Jim Kitzinger is the first speaker of the fall 2017 semester
On Wednesday,
August 30th, Jim Kitzinger (CFA, CPA)
made his annual visit to Marquette’s AIM class to talk about his firm’s
investment strategy and process. He is a Principal and Portfolio Manager
at KLCM, an independent, registered investment advisory firm
located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Mr. Kitzinger has over 30 years of
investment experience and is a highly regarded Milwaukee money manager.
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| Jim Kitzinger of KLCM in the AIM Room |
Mr.
Kitzinger discussed KLCM’s equity investment philosophy and process –
explaining his firm’s bottom up stock picking approach and their emphasis on
deep fundamental analysis. He indicated they tend to focus the most on out of
favor and neglected companies – and gave several examples to back this up. True
to the principles of a value equity firm, Jim confirmed that free cash flow is the
most important criteria they evaluation and that it is central to their
valuation approach. He also stressed the importance of protecting the downside,
which confirms the importance KLCM places on strong management capable of
delivering in all economic cycles. He told the students that they seek out
firms that possess a catalyst to drive earnings and to realize untapped value –
and have a management team with the experience to navigate weak economic
periods.
Dr. Krause stated, “Consistent with the approach taken by the AIM students
in the program, KLCM’s process is driven by intensive research; an
understanding of company and industry drivers; clear and achievable management
objectives; and the goal of seeking favorable risk/reward supported by
valuation disciplines. KLCM runs concentrated portfolios of 20 to 30 stocks and
will add to and trim positions to take advantage of market volatility and to
manage risk. We will hear from many different portfolio managers this semester and
I believe that starting with Jim Kitzinger set a high bar.”
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| Kitzinger meets with students after class |
As per his previous visits, Jim loves to talk about the
finance industry and social justice within a democratic society. The
students had an opportunity to interact with Mr. Kitzinger in more detail after
class. Krause stated, “We always appreciate the efforts of local portfolio
managers to visit our classroom – these meetings keep the ‘applied’ in the AIM
program. And Jim Kitzinger is the first speaker I like to bring in each year –
he sets the tone for the semester. We greatly value his time with us and I know
that the students thoroughly enjoyed his presentation.”
