Stetson University’s Roland George Investments Program (RGIP) opened its ninth public trustee meeting with the sounds of “Born in the USA” blasting through the sound system as RGIP student Leslie Garconville rode up to the Marshall & Vera Lea Rinker Welcome Center front door astride a Harley-Davidson motorcycle to begin her presentation on the first of the trade war fall-out stocks, Harley Davidson.

Seven Stetson University RGIP seniors spent months researching, vetting, analyzing and, ultimately, pitching a total of six trade war fall-out stocks on Monday, Oct. 15, in addition to four stocks contained within a pet index to a board of four student trustees and three faculty/public trustees.

The first six stocks presented were Harley Davidson (HOG), Ford Motor Co., Geely Automobile Holdings, Ltd., Stitch Fix (SFIX), PayPal (PYPL), and iQIYI, Inc. Contained within the Pawerful Pet Index were four NASDAQ traded single stocks: IDEXX Laboratories (IDXX), Trupanion, Inc. (TRUP), PetIQ, Inc. (PETQ), and Central Garden and Pet Company (CENT).

Many of the stocks selected by the students were adversely affected by the current international trade war and students argued that as a result of the conflict, now is the time to buy the heavily beaten down stocks.

Stetson student Brendan Michael White presented Geely, the largest Chinese car manufacturer. He estimated the stock to be undervalued by 47 percent and five of the trustees agreed with his assessment, voting 5-1 to invest $100,000.

Colin Mac Namara presented the largest online payment company in the world, PayPal, with an astounding 63 percent market share as his stock of choice. His argument cited the rise of retail e-commerce and with a vote of 5-1 the trustees agreed to invest $100,000.

Next up was the Chinese Netflix equivalent, iQIYI, and according to Ryan Burke, it is undervalued by 38 percent, however there is enormous growth potential. Four trustees agreed that this market-leading online entertainment service would be a sound investment and voted 4- 2 to purchase 800 shares for approximately $100,000.

Finally, Stetson student Humberto J. Soares took the stage, tugging on the audience’s heartstrings, with pictures and videos depicting the $70 billion pet industry and his proposal to launch a new stock index, Pawerful Pet. The index, he explained, was constructed to capitalize on the trend of pet humanization and the fact that Millennials are adopting pets rather than having children. The Index tracks the price movements in shares of companies which focus on one of four animal care segments: pet food and nutrition, healthcare, veterinary services, and pet products and services.

The NASDAQ stocks include IDEXX Laboratories, Inc. (IDXX), which provides diagnostic, detection and information systems for veterinary applications; Trumpanion, Inc. (TRUP), offering medical insurance plans for cats and dogs; PetIQ, Inc. (PETQ), a manufacturer and distributor of pet medications and products; and Central Garden & Pet Company (CENT), a pet supplies producer and distributor.

The board voted 5-1 to invest $100,000 from the RGIP Growth Fund to purchase shares of the four companies outlined in the Pawerful Pet index.

“We are at the lowest point in the tariff and trade war between the U.S. and China,” said K.C. Ma, Ph.D., C.F.A., director of Stetson’s George Investments Institute and the Roland and Sarah George Chair of Applied Investments for RGIP. “The students selected these specific stocks and built their case of undervaluation while at the same time identifying a variety of growth drivers that combined, currently present a great opportunity for investors.”

Harley Davidson, Ford and Stitch Fix stocks were presented but failed to secure enough votes for purchase.

In total, $400,000 was approved from the RGIP Growth Fund for investment in three stocks and the four stocks contained within the pet index.

The new Pawerful Pet Index joins the ESG, Cannabis, Drones9, Virtual Reality 4 and the Cloud 4 indices successfully launched in previous years by RGIP students. The stocks in those indices have outperformed the market by 35 percent for the past five years with the Cannabis Index doubling after its launch last year. The consistently high performance further solidifies the RGIP performance record.

The Stetson University School of Business Administration RGIP is known for having one of the nation’s oldest and best market performances, and is directed entirely by Stetson University students. The pioneering program empowers top students majoring in finance and business to manage a real portfolio comprising $3.5 million in stocks and bonds. Using fundamental research tools and data services such as Bloomberg, Reuters, Morningstar and Baseline they find and defend investment recommendations to the investments committee.

Since 2001, based on the actual portfolio performances, RGIP students have won 16 championships and six second-place wins in the national R.I.S.E. (Redefining Investment Strategy Education) and G.A.M.E. (Global Asset Management Education) competitions.

Personal investors who want information on the index or the individual stocks can contact Ma directly at [email protected] or 386-822-7496. To watch a recording of the event, click here.

Disclaimer: The Roland George Investments Program, and students affiliated with the program, are not Registered Investment Advisors. As a result, any information contained herein or presented at an RGIP event should not be construed as investment advice.