MBA sends 15 students or alumnus of the program to the unique conference from 15th February 2012, an event by CFA Romania Event which is held by a great speaker, Jim Valentine.
The schedule of the event is:
Speaker: Jim Valentine
Hour 15:00 – 19:00 (15 minute coffee-break la 16:45)
Workshop: “Identify and Monitor Critical Factors”
Hour 19:00 – 20:00
Cocktail
Hour 20:00 – 21:00
Presentation: “Best Practices for Equity Research Analysts”
James J. Valentine, CFA, is founder of AnalystSolutions, providing services to equity research analysts, their managers and professional societies to improve analyst’s stock picking and help them receive greater recognition for those calls. He is the author of Best Practices for Equity Research Analysts (McGraw-Hill), which compiles successful approaches to delivering superior research and improved stock calls. His work has been recognized by the New York Society of Security Analysts, where he was awarded the 2011 Furthering Research Award. He has helped analysts improve their performance in Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, India, China, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, Singapore, Thailand, U.K., U.S., U.A.E. and Vietnam.
Valentine has held roles at four of the world’s largest financial services firms, including his most recent with Morgan Stanley, where he was the Associate Director of North American Research, as well as Global Director of Training for the firm’s Research department. Among his accomplishments as an analyst, for ten consecutive years he earned top rankings within his sector by the major North American institutional investor polls. In addition, Forbes named him one of the top three analysts, among all 2,000 U.S. sell-side analysts. The Wall Street Journal, Thomson Reuters, Institutional Investor, and Greenwich Associates have recognized him for his stock picking, earnings forecasts and client service. He holds a Master’s degree in finance and the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) accreditation. Valentine lives in a Connecticut suburb of New York City with his wife and three children. For more information, visit AnalystSolutions.com and JamesValentine.com.
Testimonials:
James Valentine spoke at the New York Society of Security Analysts about his new book “Best Practices For Equity Research Analysts.” This was an important event at NYSSA. The book is the best ever done on equity research, drawing on the author’s many years of experience. “Best Practices ” can be used as a self-evaluation tool by analysts and portfolio managers. This process is essential in an industry that is getting more and more competitive, and at the same time contracting.
- William Hayes, Producer of Author Series, New York Society of Security Analysts
I brought Jim to the Hartford CFA Society for a lunch to talk to our members about best practices in equity analysis. He was fantastic. I highly recommend his book and would urge all of the other CFA societies to book him. He was very engaging (we actually went over by 30 minutes and everybody stayed) and the content was fantastic. One of the best professional development programs out there.
- Sam Chang, Hartford CFA Society Board member
I personally can’t thank Jim Valentine enough for his participation in a recent CFA Society event celebrating equity research. Jim’s presentation and following question and answer session was an absolute hit with the audience and has raised the bar for future events. Thanks to Jim, I continue to receive emails and phone calls two weeks after the event from attendees praising and congratulating our Society for producing what is commonly being referred to as the best CFA Society of Cleveland event they’ve ever attended.
- James M. Bailey, CFA, University Relations Chair, CFA Society of Cleveland
As Co-chair of Programs for the Baltimore CFA Society, I am always looking for speakers who can provide our members with useful insights. Jim gave us a refreshingly unique perspective on equity analysis that helped our younger and more experienced equity professionals alike. I would absolutely recommend him — he was one of our best-received presentations of the year.
- David Robertson, CFA, Co-chair Programs, Baltimore CFA Society
B.About workshop:
Challenge:
Analysts often find that for their universe of stocks, the company management, media and sell-side publish hundreds, and sometimes thousands, of pieces of information each week, much of which has no influence on stock prices. When a stock materially outperforms its peers or the market, it’s usually due to only one key factor that was buried among all of this noise.
Solution:
After interviewing many of the best-performing buy-side and sell-side analysts, we discover that part of the winning formula to their success is they invest time up front to identify the 2-4 critical factors most likely to move their stocks during their investment time horizon. Then they spend a disproportionate amount of their time proactively researching these critical factors to determine where consensus could be wrong, which becomes the basis for great stock calls. This course teaches analysts the process of identifying and monitoring the 2-4 critical factors for each stock in their universe.
Specific concepts covered in the workshop/course:
• Understanding the concept of a “critical factor” among all of the data and noise found in the marketplace.
• Utilizing methods to identify the critical factors that have moved a stock in the past (they are often the same factors that move the stock in the future).
• Identifying emerging new critical factors through discussions with current market participants.
• Using materiality thresholds and probability to narrow down a potentially long list of factors to the 2-4 critical factors most likely to move a stock over an analyst’s typical investment time horizon.
• Identifying catalysts for a specific set of critical factors.
• Implementing a system for monitoring critical factors to identify when consensus is wrong.
Workshop/Course level: Intermediate to Advanced
C.About Presentation:
“Best Practices for Equity Research Analysts Presentation”
James Valentine, CFA, will be presenting insights from his book Best Practices for Equity Research Analysts, written to help analysts become better stock pickers and get better recognition for their stock calls. Achieving these goals is tough for many analysts due to all of the challenges they face. Among the 12 major challenges Valentine has identified, he discusses these five in his presentation:
• Finding more time for value-added research
• Identifying the critical factors likely to drive a universe of stocks
• Developing unique sources of content
• Ensuring stock calls are differentiated from the consensus view
• Communicating stock calls so they add value
His material provides frameworks that can be used as tools by those analysts seeking to generate more alpha and gain greater recognition.
