Crossroads Students Co-Host Inaugural Los Angeles Stock Pitch Competition

We are the co-presidents of Crossroads School’s Student Management Investment Fund. Our club oversees the deployment of roughly $11,000 across traditional asset classes such as stocks and bonds. Over the last three years, we have returned an average of 30% year-on-year. These numbers are only made possible by the wonderful team of analysts and portfolio managers who constantly provide new investment ideas for the fund. 

Together, we co-hosted the inaugural Los Angeles Stock Pitch Competition on the Crossroads campus on Oct. 18 alongside a cohort of students from Marlborough School. The competition included 80 students across 17 public, private and even international schools. It brought in over 30 finance professionals from top firms worldwide to our campus to judge pitches, speak on panels or give presentations.

 

Teams of one or two students from the same school selected a publicly traded company and prepared a slideshow and oral presentation prior to the competition, giving their recommendation to buy, sell or hold. There were three rounds of pitches, starting with 45 teams in the first, 20 in the second and the top five in the final round. In rounds one and two, each pitch was judged by two industry professionals and graded on a rubric out of 100 points. In the final round, teams presented in front of five judges and an audience of peers and parents. Each round was judged by industry professionals, many of whom were Crossroads parents. Judges came from firms such as J.P. Morgan, Jefferies, Oaktree Capital Management and Apollo Global Management. (For a full list, please see below.) 

Students also had the opportunity to attend a panel on alternative investments (asset classes like venture capital and real estate, distinct from traditional stocks and bonds) moderated by Crossroads’ Chief Financial & Operations Officer John Kjenner. Panelists came from Cascade Venture Capital, Ares Management and Cadence Capital Investments. 

 

The top five teams each won cash prizes derived from the total prize pool of $1,450, which came from registrations fees. Members of the first-place team also won a paid internship at Aqua Capital Advisors. Congratulations to this year’s top five:

First place: Abraham Coher and William Connolly (juniors), Polytechnic School

Second place: Sebastian Meli and Chase Cole (sophomores), St. Francis High School

Third place: Arden Yacoubian (senior), St. Francis High School 

Fourth place: Greyson Molinelli (freshman), St. Francis High School

Fifth place: Jesse King and Luc Montalba (juniors), Crossroads School for Arts & Sciences.

Congratulations to Crossroads students Jesse and Luc for delivering a great pitch on Woodside Energy and representing Crossroads in the top five! This was a great first year, and we’re looking forward to an even better event next year. 

Companies represented at the event:

 J.P. Morgan
Jefferies
Oaktree Capital Management
Apollo Global Management
Capital Group
Bloomberg
Cerberus Capital Management
Causeway Capital Management
Shamrock Capital Advisors
Memento Growth Partners
TCW Group
Avery Dennison
International Trading Company
Vast Space
USC Value Investing Group.