Work Odds & Ends
I'm still in a work state of mind, so I'm writing my thoughts in "Key Point" format....
I ROCK!: This week I got my first byline on Bloomberg for a company I follow that we downgraded this week. Most stocks are officially followed by my boss, only 5 are "my" names. I feel like a *REAL* Analyst now. And my boss told me I was well on my way to become a great analyst... both are good for the ego and a nice dose of motivation during a chaotic week.
WE'RE SO WITTY: Other Analysts get pretty witty with headlines to their Research Notes. My boss has had a few high notes, but generally, we're not very focused on witty titles. Our food analyst, has turned it in to an art form, but I think he has a lot more material to work with using food/baking references. This week, we had two good ones and really set the bar high for future notes. Many of our companies had earnings lower than expected because of weather-related decreases in demand. So, our titles were "Blame it on the Rain" (Milli Vanilli song) and Earnings "Slippery When Wet" (Bon Jovi Album name). Our management teams were big fans and joked about going home to check their album collect to see if they could help us come up with future titles....
A PRODUCTIVE DAY WORKING FROM HOME: As I alluded to in an earlier post, I pretty much dragged myself out of bed Friday morning and crawled to my desk. I was up and running before 6:20am after having shut off the computer at 11pm! It's sad, but I couldn't sleep because I was writing an Investment Conclusion in my head.... I surprised myself by how productive I was working from home. The original plan was just to work at home until we got some morning things done and then head in to the office for the remainder of the day. I got a new remote access IT thingy and it makes working away from the office infinitely more easy. I didn't even have time to read the NYTimes or my favorite gossip columns. The only break I took was for lunch... no TV, no house chores to distract me. I found it very rewarding... so nice to have our Associate in the office, to keep a tab on things, so I can write notes in piece in quiet (in my sweats) at home, without "my face" on as my mom calls it (meaning, no shower, hairdo, or makeup).
OUR NEWBIE: Our new Associate started in late July and has been here about three weeks now. We were able to snag him from the IR department of one of the companies we follow. He's my own little victory, because I'm the one that "discovered" him and recruited him to come work with us. He was the only person we interviewed for the slot. Everyone was such a big fan of him, that we didn't bother interviewing anyone else. It's been a smoother earnings season having an extra pair of hands on the job. Actually, we had our old Associate last earnings season (in May), but he was pretty useless and I had to double check everything he did... our Newbie still makes some errors here and there, but he's much more on the ball. Given his understanding of the industry we follow (having previously worked in it) he's much father along the learnings curve than an Associate typically would be during their first earnings season out of the gate. I would venture to say he's where other Associates would typically be their third time around.
Still Up to My Eyeballs in Work: I still have two earnings notes to get out the door. One we were pushing to get out Friday, but the market looked like it was going to be crazy (futures down alot before the open) and it seemed as though the stock was going to pull back from the ridiculous highs it had posted during the last couple of days. So it made sense to let the stock come back to its normal trading range first -- that way we didn't have to downgrade. Everyone follow? The other stock is very small and the earnings/strategy is a bit messy, so I've been putting it off since Tuesday to tackle more pressing and investable companies first. I don't normally mind working on weekends, BUT, 1) I had in my head that we'd have this stuff done yesterday, 2) I HAVE TO STUDY!!!!
Kids & Earnings: This week was an absolute zoo - I worked my butt off... and just think, as we expand our coverage group (we cover 13 stocks and are working to ramp up to a total of 20 before the end of the year), we will have MORE to do!!! How the hell do female analysts with kids do it??? My boss has two teenage boys, so she has some distractions, but she's already through the worst of it. There's another female analyst in my office. She has two young girls 5 and 7. She was working late on Wednesday as well and it was nice to chat with her about how she juggles both the long hours and her kids. I was impressed with her plan (which only works when kids are no longer toddlers). Anytime someone (other kids, grandparents, etc) ask to have her kids over for a play-date, she schedules it to fall on the next night she knows shes going to have to do work. Very smart. No idea what you do with kids under 4!!!!
Internship Props: I run our internship program and for the past three years or so, we've had at least one Dickinson student in the summer program. I am proud to say, that they have always been the strongest out of the bunch and this year is no different. {Even better, and by pure coincidence all 4 this summer are female!) This year, our Dickinson intern N, works at the college's Career Center and did a write up about her experience that is posted on the college webpage. There are two other Dickinsonian's in our department, and there's a photo of the four of us included with her write up. {I'd link to it, but am trying to keep the name of my firm quiet}.
