorms and below-zero temperatures in
Q1 may have contributed to the dull winter performance.
The coming spring months will show whether the econo-
my will pick up enough speed for the Fed officials to raise
their short-term rate from its record low.
Ryan Mitcheltree,
senior vice president
of Market Analysis
Amanda Myers,
vice president
of Market Analysis
8
10. RISK MANAGEMENT & SECTOR ANALYSIS
Brooke Landram
senior vice president of Risk Management
Lead Analyst, Consumer Discretionary
RISK MANAGEMENT ANALYSIS
This quarter, the analysts of The Intrieri Family Student
Managed Fund continued an emphasis on diversification
and risk management within the portfolio. As noted in the
last report, Justin Staab, SVP of Financial Reporting, has
recently implemented a new reporting methodology that
allows our analysts to better track sector and fund perfor-
mance. Justin has also been working to implement better
reporting automation, as well as improve various monitor-
ing techniques.
As Aaron noted earlier in this report, we have centralized
our sector-weight benchmarking strategies. Rather than
our analysts recommend sector’s weights each quarter, we
began using the index weights as a basis for market neu-
tral. This allows our analysts to focus on stock valuation.
However, we took these weight objectives into considera-
tion when making buy and sell recommendations.
We also include Sharpe Ratios and Optimal Portfolio cal-
culations in our analysis. We calculated the Sharpe Ratios
of all of our stocks in the fund as well as the fund overall.
We used these metrics in our recommendations to deter-
mine if a stock’s projected performance was justified com-
pared to its implied future volatility. We also used the Op-
timal Portfolio calculations of all the stocks in the fund to
determine if any of the stocks were highly correlated with
other stocks in the fund. This metric has helped the ana-
lysts recommend stocks to sell.
CONSUMER DISCRETIONARY SECTOR
Our holdings in the Consumer Discretionary sector pro-
duced a return of 9.42% for the first quarter, outperform-
ing the Select Sector Consumer Discretionary SPDR
(XLY)’s return of 4.75%. The Fund currently has a weight
of 13.32% in the Consumer Discretionary Sector which is
comparable to the S&P 500’s 12.66% allocation. This
quarter we sold Home Depot Inc. (HD) and bought
Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. (CTB). We also purchased an
additional 77 shares of Honda Motor Co. Ltd ADR based
on a revised valuation.
The top performer in the fund’s sector holdings was
Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. (CTB) with a return of
16.21%. Cooper Tire & Rubber Co last posted its quarter-
ly earnings results on Monday, February 23. The company
reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter,
missing the consensus estimate of $0.64, but that seemed
to be priced into the stock. The company reported reve-
nues of $861.00 million for the quarter, outperforming the
consensus estimate of $806.66 million. The company also
declared their quarterly dividend, which was paid on Fri-
day, March 27. Investors of record on Wednesday, March
4th were given a dividend of $0.105 per share. This repre-
sents a $0.42 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield
of 1.09%. The stock has almost reached its price target,
therefore I will be looking to reevaluate the stock and find
a replacement if necessary.
The bottom performer in the fund’s holdings for this sec-
tor was Ford Motor Co. (F), with a return of -4.95%. Ford
shares were down 2.08% to $16.22 on March 25 after the
automaker announced a recall of 221,000 North American
trucks and SUV’s. The recall affects recent models of the
company’s ambulances, police and emergency vehicles.
Ford could also be in for a prolonged labor fight this sum-
mer because of a comment made by the president of the
United Autoworkers Union, who claimed that the current
two tier payment system was unfair .He is still under pres-
sure by union members to end the second tier wages, ac-
cording to Reuters.
The outlook for the consumer discretionary sector is posi-
tive. Consumer discretionary companies have a richer val-
uation reflecting an anticipation of stronger earnings
growth. Also, consumer spending is expected to rise fur-
ther in parallel with continuing growth momentum in the
U.S. economy. Overseas growth could also push discre-
tionary spending due to the large portion of U.S. sales
coming from international markets. Another factor leading
to strong consumer discretionary spending is low interest
rates. These low interest rates allow companies to offer
stronger dividends and improve cash flows. In the future,
if interest rates stay low, or rise moderately, this sector
should continue to do well.
9
11. SECTOR ANALYSIS
BASIC MATERIALS
Our holdings in Basic Materials produced a quarterly re-
turn of -1.70%, underperforming the Materials Select Sec-
tor SPDR ETF (XLB)’s return of 0.91%. The portfolio
holdings in Basic Materials comprises of 6.48%, which is a
slight increase from last quarter’s weight of 5%. Addition-
ally, it is still overweight relative to the S&P 500 Index’s
weight of 3.17%. This past quarter, we have attempted to
look for ways to reduce the sector weight to an under-
weight status.
Our best performing stock was Monsanto Co (MON)
with a quarterly return of -0.31%. Recently I conducted a
new valuation on Monsanto, and the stock is still under-
valued with room for a potential appreciation of 8.77%.
However, Monsanto had poor second quarter results with
missed expectations for revenues and earnings. Its corn
seed and trait sales are down $2.91 billion and business
sales declined 14%. As mentioned in the Q4 report, I was
concerned about the impact the strong dollar and fluctuat-
ing Euro could have on MON and my concerns were war-
ranted. These recent currency headwinds have had a sig-
nificant impact on its financial performance, and are esti-
mated to reduce EPS by $0.35 to $0.40. Despite this, they
are still predicted to make record annual earnings. I be-
lieve this will continue to be a significant risk in the near
future along with Monsanto’s move toward branded
seeds. However, the consensus price target, as reported by
Analyst Ratings Network, is $124.72, with a rating of
HOLD. This coming quarter, I believe that we should sell
half of our holdings in MON to decrease our sector
weighting. Monsanto currently has the least potential ap-
preciation of the Basic Materials sector holdings and com-
prises 3.58% of the overall fund.
The bottom performing stock in the sector was Freeport-
McMoRan Inc (FCX) with a -2.22% loss since our pur-
chase on February 12, 2015. We have a price target of
$35.80 listed for FCX, which means its current potential
appreciation is 88.92%. In line with this, the consensus
price target, as reported by Analyst Ratings Network, is
$31.06 an upside of 65.38% with a hold recommendation.
On March 31 J.P. Morgan Chase’s commodities teams
lowered 2015 and 2016 forecasts for most base metals
which had a significant negative impact of FCX. JPM’s
equity analyst Michael Gambardella is quoted saying “We
believe that a strong dollar and weak oil prices will contin-
ue to weigh on demand (and prices) for most metals at a
time when Chinese growth (and metals consumption) is
slowing and Russian exports are increasing.” We feel that
the biggest risks FCX faces moving forward are the slow-
ing short term demand for metals, and low oil prices. With
FCX being the world’s largest producer of copper, with
significant holdings in oil and gas resources, I believe that
its poor performance is more of a reflection of a tempo-
rary bad economic environment rather than a bad stock or
company.
According to Fidelity Research, the U.S. economy remains
in the mid-cycle expansion phase of the business cycle.
Historically, the Basic Materials sector typically underper-
forms in this phase of the business cycle, which is in line
with our initiative to decrease its weight in the fund. The
sector is estimated by FactSet to have a second-quarter
profit growth of 2%, down from initial expectations due
to a stronger dollar hurting U.S. multinationals within the
sector and low oil prices.
Andrew Dylewski
Lead Analyst, Basic Materials
10
12. SECTOR ANALYSIS
CONSUMER DEFENSIVE
In the first quarter of 2015, the fund’s Consumer Staples
holdings yielded a return of 15.12%, significantly outper-
forming the SPDR Consumer Staples (XLP) ETF return
of 1.14%.
The top performing stock in the sector was Kroger (KR)
with a return of 23.0%.The second leading stock was Con-
stellation Brands (STZ) with a return of 17.0%. The fund
sold both these stocks during the period based on our
price target valuations.
Kimberly-Clark Corp was the next best performing stock
with a return of 1.50%. Fourth quarter net sales were
down 1% YoY, and a restructuring program was started in
October 2014, and their fiscal year ends December 31st.
The program is intended to improve efficiency and offset
overhead cost, and the company announced the construc-
tion of a new distribution hub in South Dallas. The devel-
opment will cost $22 million and should be completed by
December 31, 2016, in order to receive tax abatement val-
ued at $1.6 million. My outlook is a continuation of de-
creasing net sales in 2015 stemming from spin off of
healthcare. However I am intrigued by the cost savings the
future will hold.
Our bottom performing stock was Procter & Gamble Co.
with a return of -0.36%. P&G’s net income dropped to
$2.37 billion from $3.43 billion last year. This is mostly
due to the continuation of a strong U.S dollar vs. other
currencies, the biggest being Russia. Russia is one of P&G
fastest developing subsidiaries. P&G holds ¾ of the mar-
ket share in detergents, shampoos and diapers.
P&G is moving towards aggressive cost cutting methods,
but in a balanced way. In order to do so P&G will elimi-
nate more than 4,000 jobs and cut $1 billion from their
marketing budget. If done correctly this cost cutting pro-
gram will improve P&G’s margins. In addition, P&G
plans to build a $500 million dollar manufacturing plant in
West Virginia, their second new site since 1971. The plant
is expected to be in operation by 2017 and will supply
80% of the east coast with their products within one day.
During the past quarter, we sold Constellation Brands and
Kroger Co, as they no longer fit our investment criteria for
the portfolio. Therefore, we ended with quarter with
3.49% of our portfolio allocated towards Consumer Sta-
ples, underweight of the S&P 500 Index’s weight of
12.66%. In regard to our current holdings, Kimberly-Clark
Corp and Proctor & Gamble are undervalued. Therefore,
my top priority will be to continue to find stocks that fit
our investment criteria.
Paul Toma
Lead Analyst, Consumer Staples
11
13. SECTOR ANALYSIS
ENERGY
During the first quarter of the year, the portfolio’s hold-
ings in the Energy sector yielded a return of -0.24%, out-
performing the Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLE) of
-1.34%. As of quarter-end, 9.39% of our portfolio is com-
prised of Energy stocks, which is slightly overweight rela-
tive to the S&P 500 Index’s weighting of 8.07%. Oil prices
continued to experience volatility over the past quarter,
negatively affecting returns. We sold National Fuel Gas in
February due to the stock reaching our projected price
target, but continued to hold the rest and increase our
holdings to market weight as we believe they will eventual-
ly appreciate to their target prices when oil rebounds.
The top performer in the energy sector was Halliburton
Co (HAL), which yielded a 13.84% return. Halliburton is
continuing to cut costs in order to complete their merger
deal with Baker Hughes, which has been on track since
last year’s fourth quarter. They have recently opted to sell
the following businesses: Fixed Cutter/Roller Cone Drill
Bits, Directional Drilling, and Logging/Measurement-
While-Drilling. According to Yahoo! Finance, by selling
these businesses, they are freeing up $10B in assets and
will become the world’s second largest provider of oilfield
services. According to Seeking Alpha, this deal is expected
to close sometime during the second half of the year. This
sale of assets will help the company fuel future growth,
while both Baker and Halliburton continue to adjust to
lower oil prices. I believe this merger will benefit Hallibur-
ton in regards to growth and expansion, and its stock price
is still a good long term investment.
Our bottom performer was Exxon Mobil Corporation
(XOM), which yielded a -4.48% return. According to the
Street, Exxon currently has a very low debt-to-equity of
0.17, well under the industry average. This means that they
have been fairly successful and managing their debt levels.
Although they managed their debt very well, their reve-
nues declined 22.6% over the quarter, resulting in a gross
profit margin of 17.91%. While they do have some current
weaknesses in profit margins and revenues, I believe they
have a solid financial position, with great debt levels that
will allow them to rebound in the long term. They remain
the largest energy company in the sector, with a market
value of $360 billion. At the end of Q1, Shell and Chevron
are making huge acquisitions in the industry. Exxon is ex-
pected to make one of their own going forward, which
may grow their value in the coming months.
I believe stocks in this sector are still very appealing this
year, as energy companies still have a great chance to re-
bound in the long run if they continue to cut costs and
acquire other business. Our holdings in this sector have
decreased in value since late last year, but this has been
more in line with the rapid decline in oil prices rather than
individual company performance. In fact, as the market
continues to be weighed down from oil prices, many of
our energy companies are becoming more efficient and
cutting costs to offset losses.
As of quarter-end, all of the stocks within this sector re-
main undervalued by my valuation metrics, with all four of
them being above 30% potential appreciation. We are at a
great position within this sector and moving into Q2, it
will be a major priority to pay attention to how these com-
panies perform under this new environment.
Conor Chadwick
Lead Analyst, Energy
12
14. SECTOR ANALYSIS
FINANCIAL SERVICES
The Financial Services sector holdings in the portfolio
largely maintained their value over the first quarter with a
return of -1.09%, slightly outperforming the Financial Se-
lect Sector SPDR ETF’s return of -2.15%. We saw signifi-
cant asset turnover, as investments we’d made in previous
quarters appreciated to their intrinsic values. In fact, only
one stock that we held at the beginning of the quarter is
still in our portfolio at the end of the quarter. Our priority
at the end of last quarter was to realize our gains on stocks
that had reached their target prices and shift into equities
that still had room to grow, and I am happy to say that we
achieved that goal. Every stock in this sector we now hold
is now significantly undervalued according to our metrics.
The top performer in the Financial Services sector was
Willis Group Holdings (WSH) with a holding period re-
turn of 9.89% for the quarter. Willis’s stock value appreci-
ated quickly following reports that they were going to beat
fourth quarter earnings estimates leading up to their earn-
ings call. This appreciation slowed when their financial
reports came out, beating the previous estimates by one
cent, but still continued on strong organic growth and an
increase in dividends. This momentum carried their over-
all price far beyond our target price of $40.60, and after
performing an updated valuation we decided to realize our
gains and shift them into a more undervalued stock.
Our bottom performing stock in the first quarter was the
Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS) with a holding period return
of -5.98%. BNS’s price had been falling for several
months due to the uniquely negative financial situation
that the bank found itself in over the course of 2014.
Many of the bank’s international investments were dis-
rupted by various disturbances abroad, and the continuing
low interest rate environment severely constrained their
loan income. The bank has been restructuring, writing off
its troubled foreign assets and reconfiguring itself to better
utilize its strengths. We purchased the stock immediately
following a disappointing fourth quarter earnings call, ex-
pecting the market to react quickly to the news and pro-
vide us our best starting point. Unfortunately, its price
continued to fall for a full week, resulting in our first quar-
ter loss. That said, BNS is a very strong company with
solid fundamentals, and has already shown signs of growth
towards its target price. The stock has shown largely unin-
terrupted growth since the end of the quarter, and the ad-
dition of a dividend at the beginning of April further
boosted its overall value. Given a longer time horizon, I
am fully confident that the Bank of Nova Scotia will prove
to be a great investment.
Our portfolio weight in Financial Services has been steadi-
ly increasing, towards a market weight, moving from
8.88% of the fund at the end of last quarter to 12.00% at
the end of this quarter. This is still below the S&P 500
weighting of 16.28%, but we are gradually moving to in-
crease our weighting with solid investments towards our
benchmark. We are seeking to further diversify our hold-
ings throughout the Financial Services sector, with hold-
ings in large banks, loan service companies, and insurance
companies. We are also currently seeking to broaden into
the trading exchange sector, allowing us to capture the full
breadth of value that Financial Services has to offer.
I am bullish on this sector. The Financial Services Sector
typically performs well with rising interest rates, and many
central banks have signaled that they will allow rates to rise
in the near future. Global volatility has largely depressed
financial gains this quarter, but the world is moving to-
wards a more stable equilibrium, and that will provide a
fantastic environment for the sector to grow. We were
outperform the market in this sector by choosing to invest
in equities with strong fundamentals, and we are now
poised to capture significant gains as the sector recovers in
coming months.
Joshua McAleer
Lead Analyst, Financial Services
13
15. SECTOR ANALYSIS
HEALTH CARE
The portfolio’s holdings in the Health Care sector pro-
duced a quarterly return of 18.17% during the first quarter
of 2015, making it the top performing sector. The hold-
ings also outperformed the Health Care Select Sector
SPDR ETF (XLV)’s return of 6.32%.
The top performer in the Health Care sector was Cigna
Corp. (CI) with a 25% return. This stock represents 22%
of the sector and 3% of the fund. Cigna’s performance is
largely due to the large inflow of customers that are in-
sured under the Affordable Care Act. Also, insurance
companies are finding different ways to charge premiums,
which help improve profits. Cigna also acquired QualCare
Alliance Networks, Inc. on January 26, which will combine
Cigna’s offered health products with QualCare’s expertise
in hospital systems. They hope the acquisition will help
drive innovation, affordability and value. According to our
investment criteria, Cigna still remains undervalued despite
this good news.
The second best performing stock in Health Care was Bio-
gen Inc. (BIIB) with a 24% return during the quarter.
Their performance is largely due to an announcement in
March that they saw positive results for a new drug in their
pipeline that will help combat Alzheimer’s disease. The
drug is in testing for now, but remains a great opportunity
if it proves to be successful.
The bottom performer in the sector was Baxter Interna-
tional Inc. (BAX) with a -1.18% return during the quarter.
Baxter was a new addition to our portfolio on March 3, so
we hadn’t held it for more than a month before quarter-
end. However, it does represent 18% of the sector. Re-
cently, on March 27, Baxter announced their plans to split
into two companies, which will separatee their biopharma-
ceuticals business from its medical equipment business.
After the news, the stock soared and has been on the rise
since.
We believe that with the growing age of the population,
markets will increase their spending on health care, making
this an opportune sector. The direction of the aging popu-
lation is considered a long term trend that makes this sec-
tor unique because its positive performance could remain
constant into the future regardless of economic cycles.
One of our areas of focus in the coming quarter is Health
Care IT companies that offer the ability for consumers to
compare service providers to find the lowest cost and
highest quality service, right from their mobile device. This
is a relatively young industry, which means there are an
abundance of positive investment opportunities. The risks
this sector faces are primarily political risks, such as U.S
Health Care reform, and possible public scrutiny of in-
creasing prescription costs, which could result in short-
term price volatility.
Last quarter we sought to significantly increase the weight
of the Health Care sector since it had been significantly
underweighted in 2013. We found several buy recommen-
dations during the quarter including purchases such as,
Aetna (AET), UnitedHealth Group (UNH), Baxter (BAX),
and the purchase of additional shares of Cigna (CI). We
are currently overweight in Health Care, representing
15.84% of the fund relative to the S&P 500 weighting of
14.79%. Our goal was to have this sector at market-
neutral, but the amount of growth in our holdings has
slightly increased our weight. The Health Care sector has
an opportunity to continue to perform well in the future.
Historically, it has outperformed the market in the late
stage of the business cycle. As of quarter-end, all of our
holdings in this sector remain undervalued according to
our investment criteria. Halyard Health Inc. (HYH) and
Pfizer Inc. (PFE) are nearing their price targets, however,
so their prices will be monitored closely during the up-
coming quarter.
Tyler Brose
Senior Lead Analyst,
Health Care
14
Kevin Pascale
Lead Analyst, Health
Care
16. SECTOR ANALYSIS
INDUSTRIALS
The portfolio’s holdings in the Industrials sector produced
a quarterly return of 1.92%, outperforming the Industrial
Select Sector SPDR (XLI)’s return of -0.98%. The fund
currently holds 14.14% of the portfolio in the Industrial
Sector, which is overweight relative to the S&P 500 In-
dex’s weighting of 10.28% and remains in line with our
allocation objective.
The top performer in this sector was FedEx Corporation
(FDX), with a return of 15.08%. Recently, FedEx beat
consensus earnings per share estimates of $1.88, reporting
earnings per share of $2.01. This was attributed to lower
fuel costs and an increase in prices, both of which drove
operating margins upward. FedEx third quarter revenues
were $11.7 billion, growing 4% year-over-year. In addition
to low fuel costs, FedEx’s revenues have seen strong
growth in all three of their primary segments: express,
ground, and freight. Finally, FedEx recently acquired TNT
Express after attempting an acquisition two years ago. Be-
cause TNT Express is located in Europe, FedEx was able
to take advantage of the lower euro, which contributed to
its performance this past quarter.
The bottom performer in the fund was General Electric
(GE), with a return of negative -8.95%. Recently General
Electric announced plans to sell their finance and real es-
tate business units. This is so they can begin refocusing the
company on its core manufacturing business, which serves
the aviation, energy, and healthcare markets. In this busi-
ness decision, they plan on selling $26.5 billion worth of
real estate assets. GE also plans on bringing back $36 bil-
lion in cash that currently resides overseas. After the an-
nouncement, GE’s stock price soared, which will more
than likely be reflected in the next quarterly returns. The
company’s revenue was $42 billion for the quarter which
was slightly less than the consensus estimate of $42.2 bil-
lion.
Recently, the Industrials sector’s performance has been
slightly negative due to a decline in durable goods purchas-
es. This has also negatively affected the manufacturing
sector throughout the United States. This past quarter, we
have aspired to slightly decrease our holdings, yet still
maintain an overweight position in the sector, as it typical-
ly outperforms during this phase of the business cycle.
Abby Luke
Lead Analyst, Industrials
15
17. SECTOR ANALYSIS
Justin Staab
Lead Analyst, Information Technology
Lead Analyst, Telecommunications
INFORMATION TECHOLOGY
The portfolio’s holdings in the Information Technology
produced a 1.90% quarterly return, outperforming the
Information Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLK)’s return of
1.05%. By the end of the first quarter, our portfolio held a
22.5% sector weight, considerably overweight the S&P
500 Index weight of 19.59%.
The top performing stock in our holdings was Apple Inc.
(APPL), with a return of 13.15%. Apple is an American
multinational company, and is the largest publicly traded
corporation in the world by market capitalization. Apple
sells computer electronics, computer software, online ser-
vices, and personal computers. On January 27, Apple
posted its fiscal 2015 first quarter earnings, announcing a
record $18 billion profit. Greater sales in China, the intro-
duction of new Macintosh hardware, and higher than ex-
pected iPad sales contributed to Apple’s performance this
quarter. After the earnings announcement, I performed a
new valuation of the company, and still find it to be signif-
icantly undervalued with a price target of $143.00.
The bottom performing stock in this sector was Microsoft
Corp (MSFT), with a return of -11.70%. Microsoft is the
largest software company in the world, and offers an array
of products including software, consumer electronics, and
services. The poor performance of Microsoft can be at-
tributed to an estimated 5.2% drop in Windows PC sales.
According to IDC’s count, Windows PC makers shipped
the lowest quarterly number in six years. Microsoft is cur-
rently developing their new operating system, Windows
10, which is expected to better integrate with their tablets
and desktops than prior versions.
The Information Technology sector has historically out-
performed in a rising interest rate environment. Many be-
lieve that his can be contributed to that information tech-
nology companies don’t maintain a high level of debt on
their balance sheets, leaving them relatively unaffected.
When the Federal Reserve raises interest rates, I believe
the outlook for the Information Technology sector re-
mains positive.
TELECOMMUNICATIONS
Our holding in the Telecommunications produced a quar-
terly return of -4.19 underperforming the Telecommunica-
tion Services Sector SPDR ETF (XLT)’s return of 1.62%.
By the end of the first quarter, the fund held a 2.11% sec-
tor weight in Telecommunications, which is market-
neutral relative to the S&P 500 Index’s weight of 2.32%.
With merger concerns between Time Warner and Com-
cast, supported by the fact that the stock no longer fit our
investment criteria, we elected to sell our holdings in
Comcast on February 19, and replace the funds with BCE
Inc. (BCE) - commonly referred to as Bell Canada. BCE is
a Canadian telecommunications and media company,
which offers services in voice, wireless, television, and in-
ternet access. Since our purchase, Bell has depreciated by
4.53%. Bell’s poor performance could be attributed to its
president attempting to manipulate news coverage in Can-
ada. However, BCE’s president recently stepped down at
the end of the first quarter.
The Telecommunications sector’s outlook is promising for
the remainder of the year. A Global Mobile Consumer
survey showed that consumers have shown a 19% increase
in internet streaming services in the past year. Additional-
ly, in the United States, 4G wireless networks could ac-
count for more than $150 billion in GDP growth over the
next few years. With the continued rise of the Internet,
new products are attempting to connect with broadband
connections, which will lead to increased demand for
companies within the telecommunications sector.
16
18. SECTOR ANALYSIS
UTILITIES
The Student Managed Fund’s Utilities Sector for the first
quarter yielded a 1.72% return, which is lower return rela-
tive to last quarter. However, the Fund’s Utilities sector
significantly outperformed the Utilities sector ETF (XLU),
which yielded a -5.16% return for Q1. Due to changes in
the market, specifically interest rates, the Fund has elected
to maintain an underweight position in Utilities, due to the
tendency for Utilities stocks to underperform in rising in-
terest rate environments. Although interest rates are un-
likely to have an intense lift-off, a gradual increase in inter-
est rates is reason enough to underweight the Utilities sec-
tor.
Duke Energy (DUK) was the Fund’s top performer last
quarter and was sold when it reached its price target dur-
ing the first quarter. The realized quarterly return for
DUK was 4.87%. DUK’s stock was on a steady decline
for several weeks, so I performed a revaluation of DUK,
and found that it no longer fit into our internal investment
criteria. We are still watching DUK for another potential
entry point to have it added back into the Fund.
Aside from selling DUK, the AES Corporation (AES) and
Exelon Corporation (EXC) saw poor performance during
the period as well, suffering a 7% loss during the quarter.
However, both valuations still show signs of potential ap-
preciation. The Fund will continue to hold these stocks
because of the potential appreciation, but we will remain
cognizant of both AES and EXC.
Both of our current positions have significant potential
appreciations. As students arrive for the fall semester, the
Utilities analyst should examine how the sector is perform-
ing and, at that point, re-evaluate and make changes to the
holdings accordingly.
Ryan Mitcheltree
Lead Analyst, Utilities
17
19. If you would like to contribute to the growth of
the Intrieri Family Student Managed Fund,
please contact the
Black School of Business at:
Phone: 814-898-6173
Intrieri Family
Student Managed Fund
END NOTE
18