2020-2021 INVESTMENT COMMITTEE - WORKSHOP 3 - THESIS DEVELOPMENT - MCGILL INVESTMENT CLUB

 
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2020-2021 INVESTMENT COMMITTEE - WORKSHOP 3 - THESIS DEVELOPMENT - MCGILL INVESTMENT CLUB
2020-2021 Investment Committee
Workshop 3 – Thesis Development

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2020-2021 INVESTMENT COMMITTEE - WORKSHOP 3 - THESIS DEVELOPMENT - MCGILL INVESTMENT CLUB
Agenda

 I. What Is An Investment Thesis?

 II. How To Come Up With A Thesis

 III. Investment Thesis Example

 IV. Thesis Development Exercise

 V. Due Diligence

 VI. To-Do For Next Session

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2020-2021 INVESTMENT COMMITTEE - WORKSHOP 3 - THESIS DEVELOPMENT - MCGILL INVESTMENT CLUB
What Is An Investment Thesis?
Section I
2020-2021 INVESTMENT COMMITTEE - WORKSHOP 3 - THESIS DEVELOPMENT - MCGILL INVESTMENT CLUB
Investment Thesis Introduction
What is an Investment Thesis?

                “A reasoned argument for a particular investment strategy, backed up by
                                       research and analysis”

                  Intrinsic value based             What do we think the company is worth?
                        on our view
  Stock price

                                                  What is the market missing?

                 Current price based on
                      market view
                                             What is the company’s commonly perceived worth?

                                  A strong investment thesis answers the question:
                  “Why do we think the share price should be trading at a higher price than it is now?

McGill Investment Club                                                                                   4
2020-2021 INVESTMENT COMMITTEE - WORKSHOP 3 - THESIS DEVELOPMENT - MCGILL INVESTMENT CLUB
Risks & Catalysts of an Investment Thesis
                                                  What are Risks?
                                                   ▪   Factors that would bring down the common perception of the value of
                                                       the company
                    Intrinsic value based          ▪   Are crucial to investment theses because:
                          on our view                     − They can be the cause of the current differential between
                                                              perceived and intrinsic value.
                                                          − Risk factors can prevent the stock price from reaching its
                                                              intrinsic value.
  Stock price

                                      Catalysts
                     Risks

                                                  What are Catalysts?

                                                   ▪   Factors and events that would increase the common perception of the
                                                       value of the company.
                                                   ▪   Are crucial to investment theses because:
                                                          − Misunderstanding and/or underestimation of catalysts can be
                                                              central to strong theses.
                  Current price based on                  − Without a strong catalyst, a stock’s price may not move towards
                       market view                            its intrinsic value.

                Stock prices move due to news related to the company, these can either be risk or catalysts

McGill Investment Club                                                                                                    5
2020-2021 INVESTMENT COMMITTEE - WORKSHOP 3 - THESIS DEVELOPMENT - MCGILL INVESTMENT CLUB
How To Come Up With A Thesis
Section II
2020-2021 INVESTMENT COMMITTEE - WORKSHOP 3 - THESIS DEVELOPMENT - MCGILL INVESTMENT CLUB
Universe of Investing Strategies
  Expensive

                             Bad Company, Expensive Price                            Good Company, Expensive Price

                 ▪    “Pump and dump” stocks                         ▪       Well-know ‘safe’ companies
                 ▪    Companies that are overhyped                   ▪       Popular companies with good business models

                         Most likely a ‘get rich quick’ scheme                   A safer bet but with limited upside
  Share Price

                                Bad Company, Cheap Price                                Good Company, Cheap Price

                 ▪    Distressed companies                               ▪    Overlooked companies with strong fundamentals
                 ▪    Companies in their declining stage                 ▪    “Not-so-sexy” businesses with good financials
  Cheap

                       A gamble with high payoffs and losses                 High potential investment with limited risk

                Low                                        Company Quality                                           High

                                      A good business does not equate a good investment!

McGill Investment Club                                                                                                        7
2020-2021 INVESTMENT COMMITTEE - WORKSHOP 3 - THESIS DEVELOPMENT - MCGILL INVESTMENT CLUB
How to Earn Outsized Returns

                         Consensus (Agree with Crowd)                 Non-Consensus (Against the Crowd)
   Right

                                 You don’t make money                                 You make money
   Wrong

                                 You don’t make money                             You don’t make money

                               If making money was so easy, everybody would do it right?

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Common Ways to Develop an Investment Thesis
Exploiting Alpha-Generating Strategies

  Source of Mispricing                          Exploiting Strategy                                                 Examples

                                                   Value Investing                              Bombardier (BBD) traded at a discount after funding
    Over & Under             Invest in companies that appear to be overly punished due          issues pushed back the debut of its flagship C-Series
     Reactions                  to: recent negative headlines, slowing growth, or poor            aircraft. Shares bounced back after the provincial
                                                      execution                                     government purchased a stake in the program

                                                    Growth Investing                          Boingo (WIFI), a company specializing in mobile internet
    Over & Under              Invest in companies experiencing a period of high growth          technology, saw 20-30% revenue growth in the past 4
     Reactions                  due to: initial under-reaction to a catalyst materializing,   quarters, but it jumped to 50% once the company became
                                    disruptive technologies, increased profitability                                   profitable

                                                                                               Apple (AAPL) was trading at similar multiples to other
                                                  Quality Investing
                                                                                               technology companies at the start of the decade while
         Timing              Invest in companies that are higher quality than their peers,
                                                                                               offering a more sticky customer base that was ready to
                                            but trade at similar multiples
                                                                                                    purchase products at a brand-based premium

                                                  Special Situations
                                Invest in companies going through structural changes          PayPal (PYPL) was famously spun-off by eBay in 2015,
         Timing               (spin-offs, M&A, restructuring, etc.) or any event that may            only to reach ~3x its spin-off value today
                                  affect short-term prospects (shareholder activism)

                         Markets are not always fully rationale and can exaggerate or ignore news

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Thesis Development
Steps to Developing an Investment Thesis

Step 1: Sourcing

     A                   Have A Clear Idea Of Your Industry’s Subsector
                                                                                 Learn about your
                                                                                      industry
     B                    Understand Value Drivers of Each Subsector             (industry overview
                                                                                    presentation)
     C             Map Out Potential Business Model Differences, Competitors

Step 2: Market Analysis

     A                             Analyze Street’s Thoughts
                                                                               Form your opinion on
     B             Look At Recent Industry Trends and Stock Price Movements       certain stocks /
                                                                                  industry trends
     C                    Compare Valuations of Different Companies

Step 3: Thesis Structure
                                                                                   Present your
     A                    Compare Valuations of Different Companies            investment idea in a
                                                                                      thesis

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Investment Thesis Example
Section III
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Thesis Development Exercise
Section IV
Are These Investment Theses Good or Bad?
                                                                              G    Good             O   Okay   B   Bad
 ?       1      Emerging markets will drive growth of revenue

 ?       2      Earnings are expected to double this next quarter

 ?       3      The market overestimates the company’s debt load and underestimates its ability to repay it

 ?       4      Statistical analyses show …. (r-sqrd larger than 0.9)

 ?       5      Profit margins of company X are much higher than its competitors

 ?       6      A friend who works for the company told me….

 ?       7      The market is clumping in the company with the wrong subsegment leading to a lower multiple

 ?       8      Capital structure is not optimal

 ?       9      Investors underestimate the company’s total addressable market in the near future

 ?      10      The market is mispricing the effect of a loss in a lawsuit

 ?      11      Investment into a new product line with higher margins will lead to margin expansion

 ?      12      Future regulatory change will help the company

McGill Investment Club                                                                                               18
Are These Investment Theses Good or Bad?
                                                                              G     Good            O   Okay        B   Bad
 B       1      Emerging markets will drive growth of revenue

 B       2      Earnings are expected to double this next quarter

 G       3      The market overestimates the company’s debt load and underestimates its ability to repay it

 O       4      Statistical analyses show …. (r-sqrd larger than 0.9)

 B       5      Profit margins of company X are much higher than its competitors

 I       6      A friend who works for the company told me….                      ILLEGAL! You will go to prison!

 G       7      The market is clumping in the company with the wrong subsegment leading to a lower multiple

 O       8      Capital structure is not optimal

 G       9      Investors underestimate the company’s total addressable market in the near future

 G      10      The market is mispricing the effect of a loss in a lawsuit

 O      11      Investment into a new product line with higher margins will lead to margin expansion

 B      12      Future regulatory change will help the company

McGill Investment Club                                                                                                    19
Due Diligence
Section V
Some Questions To Ask Yourself…
Key Questions to Test Your Investment Thesis

 ▪   What is the market missing?
 ▪   Why does the market not agree with my point of view right now?
 ▪   What will make the market change its views to realize my investment thesis?
 ▪   What are the downside scenarios if my investment thesis is not right?
 ▪   What are some counter-arguments towards my investment thesis?
       − Every argument has 2 sides to debate from
         − Ask your friends why your investment thesis might not make sense

How to Back Up Your Investment Thesis Argument
 ▪   Use numbers to back up your arguments
        − Discounted Cash Flow analysis
        − Comparables analysis
        − Market projections (EPS, growth rate, margin) vs. Your own projections
 ▪   Precedent examples or case studies
        − Examples where something similar happened in the past
        − Use company-specific history to show patterns that the market is missing

                         Investment theses should be challenged, or else they wouldn’t be a thesis

McGill Investment Club                                                                               21
To-Do For Next Session
Section VI
Homework!

 1. Finish working on your industry overviews
 2. Submit your industry overview slides before next session
 3. Start thinking about what kind of investment theses can be interesting for
    companies in your industry

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Q&A
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McGill Investment Club                                                                                                                                    25
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