Newsletter -  June 2015
 Issue #11

Directors:

President - 
Greg Filbeck, CFA,FRM,CAIA

Vice President- 
Craig Gomulka, CFA

Treasurer - 
Joe Lantz, CFA,CAIA

Special Events- 
Ryan Bend, CFA

Secretary-
George Emanuele,CFA

Programs & Media Relations- 
Chris Wiles, CFA

Membership Outreach - 
Cale Grove, CFA

University Outreach -
Manoharlal Sukhwani, CFA

Financial Literacy -
David Zawadski, CFA

Executive Administrator -
Caryn Loehr


Presidents Message:

 


 

Welcome to the eleventh issue of the CFA Society of Pittsburgh's Newsletter.


 

In this newsletter, you will find recaps of our previous two luncheons as well as our recent Endowments and Foundations (E & F) Conference.  A big thank you to Chris Wiles who assembled an incredible diversity of programs during the 2014-2015 fiscal year.  Our E & F Conference was a great success with over 120 participants.  Thanks to Joe Lantz and Jim Herrington who co-chaired the event as well as their very active committee members. 

 

I am currently working on putting together the Society's annual report - a new initiative this year.  The report should be distributed in July and will serve as a great recap of our very active year. 

 

The Board will meet for our annual retreat on Tuesday, July 14th, from 4 to 7pm at the Duquesne Club.  We certainly welcome your feedback regarding plans for 2015-2016.  As you may already be aware, Craig Gomulka has stepped down as Vice-President.  We thank him for his many years of service to the Board!  George Emanuele has agreed to assume the role of Vice-President, which leaves a vacancy for the role of Secretary on the Board.  As noted in the email sent out last week, anyone  interested should send their resume with a letter of interest no later than June 30th to be considered. 

 

A reminder that we have officially set a date of Monday, September 14th for our first-ever job fair for college students.  Please email me at [email protected] if your firm would be interested in participating and who the key contact would be for recruiting.  More information to follow.

 

The primary goals of the newsletter are to keep members and supporters of the Pittsburgh Society informed about the society's activities and foster greater community involvement by all members.


 

- Dr. Greg Filbeck, CFA, FRM, CAIA 

President, CFA Society Pittsburgh


 

Upcoming Events

Summer Recess:

Your board will be spending some time this summer meeting and planning next seasons activities, while also trying to recharge our batteries.

 

If you are interested in becoming a board member, or joining one of our committees, do not hesitate in reaching out to us.

 

Please enjoy your summer, and thank you for your support.

 

 


Highlights from Recent Events

"U.S. Equity Sector Outlook"

On Wednesday, June 17, we welcomed Lance Stonecypher, CFA to Pittsburgh. Lance is Ned Davis Research Group's Chief U.S. Equity Sector Strategist   

 

Lance has been with Ned Davis since 1986, and has held numerous positions including Director of Research, Director of Custom Research Services, as well as the firm's research assistant in the development of hundreds of the firm's indicators and studies. He and the investment management team also quantitatively manage an equity pension portfolio using the firm's ranking systems and risk control techniques.


 

Today, Lance talked to us about the firms unofficial motto, "Being Right or Making Money". Which is a data driven approach, that tries to weigh both fundamentals and technicals.


 

Three key tenets of the firms investment philosophy:

  1. Don't Fight the Fed
  2. Beware of Crowds at Extremes
  3. Don't Fight the Tape

Currently the firm believes we are still in a secular bull market for equities, and would overweight Consumer Staples & Discretionary, Technology, and Health Care. They are very bearish on Commodities, and believe we will see another leg down in the Energy sector.

 


Third Annual Endowments & Foundations Conference

The society held its third annual Endowments and Foundations Conference on May 21, 2015. The event was both well attended, and well received by the audience.  Although targeted towards the E&F community, many of the topics presented were also applicable to a wider audience and investor base.

 Keynote Speaker Michael Psaros of KPS, had the audience highly engaged, as he spoke about the realities of private equity investing, and how jobs and industries once common to the Pittsburgh area are returning. 

Michael Janko BNY Mellon

Next year's conference is already in the planning stages.  Interested speakers, panelists, or those with a topic they want to have presented should contact the E&F committee with their thoughts.


"The Nature of Investing" Featuring Katherine Collins

On Wednesday, May 20th 2015, Katherine Collins Founder and CEO of Honeybee Capital, joined us for a lively presentation on using insights from nature to help us in forming investment decisions.

Katherine walked us through the many changes in data collection and analysis throughout her years at Fidelity Management. She believes that while we have more data than ever at our fingertips we still might not be making any better decisions. Having your relative performance flashing on your iPhone constantly is probably not helping you make more informed long-term decisions. She quotes Henry David Thoreau in, "We have become the tool of our tools."

She believes we should thoroughly know and understand the difference between risk and uncertainty. Risk is where we know and can measure a range of potential outcomes. On the other hand, uncertainty can't be measured or known. The biggest problems occur when we pretend that uncertainty is risk. She often looks to nature for answers, implementing WWND - What Would Nature Do? Nature is not survival of the fittest, it is survival of the most adaptable to change. 

Here is a copy of her slide presentation: The Nature of Investing
 


Annual Partner Sponsors

CFA Society Pittsburgh would like to thank its partnership sponsors for their support of the Society.


 

Gold

 


Stock Pickers Contest

 Update  - 2/18/15 - 6/24/15

ContestantAvg.STK 1STK 2STK 3
S&P 5000.52%


Malcolm
Polley
11.79%NSR
11.82%
GME
19.55%
TTEK
4.00%
Kim
Forrest
2.48%XLNX
9.55%
NTCT
-2.35%
VOXX
0.23%
Frank
Aloi
-23.32%DAL
-5.72%
GILD
17.39%
RESN
-81.62%
Mauricio
Viaud
15.70%PBR
35.92%
MT
-6.22%
GILD
17.39%
Bob
McGee
37.58%SYNA
12.13%
GTLS
8.65%
CEA
91.97%