A UW-Eau Claire Finance team took second place at the Local level of the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Institute Research Challenge hosted by the CFA Society Madison and CFA Society Milwaukee. The UW-Eau Claire students competed against teams from Marquette University (2 teams) and UW-Green Bay.
Members of the team included Natalie Doran, James Hinrichsen, and Jordan Boswell. Dr. Pedro Sottile, associate professor of finance, was the academic advisor, and John Culley, CFA, was the industry mentor.
Teams wrote a professional report and presented their research results providing a buy/sell/hold recommendation on Kohl’s Corporation to a high-profile panel of investment industry experts. Their presentation at the Madison Local Final was the culmination of hundreds of hours of research and preparation; interviews with company management, competitors, and clients; and intensive training in company analysis and presentation skills.
The CFA Institute Research Challenge is a rigorous global competition in which over 140 CFA member societies, 3,500 member volunteers, and more than 5,000 students from over 1,000 universities from the Americas, Europe, and Asia Pacific participate in the event annually.
The challenge provides university students with hands-on mentoring and intensive training and tests the equity research and valuation, investment report writing, professional ethics, and presentation skills of university students. The event complements the College of Business curriculum by simulating a ‘real world’ experience of equity analysis as students assume the role of a research analyst.
