Owls fly in a bear market

Owls fly in a bear market
Student investment club teaches others the tricks of their trades

BY JESSICA STARK
Rice News staff

Rice University students are giving professional investors a run for their money. Last fall, Owl Capital Management GP outperformed the market by 27 percent, with its portfolio gaining 14 percent while the Standard & Poor’s 500 dropped by 13 percent. Even now, despite the continued rough and unstable conditions in the stock market, the group’s portfolio is up 2 percent, besting the market by 22 percent for this academic year.

“Our recent investments in China have been very beneficial for our portfolio and have enabled us to stay in the green in this volatile market,” said Chris Kopczynski, Martel College sophomore and the group’s founder. “Our hedging technique allowed us to be successful and protect gains in a bear market.”

He said the group uses stop orders, which automatically sell stocks when they dip below a certain point, and limit orders, which automatically buy stocks when the price is right, to help manage risks and take on new investments.

Owl Capital Management is a registered general partnership in which each partner buys between one and five $100 shares in its portfolio at the beginning of the year. The number of shares a partner owns determines how many votes he or she gets when the group makes any decisions. So, if a student bought one share at the beginning of the year and the portfolio’s value increased by 20 percent, she would receive a check for $120 at the end of the year.

Owl investing
Want to learn the trick to investing? Join Rice’s student investment club
But the monetary returns are just a component of the group’s mission. It’s part of the Owl Investing Franchise — a selective team of about 20 undergraduate students that manages an active stock portfolio, publishes a financial journal, mentors local high school students and hosts financial information sessions and lectures for the Rice and Houston communities.

Through the Owl Financial Journal, the franchise hopes to teach others the tricks of their trades. Launched this year as a biweekly online journal, it seeks to educate investors about current conditions in the market by publishing expert advice and analysis in plain language. The journal publishes a wide variety of sections ranging from an educational corner to stock picks to an opinion column to internship opportunities.

“We offer something for everyone,” said Pedro Rossi Silva, Martel College sophomore and co-founder of the franchise. “Whether you’re a seasoned investor or just starting out, there will be something in the journal that is relevant to you and that can help you.”

So far, more than 10,000 students at 40 schools subscribe to the journal, and that number is increasing every day. The free journal is supported by donations and advertisements.

“Through the journal, people can access high-quality research for free,” Silva said. “Not many premiere journals make that possible. We want to provide a premiere service at no costs so we can really educate others. That’s our mission — to help build better investors.”

To reach even more people on the Rice campus, the Owl Financial Journal issued a print edition for the first time last week. The 200 copies were distributed throughout campus thanks to a private donation that will enable the group to continue with biweekly printed editions throughout the school year. By year’s end, the journal hopes to have enough advertisers that it can be completely self-sufficient.

The journal can be viewed online at www.owlinvesting.com. For more information, contact owlinvesting@gmail.com.