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P Pitch Archive Stock pitches across investing competitions
← Spring 2020

Sysco Corporation

SYY pitch long Michael Weng, Kyle Campbell, Shaunak Misra

Thesis

Sysco is positioned to survive and thrive post-COVID-19 due to its strong balance sheet and national contracts that help cover fixed costs. The company is expected to maintain its market share and benefit from market share gains as smaller competitors struggle, leading to an estimated 20% annual return. Additionally, there is potential for significant upside from international expansion opportunities, which could add approximately $7 in value per share.

Did it work?

partial confidence: high

Sysco did survive the COVID shock and the long thesis on direction proved correct, with the stock up 54.4% over 76 months (~7% annualized, or roughly 9-10% including dividends). However, this falls well short of the thesis's stated ~20% annual return target, which over 6+ years would have implied roughly a tripling of the share price. The survival/market-share narrative played out, but the magnitude of returns promised was not achieved, making this a partial success rather than a full validation.