Pitch The Perfect Investment: Essential Guide to Winning on Wall Street

Respect and fear the old men......in a profession where men die young “In investing, as in life, repeatable success requires both clear thinking and effective communication. Pitch the Perfect Investment is an indispensable guide to rigorous investment analysis and the art of persuading others to act. Essential reading for anyone in the investment industry.”—Michael Mauboussin “It is rare that you get a book on finance that is fun to read, immensely informative, and deeply insightful. Sonkin and Johnson have pulled off the trifecta in this book.”—Aswath Damodaran, Professor of Finance, NYU Stern School of Business and author of Investment Valuation and Narrative and Numbers Investors who succeed on Wall Street spend their careers analyzing companies, and honing and refining their investment strategies. But they had to start somewhere. Training for research analysts is basically nonexistent on Wall Street resulting in a “baptism by fire” that forces the new analyst to develop expertise on their own through an agonizing process of trial and error. To overcome this deficiency, Sonkin and Johnson have written the ultimate “survival” guide for someone embarking on a career as an investment professional. Arnie Ursaner, a sell side veteran, who retired after 43 years on Wall Street said, “I wish I had this book when I started in the business. I remember my early days being characterized by a lot of hits and misses. This book provides valuable shortcuts to experience more hits and fewer misses.” The single most important element in survival is having knowledge, as knowledge dispels fear, and on Wall Street, fortune favors the prepared mind. Pitch the Perfect Investment accelerates the learning process, giving the college or MBA student the edge they need to succeed, whether they are pitching a stock idea in a job interview, in a stock pitch competition, or for a student-run investment fund. Learn the overlooked skill that is essential to Wall Street success Pitch the Perfect Investment combines investment analysis with persuasion and sales to teach you the "soft skill" so crucial to success in the financial markets. Written by the leading authorities in investment pitching, this book shows you how to develop and exploit the essential, career-advancing skill of pitching value-creating ideas to win over clients and investors. You'll gain world-class insight into search strategy, data collection and research, securities analysis, and risk assessment and management to help you uncover the perfect opportunity; you'll then strengthen your critical thinking skills and draw on psychology, argumentation, and informal logic to craft the perfect pitch to showcase your perfect idea. The ability to effectively pitch an investment is essential to securing a job on Wall Street, where it immediately becomes a fundamental part of day-to-day business. This book gives you in-depth training along with access to complete online ancillaries and case studies so you can master the little skill that makes a big difference. It doesn't matter how great your investment ideas are if you can't convince anyone to actually invest. Ideas must come to fruition to be truly great, and this book gives you the tools and understanding you need to get it done. Persuade potential investors, clients, executives, and employers Source, analyze, value, and pitch your ideas for stocks and acquisitions Get hired, make money, expand your company, and win business Craft the perfect investment into the perfect pitch Money managers, analysts, bankers, executives, salespeople, students, and individual investors alike stand to gain massively by employing the techniques discussed here. If you're serious about success and ready to start moving up, Pitch the Perfect Investment shows you how to make it happen.