WSM - Maize and Blue Stock Pitch Competition 2024 Showcases Analytical Excellence With Surprising Results Including A Bearish Call | Benzinga
The Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan hosted the expanded Maize and Blue Stock Pitch Competition on Feb. 9, welcoming an impressive lineup of eight final contestants, an increase from the previous year.
This competition, sponsored by William Blair & Company, Philadelphia Financial Management of San Francisco and Thrivent Financial, provided a platform for students from diverse academic backgrounds to exercise their stock analysis skills and pitch investment ideas to seasoned professionals.
While previously restricted to only Maize and Blue Endowment Fund members within the Ross School, the competition expanded to allow students from different disciplines to compete and included non-fund members such as one from the university's College of Literature Science and Arts (LSA) and one from the university's College of Engineering. Six competitors were from the Ross School of Business.
The competition's updated criteria for 2024 mandated presentations on U.S. publicly traded companies with a market cap of at least $100 million and at least $2 million of daily trading volume from October through December 2023, excluding ADRs, ETFs and other securities.
The challenge embraced both long and short investment theses, enriching the competition with an array of strategic perspectives.
Each contestant showcased exceptional diligence and strategic thinking, offering valuable perspectives on their chosen stocks. (Note: Two names are anonymous per request.)
See Also: Warren Buffett Ignores Buy-And-Hold Strategy With This Home Builder: Are Other Stocks At Risk?
First Place: Jayant S. Namdhari - A Persuasive Bear Case on Him & Hers Health
Jayant S. Namdhari, a sophomore from the Ross School of Business, won first place with an incisive short thesis about Hims & Hers Health Inc. (NYSE: HIMS).
Namdhari meticulously argued that the market overlooked the company's high-churn business model and limited potential for recurring revenue.
Namdhari highlighted the intensifying competition within the sector and the overestimated total addressable market (TAM), ...