SWS wraps fall speaker series with stock pitch competition

Undergraduate | Nov 17, 2014 | Gabelli School of Business

Students pitch Gilead Sciences stock during a recent Smart Woman Securities competition.

By Lauren Kelly (GSB ’18)

Five Gabelli School of Business students extolling the financial value of a firm working on a drug to treat hepatitis won the recent Smart Woman Securities stock pitch competition.

Katherine Beisel, Gabrielle Puma, Haley Hauge, Avery Semjen, and Sophia Waldron presented an extensive and thorough coverage of risks for Gilead Sciences, but still used accurate analysis of valuation metrics to pitch the stock as a buy.

Keith Cahill of J.P. Morgan, Mihai Stefanita of Bloomberg, Bridgette Taylor of Barclays, and Justine Humenasky, the chief operating officer of SWS, judged the competition, which wrapped up the club’s fall speaker series.

The judges said the students won because of their superior use of valuation metrics. For their efforts, members of the Gilead team will have the opportunity to attend a dinner with a Fordham alumnus.

On Thursday, the club’s New Member Initiation and Mentor Appreciation Dinner will be held. This semester’s speakers, as well as other professionals, many of them Fordham University alumni, will be in attendance.