This fund will cover investment opportunities in the technology, media, and telecommunications sector, generating investment theses based on directional trends affecting the TMT space, as well as value and catalyst-driven theses. Analysts will be exposed to a number of non-traditional valuation mechanisms, tailored to the unique nature of companies in this space such as total addressable market, customer lifetime value, and churn rates. Based on the rapidly evolving nature of these innovation-based industries, analysts in this fund will be expected to constantly provide industry coverage and will develop a highly specialized skillset in the world’s fastest growing industry. TMT Fund will have a significant educational component, with frequent lectures on a number of relevant topics, such as various tech industry verticals, venture capital, valuation, and more.

The healthcare fund aims to educate interested members on Wall Street’s role in a sector that dominates ~20% of the US GDP. If you are a biosciences student, a McCombs major, or just mildly interested please consider joining us!

The first semester will focus on evaluating an M&A case study between a large-cap pharmaceutical company and a pre-clinical biotechnology company. Strategic rationale will be analyzed alongside the construction of a merger model and accretion/dilution analysis. Sophomores and juniors may find this useful ahead of recruiting and in preparation of their internships.

The second semester will focus on a L/S stock pitch from one of the following industries: medical technology, life science tools and diagnostics, digital health, and healthcare services. Emphasis will be placed on analyzing Wall Street perspectives, identifying market mispricing, and development of a risk-adjusted, sensitized valuation model.

Lecture content will be derived from the following texts: 1) The Pharmagellan Guide to Valuation and Forecasting 2) The Pharmagellan Guide to Analyzing Biotech Clinical Trials 3)The Business of Healthcare Innovation.

This fund will cover a broad array of investment theses, with a specific focus on two styles of investing: fundamentals-based, bottom-up analysis of companies under a generalist coverage, and macro-thematic, top-down analysis of investments with flexibility across diverse asset classes. The mandate of global macro strategies is comprehensive in nature, and the coverage and research done in this fund will reflect this. For bottom-up investments, the fund will focus on education in business fundamentals, following how accounting statements, company filings, key performance indicators, and industry tailwinds can be analyzed to identify price dislocations against the inherent value of a company, which creates compelling value-investing opportunities. For top-down investments, the fund will focus on education in big picture themes, including macroeconomics, geopolitics, and social issues, and how such themes can shape robust investing strategies. Weekly meetings will be held, where analysts can expect a discussion of current events and a lecture on a pertinent topic.

The Special Situations Fund will focus on educating analysts on investment strategies across the capital structure and will be centered around a weekly educational lecture series (open to all members of USIT) designed to expose analysts to a variety of topics that are not traditionally covered in USIT's public equities focused education. These include but are not limited to public / private credit investing, private real assets, and early stage / venture investing. General meeting pitches and fund positions will be focused on public equities facing financial distress or undergoing other unique situations. The expectation for analysts in the fund will be to keep up with the educational materials, follow through with all fund responsibilities, and meaningfully contribute to dialogue surrounding portfolio management.

The Quantitative Market Intelligence Division will focus on leveraging relevant data in making strategic investment decisions. QMI was created to open applied data science education to all students who wish to learn how to create, analyze, visualize, and utilize financially relevant datasets. By giving students the opportunity to advance highly-sought after technical skills, create proprietary datasets, and develop quantitative trading strategies, QMI empowers its members to become quantitatively intelligent investors and business leaders.

The Philanthropy Fund was formed in Spring 2020 by request of the USIT Alumni Network, which wished to establish a partnership with the student organization to source charitable investment opportunities in which to invest. As such, the fund plans to generate ideas and perform diligence on charities that merit a donation in a buy-side process. Additionally, through the primary and secondary research of Analysts, the group will develop a model of measuring impact, both for initial investment diligence and subsequent staged donations. Being experimental in nature in its inaugural year, the Philanthropy Fund will ultimately seek to donate several thousand dollars at the discretion of the Alumni Network.