About the Challenge

With Orbis' investment philosophy in mind (see below), please submit a written recommendation for a (long) stock idea you believe will meaningfully outperform the S&P 500 over a three to five year time horizon using the following guidelines.

  • The stock should have a market capitalization of $2 billion or above.
  • The analysis should have one author (no group submissions) and not exceed 5 pages (excluding supporting documents).
  • You may use whichever resources you deem fit to analyse the stock, although successful submissions have tended to emphasize primary research.
  • The deadline for submissions is Friday, May 1, 2020.

At Orbis our investment philosophy has three pillars, which you may want to keep in mind as you develop and express your recommendation:

  1. We are fundamental investors. We think like business owners and seek to invest in shares of companies that trade at a significant discount to our assessment of the intrinsic value of the business with an adequate margin of safety. Our research is deep, bottom-up and often relies on primary research.
  2. We are long-term. We invest with a three to five-year investment horizon in mind. Doing so often allows us to uncover opportunities that others have missed or are simply not willing to consider.
  3. We are contrarian. To deliver long-term investment returns that are above average, we must be prepared to take different views and express them in size. Our portfolios are concentrated and typically include companies whose prospects are deemed to be deteriorating or worse than average in the eyes of many market participants. A key part of any Orbis investment is identifying and developing conviction around a ‘variant view’ that is not reflected by the current market price.

Although you are free to structure your write-up in any way you’d like, the components we generally look for are:

  • Company description: What are the pertinent facts about the company's structure, history and industry? How do they make money?
  • Market and variant view: What does the market think of this stock, and what are the major controversies? What is your view on these, and how/why is it different from the market's?
  • Valuation: What do you think the stock’s intrinsic value is today? What will it be worth in 3-5 years based on your forward-looking estimates? What are the key value drivers and how do they relate to the variant view?
  • Risks: What could go wrong, and if things go wrong, how bad could it be? Does the potential upside adequately compensate for the potential downside?

The Award

  • The Orbis Investing Undergrad Challenge winner will be selected by Friday, May 29, 2020.
  • The winner will receive a $3,000 cash award.

How to Apply

  1. Complete the online application form.
  2. Attach your stock analysis in PDF format and submit it by
    Friday, May 1, 2020, 11:59 pm PT.

Evaluation Process

We will review all applications after the deadline. The winner will be selected by Friday, May 29, 2020 and notified via email shortly after.

Stock analyses will be reviewed by members of Orbis' Investment Team and will be evaluated based on:

  • A demonstrated passion for investing
  • Quality, logic, and reasoning of a sound stock analysis
  • A sustained commitment to excellence
  • The promise of a continued commitment to the field of investing/investment management

Eligibility

We invite all undergraduate students who are enrolled in an accredited four-year university and have a passion for investing to apply. However, the conventional need NOT apply.

When Applying

If you use a public computer or share a computer with another applicant, you will need to log out of any Orbis created account, otherwise additional applications submitted will overwrite your submission.