Small Cap Equities Intern

Making a Difference

The State of Wisconsin Investment Board (SWIB), founded in 1951, is a premier global investment organization responsible for managing the more than $162 billion of assets of the fully funded Wisconsin Retirement System (WRS), the State Investment Fund and other state funds. Through SWIB’s effective and innovative investment management, WRS remains one of the only fully funded US public pensions. The WRS consistently ranks among the 10 largest public pension funds in the U.S. SWIB is recognized by the investment industry for our teamwork and innovation. SWIB pursues sophisticated global investment strategies across the asset and risk allocation spectrum. Providers across the investment ecosystem seek to partner with SWIB.

Serving more than 692,000 beneficiaries of the WRS, SWIB is a mission-driven organization focused on providing a strong financial future to those who committed their careers to public service. For public employees and the 1,607 Wisconsin employers who contribute on their behalf, we are a trusted partner. Our team innovates continuously to meet the challenges of an evolving investment landscape while growing and protecting the assets of the WRS.

Job Description:

The Small Cap Team currently consists of 6 investment professionals, each of whom follow a variety of sectors/industries.  The team collaboratively constructs a diversified portfolio benchmarked against the MSCI USA Small Cap Index under the guidance of a Lead Portfolio Manager.  The team’s investment process is focused on bottom-up stock selection targeting alpha generation over an intermediate to long-term time horizon.  Security selection balances fundamental analysis of the business model’s opportunities with its attendant risks.  The result is a portfolio consisting of reasonably valued equities of higher quality companies that tend to exhibit growth on both the top and bottom lines.

The public equities division consists of 25 professionals that actively manage approximately $13 billion for SWIB.   The division manages two portfolios – a large-cap global portfolio and a small cap domestic portfolio.   The small cap portfolio is run as a single product, while the global portfolio is run as a collection of sector “sleeves” with small teams (1-3 people) creating active portfolios for each of the 11 GICS sectors. 

The portfolios are driven by stock selection processes that are grounded in a fundamental assessment of the underlying business model’s risks and opportunities overlaid with an appropriate valuation framework.   Investment professionals interact with outside analysts and experts, meet with management teams, and attend conferences as part of our analytical process.  Our portfolio construction blends these insights with an understanding of risk and alpha factor sensitivities to create portfolios that produce alpha in a consistent, risk-efficient manner over time.  

Essential activities:

• Understand and employ an investment process to generate alpha vs. a benchmark. The process includes stock selection methodology, a factor exposure aware portfolio construction approach and risk management techniques.
• Directly perform fundamental business model assessment and valuation analysis of individual securities as part of a stock selection process.
• Employ relative valuation and quantitative methods to assess attractiveness of investments.  Based on this analysis, investment teams can go long or short stocks and employ options strategies as appropriate.
• Monitor quarterly earnings releases of companies to evaluate existing investment views.
• Interact with sell-side analysts and company management teams to form and revise investment opinions.
• Generate and pitch new investment ideas for specified sector.
• Special projects as assigned.

The Ideal candidate:

• Ability to work in Madison, WI for an approximate 10-week period beginning late May/early June 2026.
• Currently pursuing a graduate degree in Business, especially Accounting, Finance or Applied Equity Analysis.  Specific experience in the industry you’ll be analyzing is not necessary.
• Top academic performer who is comfortable in an unstructured environment which fosters creativity, maturity and initiative.
• Interest in Health Care, Software or Financial Sectors.
• Strong understanding of cash flow modeling.
• Passion for investing and a competitive drive, with a baseline knowledge of investments and quantitative analysis.
• Ability to analyze a variety of information to quickly draw relevant conclusions and to summarize and communicate results in a time-sensitive manner.
• Excellent communications skills.
• Ability to work in an team-oriented culture, with the ability to objectively influence others.
• Demonstrated quantitative and statistical ability.
• Experience with FactSet and/or Bloomberg.
• Progress towards Chartered Financial Analyst certification.