BSc Finance - NMIMS Mumbai, Class of 2029
Hesha Sheth studies markets for a living and everything else for fun - fashion, art, books, and whatever idea she's currently obsessed with. This issue: her positions, her research, and the rest of the story.
Case File
These are positions I hold with real capital. This is a record of my reasoning, not a recommendation. I am a student, not a licensed advisor.
The same eye that reads a collection can read a balance sheet. Luxury is the most durable moat in consumer markets - pricing power, intangible assets, and cultural desirability compounding over decades. These are the houses I study alongside my Indian equities.
LVMH - MC.PA
Paris · Luxury Conglomerate · CAC 40
75 houses, each managed independently - the conglomerate structure is the moat. Louis Vuitton alone is arguably worth more than the group's market cap. The LVMH cert gave me inside access to how the brand architecture actually functions, and why no one can replicate it.
HERMÈS - RMS.PA
Paris · Ultra-Luxury · CAC 40
The only house that made scarcity a structural feature rather than a marketing tactic. The Birkin waitlist isn't a queue - it's a qualification. Family-controlled, vertically integrated, allergic to licensing. The rarest thing in equity markets: a business that gets stronger the more people want it.
TAPESTRY - TPR
NYSE · Accessible Luxury · S&P 500
The accessible end of luxury - studied as the counterpoint to Hermès. Where Hermès restricts, Tapestry scales. Coach's recovery in Asia is the thesis: brand rehabilitation is a repeatable playbook. Lower multiple, higher risk, interesting risk-reward.
Note: The Maison Desk is a watchlist and study exercise, not a declaration of current positions. All figures approximate, from public filings. My lens here is informed by the INSIDE LVMH Certificate (Creation & Branding; Retail & Client Experience, 2026).
The indigenisation mandate isn't a policy preference - it's a budget line. MTAR, Paras, and L&T are not riding a wave; they're building the infrastructure for the next two decades of Indian defence procurement. A look at the order book math and what the market is still mispricing.
Blinkit's unit economics are improving. The question is whether it matures into a business with durable margins before the cash runs out - and whether District can hold up the valuation while it does.
Hermès trades at P/E multiples of 50-70x against a peer average of 15-25x. This paper asks whether that premium reflects irrational exuberance or the accurate pricing of a genuinely superior business. Across six years of financial data for five luxury companies, one answer keeps emerging: the market is approximately 80-90% rational. Hermès is not the best-performing luxury company in the peer group on most metrics - it operates in a different performance category entirely. Gross margin 72.7%, operating margin 41%, ROIC 31.8%, debt/equity 0.05x. The scarcity-first model is not a strategic affectation - it is the structural foundation of an economics that compounds decade after decade.
01 - Valuation
Full 3-statement financial model for Eternal - income statement, balance sheet, cash flow, with a DCF and scenario analysis (base / bull / bear). The question: does Blinkit's growth justify the multiple?
Excel · DCF · Comparable companies
02 - Screening
A Python script pulling NSE data via yfinance, filtering by P/E, ROCE, and debt-to-equity thresholds, outputting a ranked watchlist. Built because manually screening 50 stocks every week was costing three hours I didn't have.
Python · yfinance · pandas
03 - Equity Research
An equity research study across five luxury companies covering six years of data. The central question: is Hermès' 2-6x valuation premium over peers irrational, or measurably justified? Ran profitability, capital efficiency, and moat analysis across Hermès, LVMH, Kering, Richemont, and Burberry. Conclusion: the market is approximately 80-90% rational. ROIC 31.8%, operating margin 41%, D/E 0.05x - the numbers make the case.
Annual reports · Equity research · Damodaran · Porter · DCF
Om Jewels - Mumbai
Managed day-to-day operations across inventory, vendor communication, and workflow tracking. Hands-on exposure to real business decision-making - the moment you realise that operational discipline is what separates good margins from bad ones. [Add metrics: ₹X lakh inventory, X vendors, X% turnaround improvement]
Operations · Inventory · Vendor mgmtNMIMS Entrepreneurship Cell
Planning, coordination, and execution of student-led initiatives. Deadline-driven, cross-functional - the closest a campus club gets to what an actual deal desk feels like.
Leadership · Events · StrategyVaayu Fest
Event operations, sponsorship coordination, and team workflows for one of campus's larger student-run productions.
Ops · Sponsorship · CoordinationThe Most Important Thing
Risk, after everything, is most of the game.
Poor Charlie's Almanack
Mental models over models.
The Outsiders
Capital allocation, case by case.
Capital Returns
The best book on cycles nobody assigns.
Competition Demystified
Moats, without the buzzword.
[Your words here - medium, subject, what it gives you that finance doesn't.]
Long-form essays on feminism, identity, and power at forwomen14.com - researched and written start to finish since 2024. The same discipline that makes a good investment memo makes a good argument. Same muscle, different weight.
Curriculum Vitae
One page. Education, experience, relevant coursework - updated each issue.
INSIDE LVMH Certificate
Bloomberg Finance Fundamentals
DELF A2
Best reached by email. Open to summer analyst conversations, research collaborations, and a good argument about any position on this page. Replies within 48 hours.