Published My Equity Research Reports/Portfolio on Substack - Thoughts?

Hey guys, this is my first post here. I'm currently a sophomore at a non-target school, though it is a well known and relatively reputable state school. I've been really interested in equity research and have created several research reports as part of my time in a student-led investment fund. I decided to try and publish some of these on substack in order to start growing a portfolio and to have discussion with others interested in equity research and the financial markets. I only have my first one posted so far, because I have to format the others to fit substack. I know its not the most in depth in terms of valuation (only knew IRR at the time), and that the data is a year old, but I wanted to know if I could please get some feedback on the quality of writing and some of the fundamental analysis I did? Going to update this report and provide a DCF as well soon in the near future. I'd really appreciate it, thanks! Link:

https://open.substack.com/pub/rginvestments/p/sta…

Just as a heads up, don’t be discouraged if they don’t accept you. I have not checked on your pitches, but the VIC is known for being quite selective for their applications. I’ve submitted two pitches that I thought were quality and actually played out my thesis, but they weren’t accepted.

Typically, it’s a level of quality you can expect from buyside analysts. Keep doing what you’re doing and you’ll be among them.

Most Helpful

I just finished reading, still digesting some of the nuances. Overall, think this is a great output for a student, so kudos to you. 

One quick question... what was the rationale behind your Comps? McDonalds and Yum! are both asset-light, franchise based models that largely generate their revenue through royalties, licensing, and supply chain markup/rebates. Mondelez threw me for a loop as they are more in the CPG space. Chipotle is the most comparable in terms of a QSR, but still somewhat differentiated in my opinion as I feel like the growth explosion they have experienced the last 5-10 years is inflating their multiples. In any case, would love to hear what made you choose those and if you considered any others? Is there a reason why you left Inspire Brands out but included Yum! and same for Restaurant Brands International? 

1. Put a summary of your actual thoughts in the overview, what you currently put is not helpful.

2. Pick a side - don't put out a hold recommendation. Even if you need to include caveats about what could go wrong.

3. More analysis, fewer photos and infographics. Paste a screenshot of your revenue and cost builds. These are more important than seeing a photo from the NYT.

Not bad overall, I'd give it a 7/10. You should practice being more concise with your wording. A lot of what you wrote is fluffy and likely unnecessary. If it's longer than 1,500 words or so I'm probably not going to read the whole thing. 

It's also important to stay consistent. Imagine how much better you'll be in a year's time if you can crank out 3-4 of these a month. You might even get a job that way.

Really appreciate the advice. This was my first report, but in the following ones I made sure to have more conviction and be more concise. Still working on uploading those, but it's taking a while because I have to repurpose them.

Nonetheless, everything you said was definitely valid and I'll work to improve upon that and stay consistent as well. I wanted to ask, when prepping for ER, is it best to have a breadth of knowledge about various industries or really focus in on one? I know that full time you're assigned to a particular sector and companies. So far I've only researched consumer and a bit of tech/software(if you consider Activision that). Wanted to get a bit more exposure to industries like financials and energy though. Once again, really appreciate the advice!

Oh wow that’s a really good idea. Do you think it’s better to do it anonymously or to include more about my background. I was thinking about leaving my LinkedIn on my Substack, but idk if it could go against me in any way

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