$1.2M Babson College Fund's Winning Handbook

Real World Stock-Pitching

During the fund's weekly Thursday meetings, the sector teams analyze three stocks within a specific sub-group of their business areas of focus and present a report on the one most compelling stock.

The students are grilled on their stock pitches by Babson's "executives in residence" (advisors), who ask the same questions they might have asked themselves when they analyze stocks at companies like Fidelity Investments or Value Line.

At a recent meeting, the BCF's industrials team - Matthew Murray, Alexander Naboicheck, and Andrea Wolf -- compared three law enforcement weapon suppliers: gun manufacturer Smith and Wesson (SWHC Quote), facial recognition equipment maker Digital Ally (DGLY Quote) and Taser International (TASR Quote).

They presented Taser as a buy candidate. According to portfolio manager Naboicheck, "Taser is an attractive investment opportunity because they are first movers with a unique product in a large potential market. With no competing products on the market, Taser benefits from a 'first-mover advantage.' Taser has no debt, they own all their property, plant and equipment, and they're adept at generating cash."

The sector team's target share price: $15.

When Rick Spillane, a BCF executive advisor and former Fidelity executive, asked why cash-strapped police departments would buy Tasers in addition to their regular guns, the industrials team was able to support their case. They cited room for an increase in sales -- not only in the domestic law enforcement market (only 39% currently use Tasers), but also the growing opportunities in the U.S. consumer market (with a potential market size of 100 million units) and the potential for foreign sales, as well.

Additionally, "Because Tasers are non-lethal, compared to guns, the legal and medical expenses saved using Tasers more than justifies their cost," says Naboicheck.

Recently, the consumer team of Kristin Lorenzo, Jason Dieffenbacher, and Steven Abreu, researched three drug retailing companies: CVS Caremark (CVS Quote) (a current holding), Rite Aid (RAD Quote) and Walgreens (WAG Quote).

However, they were not enthusiastic about Rite Aid and Walgreens, and ended up presenting CVS as a hold.

According to the team's report, "Despite holding a dominant position in the retail drug store industry, we believe the price that CVS Caremark is trading at currently is indicative of its value now and in the future."

The team also cited "political risks, pressure on traditionally high generic profit margins and competition from large retailers, such as Wal-Mart (WMT Quote) and Target (TGT Quote)."

The team set a modest price target for CVS of $43.80.

Investment Club Watch will keep you posted on how the BCF's stock picks fare this spring.