The Marquette MVP Fund seeks to provide long-term capital appreciation
through the construction of a long-only “best ideas” concentrated portfolio of
undervalued small cap US and international stocks.
October 1, 2017
Marquette
University’s Applied Investment Management (AIM) program was selected to
compete in the Peeptrade University Challenge, a three-month long event in
which teams of graduate and undergraduate students from the top business
schools compete to best manage a $1,000,000 portfolio. 
Marquette’s
AIM team comprises six students and is advised by Dr. David Krause, AIM
Director, and William Walker, Executive Co-Teacher in the AIM program. The
student members of the Marquette MVP
Fund include: Kevin Blank, Joe Flynn, Derek Grifka, Adam Hamilton, Michael Robinson
and Ryan Thern.
“Our program was selected to compete against students from some of
the leading global business schools,” said Dr. Krause, the director of the AIM
program. “This is a great opportunity for Marquette’s AIM program to again
showcase our skills. This is also a another honor for the program.” To view the
team’s strategy, please see the Investment Policy Statement below.
During the PeepTrade University Challenge, individual investors can follow
the trading activity of university investment clubs in real time on PeepTrade, an online
platform where users “peep” into the portfolios of other investors. Users pay a
subscription fee to view the activity of a particular team, and the returns
from the portfolio are donated to a charity pre-selected by that group of
students. 
The teams will post their trading activity from October 2nd to December
1st. Teams had to submit their investment policy statements by October 1st
and on December 2nd each team will present and defend their investment
portfolio performance in Chicago to a panel of experts, who will determine which
group managed their portfolio most effectively.
To track the team's progress, follow AIM on Twitter at @MarquetteAIM.
Marquette MVP Fund
Investment
Policy Statement
Fall 2017
PeepTrade University Challenge
Asset Class: Long-only common stock
Inception Date: October 2, 2017
Starting Capital: $1,000,000
Benchmark: S&P 500 Index
Portfolio Team Members: Kevin Blank, Joe Flynn, Derek Grifka, Adam
Hamilton, Michael Robinson and Ryan Thern
Advisors: David Krause and Bill Walker
Investment Philosophy: The Marquette University Applied Investment
Management (AIM) program is based upon the core knowledge embedded within the
Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) curriculum. We believe that thorough
fundamental research and valuation analysis is the foundation to creating
excess returns within a common stock portfolio. The Marquette MVP Fund seeks
to provide long-term capital appreciation through the construction of a
long-only “best ideas” concentrated portfolio of undervalued small cap US and
international stocks. Our bottom-up approach to stock selection is driven by
extensive research and valuation analysis, leading us to identify mispriced
stocks within the least efficient segments of the stock market. Only the
companies that we believe have strong overall business models, solid management
teams and attractive valuations are added to our portfolio.
Principal Strategy: The Marquette MVP Fund seeks to employ a
“best ideas” approach to common stock investing. Cohen, Polk and Silli (2010)
found that the stock that active managers display the most conviction towards
ex-ante, outperformed the market by approximately 8 percent per year. The
results for managers' other high-conviction investments (e.g. top five stocks)
also exhibited positive alpha over a full market cycle. Creating a concentrated
portfolio from the two Marquette AIM Funds (containing US small cap and
international stocks based on our investment philosophy) comprised only of our
“best ideas” stocks, should outperform the overall market.
Portfolio Selection Criteria: Based on the strategy, the Marquette
MVP Fund’s approach is to create a “best ideas” portfolio combining
approximately 10 to 20 stocks selected from the existing AIM Small Cap Fund and
the AIM International Equity Fund. These long-only portfolios are the product
of detailed fundamental analysis performed and voted upon by a super-majority
of the members of the AIM program. The selection process starts by choosing
stocks from these portfolios that have what we believe are the best
risk-to-reward metrics. Common elements
of each stock in the fund will include: an experienced management team; a
strong balance sheet; a catalyst or economic force that serves as a tailwind;
an attractive valuation; and a superior and defendable business model. The equally
weighted portfolio is to be constructed without regard to firm size, style,
region, risk factor or sector.
Return Objective: The return
objective of the Marquette MVP Fund is to outperform the S&P 500 Index on a
risk-adjusted basis over the long term. We expect that given the relatively
large active risk contained within the portfolio that actual returns and
volatility may vary from expectations and objectives across short-term time
periods.
