On Friday, October 29th, as part of the Wall Street Seminar course at the University of Vermont, Grossman School of Business (GSB), students had the unique opportunity of traveling to New York City to present their equity research projects to UVM alumni and fellow finance professionals at Morgan Stanley’s headquarters.

Because of Covid-19, last year’s course presentations were virtual, which meant this year’s class were especially excited to take part in what has become a rite of passage for many.

It’s a day when business students trade a UVM classroom for a Manhattan boardroom as their learning ground, and an experience that is a critical element of BSAD 288, Wall Street Seminar; a course that gives GSB undergrads experience in professional equity research and merger and acquisition analysis. Launched in 2003 by professor emeritus James Gatti, the Wall Street Seminar has become a revered fixture on the school calendar, and is now led by Professor Andrew Prevost.

Awaiting them around the corner from Time Square were UVM alumni Steve Penwell ’84, Morgan Stanley’s director of equity research for North America, Jamie Flicker ’87, managing director at DCS Advisory, Todd Castagno, Morgan Stanley’s executive director and other Morgan Stanley associates.

After more than four months of work focused on financial projection modeling to determine the valuations of Chegg, Inc. (CHGG), YETI Holdings, Inc. (YETI), Lululemon Athletica Inc. (LULU), and Dollar Tree Inc. (DLTR), four GSB student teams presented their analysis and assessments. After the teams presented their findings as to whether to buy, sell or hold the stock, they endured some critical questioning and tough love from the Morgan Stanley team. This is where the real learning starts. Students apply what they have learned in the classroom and many weeks prepping to become an expert on that company.

Oliver Tidswell ’22 who was on the Chegg’s team said "We learned a tremendous amount regarding the E-Learning market and the use of online educational services by college students. Particularly, I enjoyed learning a lot about curve fitting, adoption rates, subscriber forecasting, and user saturation levels."

Jenny Pedersen ’22 sent a special thanks to her team members and professor. “Zoë Macdonald, Oliver Tidswell, Matias Øvrum and Thomas Biesemeyer have all been incredible to work with. Thank you, Andrew Prevost, for guiding us through this class.”

The course is team-taught with UVM alumni, along with Morgan Stanley and DC Advisory staff. Joining the presentation were also recent GSB alumni who now work at Morgan Stanley and assist in teaching the course; Andrew Percoco, Evan Silverberg, and David Gringeri.

Afterwards, students were able to explore the city and meet up with other UVM alumni, capping an eventful day of full immersion into life on Wall Street. A day that brings their chosen career path to life and helps these GSB finance students on the road to future success.