Alex. Brown Fund
Invest in your future. Join the Alex. Brown Fund and gain real-world investing experience.
The Alex. Brown Student Investment Fund offers a unique opportunity for students to develop and utilize their investment skills by providing real-life investing experience. The program oversees a sizable student-managed fund invested in equities.
Students have front-line responsibility for researching and recommending equity trades. The program includes extensive interaction with investment professionals and ongoing research and learning opportunities. The program goal is to help talented, motivated students learn about and prepare for careers in the investment field.
$500,000
What would you do with a half million dollars?
As the students in the Alex. Brown Student Investment Fund know, the right answer is: “Invest.”
W. James Price IV, a former partner and managing director of Alex. Brown & Sons and a member of the College’s Board of Visitors and Governors, funded the program to give Washington College’s business students an edge in launching careers in finance.
“When I finished college, I had no real-world knowledge of the investment world,” Price said. “When I started at Alex. Brown & Sons, I had great mentors but, as I look back, I always wished I had started with more knowledge of investments.”
Students accepted into the program research companies and industries for possible investment opportunities, meet regularly with finance professionals to discuss market developments, and make recommendations about what stocks to invest in.
9%
That’s the rate of return students achieved last year, exceeding the NYSE overall rate of return.
Green Investing
Richard Bookbinder, Alex. Brown Fund Senior Advisor, meets weekly with students to discuss news and developments affecting the portfolio. He manages TerraVerde Capital Management, a New York-based hedge fund for green investment. He tweets about green investing issues.
Recent Portfolio Activity
-
Wednesday, March 27. Energy. Alex. Brown student members unanimously voted to purchase stock in Chicago Bridge & Iron (CBI) which designs, engineers, and constructs infrastructure projects in the energy industry.
Consistent with the program’s theme, CB&I fits well in our portfolio because it is not directly impacted by the ever-fluctuating cost of oil as a commodity. The recent acquisitions of the Shaw Group and E-gas technology purchased from Phillips-66 provide CB&I with an expanding profile in nuclear power, natural gas, and alternative energy industries. By providing engineering and construction, maintenance, and materials and equipment for liquefied natural gas, water, and nuclear power, CB&I provides infrastructure to multiple expanding industries of our portfolio.We expect CB&I’s business to grow by providing viable infrastructure solutions for America’s nuclear power and water supplies as well as ample opportunities for technology advancement, engineering, and construction for the procurement and production of natural gas.
-
Friday, March 15. Infrastructure. Alex. Brown student members have voted to expand our investments in the water industry with the purchase of stock in Aegion (AEGN), a pipeline and infrastructure protection manufacturer and service provider.
Aegion (formerly Insituform Technologies, LLC) designs pipelines and products for a number of industries including water and waste management, energy and mining, and commercial and structural projects. Specific to the water industry Aegion offers a product called InsituGuard, a polyethylene liner injected around damaged pipes to contain leaks and restore water pressure. This product is very attractive to municipal governments as a tested alternative to conventional digging and pipeline replacement which is time consuming and expensive.We expect the stock to continue to rise in value as more municipal governments encounter the need to repair their water systems and seek alternatives to expensive system-wide replacement.
Senior Advisor
Faculy Advisor
Members 2012-13
Jeffrey Nutting
Matt Sedney
Charles Stark
Scaldini’s Portfolio
A student’s perspective on the market (not professional investment advice!), from Alex. Brown Program member Michael Scaldini.
Click here to see Michael’s past portfolio perspectives.
-
Doing Business in China
For companies such as Apple (APPL), Volkswagen AG (VLKAY), and Coca-Cola (KO), China is one if not the most important market to access. However, Western companies will have to navigate a complex and difficult terrain. Rising consumer power, new media, and state control can throw up sudden unexpected challenges to “business as usual”.
Recently Apple, under pressure from the Chinese media, issued an apology for customer service blunders including differing warranty policies and lower quality customer service. Volkswagen AG also recently came under fire over complaints that its direct shift gearbox transmission caused cars to change speeds while driving. Volkswagen AG recalled all cars using the gear box.“Companies,” says Jack Perkowski in Forbes, “have to accept China for what it is, not what they would like it to be.” Likewise, investors must be aware that companies who choose to operate in China will face the immense bargaining and regulatory power of China. Investors must have confidence that they can maneuver properly to avoid these conflicts with the Chinese state.
To learn more about this issue read this Wall Street Journal article.
Alex. Brown history
