Programme Content
Over the course of eight weeks, you’ll learn the history, foundations, and applications of value investing, competitive analysis and strategy as well as the practical frameworks and technical skills that investment professionals use to evaluate opportunities. This investment certification program is delivered in a weekly self-paced online format and culminates in a closing ceremony and the receipt of a Certificate from Wharton Online.
Module 1
Week 1 is an introduction to Value Investing with an overview of the history and discussion of the principles applied by value investors. Supplementing Week 1 will be a guest speaker panel with Ricky Sandler of Eminence Capital. Ricky will discuss an “in the trenches” view of the investment philosophy and approach that he has honed over decades of successful experience on the buy-side.
Module 2
Module 2 lays down the groundwork concepts of market efficiency, indexing, and alpha measurement. Learners will be introduced to frameworks for understanding and attributing stock price movements to specific underlying factors. The module concludes with situations where the market offers mispricing, expectations gaps in stock investing, and the many faces of mispricing, and introduce a framework for solid fundamental investing.
Module 3
Students will conduct a deep dive on a business to understand its moats as well as the primary drivers of a company’s value. As part of the research process, students will learn how to evaluate revenue growth and how it influences a stock’s value as it flows through the company’s financials. The content also will cover how to discern why an investment opportunity exists and articulate the catalyst path to stock price movement.
Module 4
Students will conduct a deep dive on a business to understand its moats as well as the primary drivers of a company’s value. As part of the research process, students will learn how to evaluate revenue growth and how it influences a stock’s value as it flows through the company’s financials. The content also will cover how to discern why an investment opportunity exists and articulate the catalyst path to stock price movement
Module 5
Module 5 builds on the learning objectives of the prior module, focusing on practical aspects of developing a contrarian thesis. The module consludes with a deep dive into a company’s competitive strategy, barriers to entry, and differentiation.
Module 6
Students will learn about disaggregating growth and assessing expectations. Risk and Uncertainty will also be covered as they tie into evaluating a company’s long-term growth prospects. There is supplemental content on Management, Boards, and Corporate Governance.
Module 7
Students will gain insight into the ins and outs of an applied value investing process through deep dives on topics such as information gathering, model analysis, and crafting a fully-formed thesis. Students will hear from Matt Ober on alternative data and Freddy Brick on short selling.
Module 8 (ELECTIVE)
