|
Directors:
President -
Greg Filbeck, CFA,FRM,CAIA,CIPM,PRM
Vice President-
George Emanuele, CFA
Treasurer -
Joe Lantz, CFA,CAIA
Research Challenge-
Josh Armstrong, CFA
Secretary-
Jim Herrington,CFA, CAIA
Programs & Media Relations-
Chris Wiles, CFA
Membership Outreach -
Cale Grove, CFA
Financial Literacy/University Outreach -
Gene Natali, CFA
Executive Administrator -
Caryn Loehr
|
|
Welcome to the 26th edition of our newsletter! In this newsletter, Chris Wiles provides highlights of our recent events and upcoming programs. Chris has decided to step down from the Board in June as a result of new professional obligations. He has done an incredible job as Program Chair and in the initiation and maintenance of this newsletter. We thank him for his service - Chris, you will be greatly missed! As a result, we have an immediate board opening for Program Chair. Anyone interested in the position should contact me (including a resume) at
mgf11@psu.edu
, preferably by Monday, May 29th, at 5pm.
Good luck to our many CFA candidates as they take the CFA exams on Saturday, June 3rd. The Society is sponsoring a reception immediately after the exam for candidates.
A big thanks goes out to Joe Lantz and Jim Herrington for co-chairing our 5th annual Endowments and Foundations conference. A big thank you to the very active committee that supported this event. We had 170 participants - a record this year!
Also, want to acknowledge the great work of Cale Grove who will be distributing our annual Compensation Survey results next week.
The Board will be getting together for our annual strategic planning meeting on Monday, July 24th. As always, we welcome any feedback from you - or comments on what you might like to see us doing moving forward!
- Dr. Greg Filbeck, CFA, FRM, CAIA, CIPM, PRM
President, CFA Society Pittsburgh
|
Dear Chairman: The Rise of Shareholder Activism
Please join us on
Wednesday, June 7, 2017 as we welcome Jeff Gramm to Pittsburgh to talk about shareholder activism.
Jeff Gramm manages Bandera Partners Hedge Fund, and teaches value investing at Columbia Business School.
His recently published book,
Dear Chairman: Boardroom Battles and the Rise of Shareholder Activism
was named one of the best books of 2016 by the Financial Times
. It has been praised as "a terrific read" by Andrew Ross Sorkin in the New York Times
, "a revelation" by the Financial Times
, "a grand story" by The
Wall
Street
Journal
, and "an engaging and informative book" by The New Yorker
. Charles Schwab wrote about Dear Chairman,
"It should be required reading for anyone who wants to participate in our great ownership system, as investor or manager."
This is our last luncheon of the 2016-2017 season, and we hope many of you can join us.
|
|
Highlights from Recent Events
|
5th Annual Endowments & Foundations Conference
On May 17th, 2017, we held our 5th Annual Endowments & Foundations Conference with an audience of record size. Leaders from regional Endowments and Foundations, investment consultants, money managers, and subject experts participated in a full-day, interactive, educational, conference, covering critical investment and governance issues.
Keynote speaker Jim Rohr and Jim Herrington
|
Currency Valuation & Purchasing Power Parity
On Wednesday, May 10th we listened to a lively presentation on the global currency markets by Marc Chandler of Brown Brothers Harriman.
Marc joined Brown Brothers Harriman in October 2005 as the Global Head of Currency Strategy. Previously he was the Chief Currency Strategist for HSBC Bank USA and Mellon Bank. A prolific writer and speaker, Chandler's essays have been published in the Financial Times, Barron's, Euromoney, Corporate Finance, and Foreign Affairs.
Marc said that ever since Bretton Woods currency has been used as a weapon, and that there is a very strong linkage between currency and productivity. He believes that the dollar is currently too strong on a purchasing power parity basis, and that the Euro is 25% undervalued, the Yen 20% undervalued, and the Sterling 15% undervalued. That said he is still a dollar bull, and expects the Euro to fall another 15-20% versus the dollar. Regarding Bitcoin and other Crypto-currencies Marc won't consider them money until you can pay your taxes with them.
|
On May 6, 2017, the CFA Society Pittsburgh, through its Financial Literacy outreach program, sponsored 30 Boy Scouts, and 10 parent/chaperone/leaders through the Personal Management merit badge. Scouts from West Virginia, Ohio, Erie, PA, and other Metro-Pittsburgh areas gathered in Washington, PA for the event conducted at the Pennsylvania Trolley Museum.
Personal Management is an Eagle required badge, and hence more difficult for the Scouts to complete. Scouts learned how to budget their money (three-month tracking and review), plan for a major purchase (in this case a new car), and outline a major project. The lecture portion of the badge includes sections on saving and investing, stocks, bonds, and insurance. In addition, loans, credit card, and other debt are addressed. Former Boy Scouts may find it interesting that the current requirements now include sections on behavioral finance, and time management. At the conclusion, Scouts are asked to research a potential career. I am pleased to report that at least one Scout expressed interest in an investment management career.
Jim Herrington, CFA, CAIA, (Eagle Scout) and his wife Carmen, facilitated the classroom session. Gene Natali, Jr, CFA graciously donated copies of his book "The Missing Semester", for all attendees. Mr. Herrington and Mr. Natali are Board Members of the CFA Society Pittsburgh. The Brandes Institute also supplied colorful handouts to all attendees which were used in behavioral finance section, and to illustrate the risk return spectrum, over a single year, and multi-year time horizons.
About half of the Scouts completed their work and were awarded the badge that day. Most of the others will soon complete their three-month expense tracking homework.
Mr. and Mrs. Herrington stated the event will likely be repeated in the future. Support from other CFA Society Pittsburgh members would further enhance the experience. The Society would also like to create and sponsor a similar event for Girl Scouts pursuing their Gold Award. If you are, or know, a registered Girl Scout Leader potentially interested in creating such an event, please contact Mr. Herrington.
|
A Quantitative, Technical, and Behavioral View of the Markets 
On
Wednesday, April 12, 2017 we welcomed John Kosar, CMT a 30 year veteran of the global financial markets to Pittsburgh
.
John spent the first half of his career on the
trading floor of the Chicago futures exchanges, where he had the opportunity to learn
how the US financial markets work from the inside out. This experience, early in his career, became the foundation for his unique analysis, understanding of inter-market
relationships, and global perspective. John incorporates a diverse and comprehensive
blend of technical and quantitative metrics that tend to be more intuitive and
forward-looking than the typical Wall Street approach.
John is currently risk-off, he expects a second quarter pull-back of 5-9%
. He is long Real Estate, Consumer Staples, Utilities and Health Care. He also believes interest rates have a greater chance of hitting 2.0% than hitting 3.5%.
Prior to John's presentation there was a quick presentation on
FNB Bank
by this years winning
Investment Research Challenge
team,
Penn State Behrend
.
The presenters -
Andrew Buzzelli, Jason Pettner, Ariana Gloeckner, Austin Montevecchio, and Richard Kelly.
The
CFA Society Pittsburgh is proud to share results from the
Society's 2016-17 Collegiate Financial Plan Competition. We had a record number of entrants (159) and participating schools (14). Feedback from students and participating faculty was extremely positive, and we thank you for helping to support and grow this effort. Eighteen members of the CFA Society reviewed and ranked the plans. Members of our committee frequently say, that there "are no losers" in this competition. Any student who takes this step towards preparing for their financial future has made an important decision. The quality of this year's plans were extremely high, and the committee voted to expand the prize structure to the Top 18 plans recognized below.
Certificates of Achievement will be sent out next week for ALL 159 participants. A letter will also be sent recognizing each participating College/University and recognizing all of students who participated.
The Top Ten plans for 2017:
|
Place
|
Name
|
School
|
Prize
|
|
|
|
1
|
Jason Pettner
|
Penn State University, Erie - The Behrend College
|
$1,000
|
|
|
2
|
Evan Turman
|
University of Pittsburgh
|
$500
|
|
|
3
|
Eric Vance
|
University of Pittsburgh
|
$350
|
|
|
4
|
Maggie Feltman
|
University of Pittsburgh
|
$250
|
|
|
5
|
John Arcuri
|
Westminster College
|
$250
|
|
|
6
|
Ben Lacomis
|
University of Pittsburgh
|
$250
|
|
|
7
|
Courtney Hunsberger
|
Clarion University
|
$250
|
|
|
8
|
James Riley
|
Westminster College
|
$250
|
|
|
9
|
Zach Lierley
|
University of Pittsburgh
|
$250
|
|
|
10
|
Zachary Herbster
|
University of Pennsylvania
|
$250
|
|
Reed Natali presents awards to Maggie Feltman (4th place), Evan Turman (2nd place) both from Pitt, and Jason Pettner (1st place) from Penn State Behrend.
|
| Annual Partner Sponsors
CFA Society Pittsburgh would like to thank its partnership sponsors for their support of the Society.
GOLD 
Silver  |
|
Stock Pickers Contest
Update -
2/08/17 - 5/19/17
| Contestant |
Avg. |
STK 1 |
STK 2 |
STK 3 |
| S&P 500 |
3.79% |
|
|
|
Malcolm
Polley
|
3.25% |
MYGN
27.60% |
FII
-0.39% |
TGI
-17.45% |
Kim
Caughey |
-8.80% |
VZ
-6.10% |
URBN
-27.04% |
VFC
6.74% |
Mike
Halloran |
-0.31% |
SLB
-11.55% |
JPM
-1.37% |
JNJ
11.99% |
Shawna
Aufman |
3.70% |
FFIV
-8.45% |
PYPL
20.82% |
SYNA
-1.28% |
Mark
Rodgers |
12.99% |
WSM
6.14% |
ALCO
16.32% |
PKI
16.50% |
|
|
