Gonyea '20 and Strauss '20 Speak about Independent Study in Finance

On Thursday, May 28^th, MBS seniors Kyle Gonyea ’20 and Caden Strauss ’20 gave a presentation about their Independent Study in financial modeling which they completed with Upper School history teacher Ricky Kamil.

The students titled their presentation “An Ever-Changing Independent Study in Finance” because the focus of their work took some unexpected twists and turns this semester with distance learning.  They began their work by becoming more familiar with the financial markets, Wall Street vocabulary, and how to read and understanding financial graphs and numbers. From there, the seniors chose a different sector each week and focused on how to pick a winning stock.

They also explored the recent popularity of ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) investing, which is an investment strategy that seeks to consider both financial return as well as the long-term impact on society, the environment, and the performance of the business.

Once the pandemic hit, the students shifted their focus to consider the effects of Coronavirus on the markets. They also picked an individual stock, Tesla, and hypothesized that it was overvalued. They tested their hypothesis by creating a financial model using the company’s first quarter update and its SEC filings as sources for data. After analyzing the data, they concluded that their hypothesis was correct, but they do see growth potential over the next four years.

They finished their presentation by thanking Mr. Kamil for his support. “We learned a lot through the semester and loved the ability to be flexible and self-pace,” said Strauss. “It could be tough to stay motivated at times, but we are extremely happy we followed through.”